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Lately there has been very cheap, and, I fear, very bad, rum imported, and sold here by the bottle at Is. Bd., of which half goes for duty and permit-fees. If this be as bad as the price would indicate, it would account for much of the mischief from drinking the " bush beer." I have sent a few bottles from different parcels to Auckland for a proper report. It occurs to me as noteworthy that among the diseases attributed by Dr. Caldwell to intoxicating liquor among the Maoris he has not included delirium tremens, hobnailed-liver, paralysis, and others which mark the habitual drunkard. Dr. Caldwell tells me that cases of this kind only occur among Europeans. In conclusion, I can assure your Excellency that the subject has always been of great concern to me. Total prohibition has been tried for some years, and proved a lamentable failure, in the absence of an overwhelming public sentiment in its favour. The " bush beer" has always been, and still is, strictly prohibited, but the law could only be enforced by the employment of Europeans at impracticable expense, and even then with much uncertainty. One of my greatest difficulties is to find a Maori in whom it is possible to implant any sense of official responsibility, and I fear that this difficulty will not be overcome till they have free access to English books and ideas, on which I have a continually increasing belief that the whole future of this kindly and assuredly improvable people must now depend. I have, &c, Fbedeeick J. Moss, British Eesident. His Excellency the Administrator of the Government, &c, New Zealand.

Enclosure No. 1. Chief of the Goveenment to the Hospital Boaed. Sic, — Earotonga, sth July, 1897. I am directed by the Chief of the Government, at the request of the British Eesident, to ask that when the report of the Hospital Board is laid before Parliament it may make special reference (names of parties of course omitted) to any cases in the course of either hospital or private practice (if the Medical Officer does not object to this last) in which illness or disease is caused by, or attributable in any way to, the use of intoxicating liquor, the report to distinguish between Maoris and others so treated. I have, &c, Makea Daniela, Clerk to the Cook Islands Government. To the Chairman of the Hospital Board, Earotonga.

Enclosure No. 2. Beitish Eesident to Db. Caldwell. Sib, — Earotonga, 6th July, 1897. I should feel much obliged if you would let me know, as the result of your experience at the Cook Islands Hospital and in private practice in Earotonga, the number of Maori cases treated by you in which intoxicating liquor was the direct cause of disease, the number in which you consider it the indirect cause, and the proportions which each of them, direct or indirect, bears to the total number treated by you. I have, &c., Fbedeeick J. Moss, Dr. Caldwell, Earotonga. British Eesident.

Enclosure No. 3. From the Hospital Boaed to the Goveenment, being Dr. Craig's Eeply to No. 1. Gentlemen, — Cook Islands Hospital, 10th July, 1897. In compliance with your request that I should furnish you with a report upon any cases of disease directly or indirectly the result of alcoholic indulgence, I herewith give you the following particulars:— In reading this report the Board should remember that, while a special group of diseases is directly attributable to alcohol, the excessive use of alcohol has a baneful influence on disease in general, increasing the liabilities of individuals to disease, and weakening the natural powers of resistance and repair. In going over my diary and selecting cases I have noted all cases in which I can recognise alcohol as an important factor. The proportion of such cases is large ; but it must be remembered that in this community there are special facilities and encouragement given for the liquor traffic among natives. With regard to the white population, it is so small, and the habits of individuals are so well known, that it is inadvisable to present statistics on this subject. Of the seven native in-patients two were alcoholic. One of these has recently died from the effects of disease due to alcohol. Out of 130 out-patients of different ages and sex, there were twenty-four cases in which disease was the result of or influenced by over-indulgence in alcohol. Trusting that this report will meet the requirements of the Board, I am, &c, Geoege Cbaig, M.8., CM. (Edin.).

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