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laws demanded. He was successful in the majority of cases. He has passed away, but his place is occupied by the modern quaok or sham article. The Maori idea of disease was that it was due to atuas or demons who punished the lawbreakers. The patient had transgressed the law and was possessed. The atua had to be exorcised and the patient made clean. Local treatment alone was inadequate. This idea still lurks in the back of the Maori mind to a greater extent than many think. The old-time Maori's ailments were minor ones, but supernatural causes weighed heavy upon him, often producing the fatal melancholia that often characterized the Polynesian. But the treatment by the appropriate incantation, with purification by water, was efficacious. His recovery was speedy. This expectation has been transmitted. He detests long treatment, even though his case be chronic. Before one bottle of medicine is consumed he seeks another medical adviser, if such be available. Unless almost immediate relief follows he thinks he is attacked by a mate Maori, for which all the medical schools in Europe can give no relief. It matters not what the disease may be—asthma, bronchitis, or indigestion—if he thinks it is a mate Maori then it speedily becomes more serious, and is a mate Maori. The fear of the supernatural influencing the mind is added to ordinary disease. No matter how Europeans may ridicule the idea, to the Maori it is a real thing, and just so far as we are prepared to believe in the influence of mind in assisting or combating disease according to the patient's outlook, then just so far may we believe in mate Maori. To the European there is no such thing; to the Maori there is. Though education is speedily eradicating the idea, it will exist in the shadows of the mind for some time. It was only in 1846 that there was abolished in England the Law of Deodand, whereby not only a beast that kills a man, but a cart-wheel that runs over him, or a tree that crushes him, were Deo dandus or " given to God," being forfeited and sold for the poor. Judged by this it is really astonishing that the Maori has forgotten so much. Upon this idea people of the stamp of Rua and Wereta work. Medicine has always been intimately associated with religion amongst most races, and the Maori is no exception. Hence the influence of these modern shamans who, like the civilised tohunga, Mrs. Eddy, whom there is no Bill to suppress, evolve a system of faithhealing. The only thing in favour of Rua is his sanitary and working ideas, but the harm he does far exceeds the good. Nursing. The importance of this work has been emphasized before, and there are now Maori girls in training for this important calling. As before stated, we shall get the maximum good amongst the Maoris by a simple practical knowledge, for the Maori girl has an asset which the most highly trained European nurse has not —a knowledge of the ways and the language of the people. Just as it is unnecessary for a Maori Sanitary Inspector to know about the intricate trapping of drains, so it is not needful for a Maori nurse to know the muscles which are attached to the coracoid process. Yet difficult and, so far as the Maori is concerned, useless questions in physiology and anatomy may lose us invaluable workers. Hence it would be better for the Health Department, which is better acquainted with the Maori requirements, to draw up a syllabus of theoretical work, and set the examinations qualifying for Maori nursing. Those who have the ability to pass the hospital and State examinations could do so, but the need for Maori nurses is too urgent to risk the loss of workers who are failed for not knowing what will be unnecessary to them in their work of raising the condition of their people. Instruction in the St. Helens Homes and the feeding of infants should be amongst the most important of their subjects. Medical Inspection op Native Schools. This has existed for some time, the Native Health Officer co-operating whenever possible with the Native-school teacher. The time has come when an official examination of all the children in the schools should be made once a year and records kept. Those children having a bad family history as of phthisis can be thoroughly examined, and treatment or preventive measures impressed upon the parents. Fresh air and ventilation for these cases can be emphasized at school, in the meeting-house, and at the home during the house-to-house inspection. Care of the teeth, which must play an important part in the prevention and elimination of tuberculosis, can be specially insisted upon in these cases. Children with a small chest-expansion can be put in the front row during the breathing exercises to be under the direct supervision of the school-teacher. Of the children I measured at the Waima School, out of 37 boys, only 4 had a chest-expansion of under 2| in., and 2of these were under six years of age. One boy, aged 10 years 9 months, had an expansion of i\ in. I found that the half-caste boys of this school did not have such a good expansion as full Maoris. The difference between the expansion of less than a year ago and that of the present after a course of deep breathing is marked. The taking of these measurements in all schools, with the heights and weights, would furnish data towards setting up anthropometric standards for the Maori and be useful to science. I have, &c, Dr. Mason, Chief Health Officer, Wellington. Te Rangihiroa, M.8., Ch.B. Ruatoki, 24th April, 1908. Memorandum for Health Officer to the Maoris, Auckland. Herewith I forward a few notes, as pertaining to the Matatua district, for the year ending 31st March, 1908: Number of kaingas visited during above period, 33; number of houses inspected, 462; number of houses condemned, 7; number of houses destroyed, 5; number of new houses erected, 22 ; number of latrines built, nil. Remarks. In regard to sanitation in general, it may be described as fair on the whole. The Native does not take much interest in sanitation beyond building a better class of dwelling as the old-time

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