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HAWKB'S BAY DISTRICT. Department of Public Health, District Office, Napier, Ist April, 1903. Dr. J. Malcolm Mason, Chief Health Officer, - I have the honour to lay before you the second annual report of the Hawke's Bay Health District. I regret that I have not been able to visit the whole of my district since I returned from England and took over the duties from my locum tenens, Dr. Finch, on the 17th September, 1902. The district in and about Wairoa is still to be visited, therefore what I shall have to say of those places will chiefly be based on a past knowledge. The sanitary progress of this district since the appointment of a District Health Officer in August, 1901, may be described as " Something attempted, something done " ; for the future, " That which we have done, but earnest of the things that we shall do." The diseases notified during the year are, — Scarlatina. —Napier, 25 ; Hastings, 15 ; Dannevirke, 47 ; Gisborne, 28 ; Woodville, 0 ; other districts, 27 : total, 142. Typhoid Fever. —Napier. 35 ; Hastings, 3 ; Dannevirke, 3 Gisborne, 26 ; Wairoa, 5 ; Woodville, 6; other districts, 10 : Total, 82. Measles. —Napier, 24; Hastings, 83 ; Dannevirke, 3 ; Gisborne, 3; Woodville, 2 ; other districts, 33 : total, 158. Tuberculosis. —Napier, 5; Hastings, 2 ; Dannevirke and Woodville, 0 ; Wairoa, 14 (chiefly amongst the Maoris) ; Gisborne, 3 ; other districts, 7 : total, 31. Diphtheria. —Napier, 5; Hastings, 4; Dannevirke, Woodville and Wairoa, 0; Gisborne, 3 ; othet districts, 22 : total, 34. Septicemia and Erysipelas. —Napier, 5; Gisborne, 3 ; Hastings, Dannevirke, Woodville, and Wairoa, 0 ; other districts, 2 : total, 10. The deaths registered during the year are, — The Whole of the District. —Total, 452 : From typhoid fever, 5 ; other zymotic diseases, 12 ; septicaemia and erysipelas, 6 ; tuberculosis, 33 ; cancer, 17. Napier. —Total, 153: From typhoid fever, 2; septicaemia, 5; tuberculosis, 9; cancer, 8; measles, 1. Hastings. —Total, 56: From tuberculosis, 3; cancer, 1; measles, 1. Dannevirke. —Total, 31: From scarlatina, 2; tuberculosis, 1 ; cancer, 1. Gisborne. —Total, 96 : From typhoid fever, 2 ; septicaemia, 1; scarlatina, 2 , tuberculosis, 7 ; cancer, 3. Woodville. —Total, 17 : No deaths registered from zymotic disease, tuberculosis, or cancer. Ormondville. —Total, 12 : From tuberculosis, 2. No deaths registered from zymotic disease or cancer. Waipawa. —Total, 34 : From diphtheria, 1; tuberculosis, 3 ; cancer, 2. Waiapu. —Total, 7. No deaths registered from zymotic disease, cancer, or tuberculosis. Waipukurau. —Total, 17. From typhoid fever, 1; tuberculosis, 4; cancer, 2. Wairoa. —Total, 9. No deaths registered from zymotic disease, cancer, or tuberculosis. Vital Statistics for the Combined District and the Principal Towns. Combined District. —Deaths from all causes, 13-86 per 1,000 : From typhoid fever, 0-16 per 1,000; other zymotic diseases, 0-39 per 1,000; septicaemia and erysipelas, 0-12 per 1,000; tuberculosis, 1-059 per 1,000 ; cancer, 0-55 per 1,000. Napier. —Deaths from all causes, 175 per 1,000: From typoid fever, 0-23 per 1,000; other zymotic diseases: 0-116 per 1,000; septicaemia and erysipelas: 0-57 per 1,000; tuberculosis, 1-025 per 1,000; cancer, 092 per 1,000. (In this and all future mortality statistics of cancer in this report, the crude death-rate must be understood.) Gisborne (with the Suburbs Whataupoko and Kaiti). —Deaths from all causes, 14-24 per 1,000: From typhoid fever, 0-44 per 1,000; other zymotic diseases, 0-88 per 1,000 ; tuberculosis, 1-54 per 1,000 ; cancer, 0-66 per 1,000. ■ Dannevirke. —From all causes, 13-4 per 1,000: From zymotic disease (excluding typhoid), 0863 per 1,000 ; tuberculosis, 0-44 per 1,000; cancer, the same as tuberculosis. Woodville.— l636 per 1,000. Hastings (ivith Havelock). —Deaths from all causes, 13-8 per 1,000: From zymotic disease (excluding typhoid) 023 per 1,000; cancer, the same ; tuberculosis, 0679 per 1,000. The Sanitary Condition of the Various Parts of the District. The Borough of Napier (Population 8,77 i) Has a supply of excellent water in sufficient quantity, derived from an artesian source. The major portion of the town is sewered, and further extension of the sewers is contemplated when the finances permit of it. Pan-closets still exist in the sewered portion of the borough, but the Council have made water-closets where possible compulsory, and they are gradually being substituted. Of course, in the parts of the borough that are unsewered, pan-closets, faute de mieux, must continue. The nightsoil is collected in open pans, and deposited in the Whare-o-Maranui Reserve, close to the Taradale Road. The ground here is low and moist, and as water is reached at a depth of a little over a foot, it does not lend itself readily to nitrification. It has long been an abomination to travellers using the road that passes alongside it, and unfortunately a great portion of our milksupply comes in along that road, but the nuisance is rapidly becoming less, and, with the universal introduction of water-closets, will cease altogether.