H.—3i.

" Come—welcome ! thrice welcome ! Come to teach, come to advise., come to show your nation the ways of life (health), the good ways of the pakeha and other nations of the world whom you have seen. Come, our hearts are made glad, our hearts are made light, our wailings shall cease. The light of life dawneth—we bid you welcome. Come upon the wings of knowledge. Come and teach us. Give us the ways of life; warn us from the ways of death. Give us to drink of the same cup of life as the pakeha; hide nothing from us, that we may live and bless thee. "Come, the descendant of Maui. Come and fish for us the great fish of life (health), like your illustrious ancestor who fished up this land. Come and see the place of the people who are no more. Come and see these remnants who are so few of days. Come, teach, that our tears may cease to flow." I might go on using inverted commas for the next forty pages, but this is sufficient to show the sentiments, the attitude of not only the few I have quoted, but of the vast majority. It is the truth when I say that all along, as far as I have gone, I have met with kind receptions, attentive and appreciative audiences, willing hearts with willing hands. Tea, have I not seen the smoke of the proverbial whare circulating heavenward as an offering to the God of Health, as the landmark, for the parting of the ways of the old and the new! And yet with all these encouraging welcomes you must not imagine that the work has been smooth all the way, for we have had many difficulties to contend with—many seeming obstacles to overcome— more of which anon ; but the willingness of the majority overbalances the predjudices and the doggedness of the rest. But we expect all these things. They must meet us on our onward march to health and progress. My method of disseminating the knowledge of the laws of health is simple. I notify the chief of my intention to pay his village a visit. He calls the people together for me in the evening, while during the day I go round with him, or the member for the Native Council, but principally with the Village Committee, and inspect the kaingas. Sometimes, where practicable, I speak at some Maori hui or meeting, thus getting a chance with the masses as well as the individuals. I speak on the five great causes of the Maoris' decay—viz., the home, clothes, foods, sterility, and disease. In the old days the Maori lived upon the hills. He did this for various reasons, principally for protection. During the day he left the hills and worked on the cultivations in the valleys. Now war has ceased he fears no human foes, and so has left the high altitudes, and with the descent to the valleys he has descended to his death. The Maoris were numerous in those bygone days, because they lived upon the hills, where the pure air could always bless with the vital spark of pure" blood, where the tears of Bangi (Heaven) could wash away the filth and dirt into the lower levels. But now the daily exercise of climbing the hills is no more. The Maori lives where the eels are handy and his cultivations close by, where the damp swampy atmosphere prevails—the air impure, and disease-germs reap a harvest in the deaths through consumption, pneumonia, typhoid fever, and other maladies of the noblest among aboriginal races. The Homes. I am glad to state—and I do so in all good conscience—that the Maoris are generally willing to improve their style of buildings, and, in fact, so much so that at Mohaka and Te Eeureu, and numerous other places, the Maoris have gone to the bush, and with their own hands have cut enough timber to build decent European cottages. The allowing of pigs, dogs, and poultry to roam at large in and around pas, I have no doubt, is responsible for many deaths. Pigs from of old have always been a dirty, filthy race. I have only come across two cases of hydatids among the Maoris, yet I believe it is "much more prevalent than one would imagine, knowing the number of dogs the Natives keep. So fences have been readily built around homes, and pas and sties are kept at least 40 yards away from the homes. We find the Maori awakening. He is in a transitional stage, though very slow in parts. Yet his sanitary chrysalis is gradually developing, and I am sure that within the near future we shall see the entire Maori population living in properly constructed, ventilated, and hygienic dwellings, and the old raupo whare become but a dream of the night of his insanitariness. Everywhere the Maori is eager to have his European house, with the comforts; and in places they are creditable, even when compared with the best. In some localities, where the Natives are very poor, we have been lenient, and have only made them ventilate their whares and put up bedsteads, for the custom of simply lying on the bare ground and huddling together is pregnant with many evils. We aim at the moon, perhaps we may hit a tree. The lack of funds to carry out some of the reforms, especially in the drainage and watersupply systems of pas, has been a great drawback, but we have done much, as far as it was possible, without means. I hope the poor Maoris will have some consideration in the next estimates in the way of funds for the putting-up of much-needed things, and unless we have some consideration we shall be very much handicapped. This last year found us with absolutely no funds to do anything with, and still we have made reforms where we could, and an encouragement in the ways of right living would be very highly appreciated. Money spent in water-supplies for Maori kaingas will be money spent profitably, for I am sure it would mean the saving of fully a third of the lives which are annually sacrificed through bad water-supplies. The Government has supplied tanks, which lam certain have been the means of saving many lives. As we all know, the wells and water-supplies in a Maori kainga are not always the best, and in two or three instances, in the Taranaki and Wairarapa districts, we have traced typhoid directly to the water, and, thanks to our quick and timely intervention, only one death occurred, where many perhaps would have been sacrificed had there been no interference. Doctors for Indigent Natives. In this connection I may state that much need is felt throughout for properly qualified men to advise indigent Maori patients. In parts the doctors' fees are so high that the Maoris cannot

74