H.—Bl.

mention drainage schemes for Port Chalmers, Wyndham, Gore, Otautau, Lumsden, Arrowtown, Queenstown, Invercargill, Dunedin; water-supplies to Alexandra, Eoxburgh, and Dunedin, where the methods at present existing required improvement, or where schemes required initiating de novo. Sewage disposal has also engaged my attention, and in the several cases I have been consulted I have endeavoured to impress on local authorities the necessity of care in its removal, as well as in that of its disposal. In several country townships the pan system has been, or is being introduced, and in these I have emphasized the necessity of using small covered pans, so that the amount contained in them may be small, necessitating frequent removal. In giving advice regarding sewage-removal by water carriage I have impressed on local authorities the fact that, although they may in the meantime be permitted to use rivers, either tidal or authorised sludge-channels, they must provide for the possibility of having to purify the sewage by filter-beds or other means, and that they must so construct their discharging-sewer that some such purification may be adapted at or near its termination. Food-stipplies and their Storage and Treatment. During my inspection of the different townships and country districts I have made a special point of examining the shops in which provisions were sold, but with perhaps a more critical eye those of butchers and fish-salesmen, and have found much in these requiring amendment. In over fifty I have ordered improvements where gross uncleanliness was noticed. But I consider the whole subject of meat-storage requires looking into, and am now engaged in studying it with a view to making a full report to the Department later. As a rule, I may now mention slaughter-yards, butchers' shops, dairies, dairy factories, piggeries, &c, as not kept in a manner that is necessary from a public-health point of view. Many of the dairy factories, for instance, have piggeries attached, and in most cases they are kept in a very filthy condition. I have personally visited some of these, and my Inspectors have seen several more ; but with only two, I think, we were entirely satisfied. We have found that many of the farms, either supplying milk to the dairy factories or directly to customers in towns, are not kept in a cleanly manner, the farmer being either too poor to erect proper outbuildings for his cattle and for treatment of the milk, or negligent in keeping them clean and in good repair. An examination of the cowsheds in one district of Dunedin resulted in the condemnation of more than half of them, either from structural defect, insufficient accommodation, or too close proximity to dwellings and other buildings. And during a round of inspection Inspector Gunn made to the dairies in the country immediately surrounding Dunedin, and supplying it, he found them generally much requiring cleaning. Slaughter-yards. Many of the existing slaughter-yards suffer from want of efficient water-supply, and are consequently dirtily kept. But I understand they are now engaging the attention of the Stock Department, under whose supervision they come. I have visited several of these with Mr Gilruth arid other of the officials of that Department, advising with them as to means for their improvement, and my Inspectors have been looking around to see that what has been ordered is being carried out. Dilapidated and Insanitary Houses. In Dunedin and some of the townships visited a goodly number of houses were found, from old age chiefly, to have become so dilapidated that pulling down was the only remedy. I have consequently had over forty of these removed, and have a number more in view. Schools. During my rounds I have, by request chiefly, looked at several of the schools in the towns and in the country districts, and found that in several the cubic space was not sufficient for the average number of pupils, and that in the majority of cases the closet accommodation was in a bad condition, mostly from the pans generally employed being too infrequently cleaned. Stables. In most of the stables and stable-yards I visited the construction of the buildings was defective, and the stalls could not be properly cleansed and kept clean owing to the want of impervious paving and to the lack of drainage at the front of the stalls, while in many the manure was not being often enough removed. In twelve cases I have noted the immediate removal of enormously overgrown manure-heaps was ordered. Poultry-keeping. In many of the houses, in Dunedin and its suburbs especially, the keeping of fowls in small improperly kept runs has caused a nuisance to the neighbourhood. These have been looked to, and. in several instances ordered to be discontinued. Rubbish-tips. The places on which town and house rubbish is being deposited have received considerable attention not only in Dunedin, but also in several of the country townships, and I have had to devote some time occasionally to looking after these to make sure that they were being carefully attended to, and that they did not cause a nuisance to the locality. B—H. 31.

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