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source of manure, although the cost of transit has been considerable. I was present when some tins were tipped overboard outside the area controlled by the Harbour Board, and can testify to the rapid disappearance of the offal. A few minutes after it was thrown overboard it would have been difficult to locate the place. It is a pity, however, that such a valuable manure should be lost, although, no doubt, outside the harbour it is largely eaten up by fish and sea-birds. It is gradually being recognised that the removal of refuse and excreta should be left neither to private initiative or to a contractor. Municipal control is the correct solution. According to Colonel Morse, sanitary engineer, New York, " The inherent mischief of the contract system is mainly that, being awarded in competition, the successful competitor is often compelled to work at a small margin of profit, giving poor services, causing complaint to be general and annoyance constant." In Auckland nightsoil-removal at least has proved to be a profitable undertaking when land was available at a convenient distance. Many of the present complaints, more especially from suburban residents, would be removed by the local authorities combining to take over the removal of all nightsoil. The repeated outbreaks of typhoid fever in Auckland and suburbs, whilst calling for the instant abolition of all wooden receptacles in certain, at one time notoriously, insanitary areas outside the city, cannot be kept under control until a separate system is introduced for the removal and treatment of the excreta from all infected houses. I have little doubt that flies were the main factors in disseminating this disease, more especially in Newmarket, the first focus of infection. Disinfection. The City Council has followed the good example of Grey Lynn in abolishing all charges for disinfection. Formalin lamps and sprays are now generally used by the local authorities. The principle of steam disinfection has been so far indorsed as to have justified specifications for a Washington Lyon apparatus being cabled from England. Two City Councillors, members of the Hospital Conference, also returned from Wellington advocates of this method of disinfection. Unfortunately, provision for such does not appear on the estimates of the City Council. Space should at least be marked off for the erection in the future of a disinfector near the new morgue, as one caretaker would do for both. House-to-house Inspection. By request, all the Auckland local authorities instituted a house-to-house inspection during the plague scare. Those undertaken directly by our Department revealed the necessity for an organized system of inspection. The introduction of the "card system," with a card allotted to each house, filed in streets, makes a record which can be consulted at any time. Without a system of regular house-to-house inspection there is no continuity in sanitary administration, and always lack of supervision. Military. The Easter manoeuvres passed off without any outbreak of disease. The waters of Fort Bastion and the other forts were examined, and, where necessary, improvements made. The school-cadet camp at Papakura was a model sanitary camp. Shallow latrines are now becoming general. The teachings of the Chief Health Officer in this respect are being generally followed. Offensive and Allied Trades. Westfield Chemical Manure Works : Better system of ventilation introduced. Two fish-curing establishments were removed from the city. Cemeteries. St. Mark's, Remuera : A report was made on this well-kept cemetery, with a recommendation that it be closed for further burials owing to close proximity to a residential area. 1 was present at the exhumations necessitated by the erection of the Symonds Street Cemetery Bridge. Little remained of any of the skeletons. Although, as president of the local society, strenuously advocating cremation, I recognise that superficial earth burial is not objectionable from a hygienic standpoint if there question of contamination of a water-supply or the air of dwellinghouses built on adjoining ground. The action of the City Council in closing Symonds Street Cemetery is to be commended. No doubt before the close of the century this area will no longer be given up to the dead. Public Buildings. Magistrate's Court: At the request of the Stipendiary Magistrate this building was fumigated and some improvements in ventilation introduced. The Telephone Exchange : Separate transmitters were allotted to each operator. Our own offices have been much improved. Lodging-houses. Midnight inspections to find out whether the occupants were " tenants for the night and strangers to each other," or weekly and so not within the scope of the regulations, were the means of abolishing three ramshackle residences which had existed too long. Others applied for licenses, and after complying with the regulations some were granted, others were not. In the interests of commercial travellers and tourists, more especially in prohibition districts such as the Kingcountry, regulations for boardinghouses are much required.