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West Harbour. Dunedin City having offered to supply water at 6d. per thousand gallons at the nearest suburban boundary, the West Harbour ratepayers are to be asked to vote for a loan of £5,000 for reticulating the more thickly populated portions of the borough. North-east Valley. Soon after the Borough of North-east Valley amalgamated with Dunedin City the combined ratepayers sanctioned a loan of £17,000 to extend the water-supply to the newly amalgamated area. Green Island. A water-supply to cost £6,500 is now well under way. The supply is being obtained from Silverstream, which has also been one of the sources of the supply of Dunedin City for many years. St. Kilda. A satisfactory offer having been received from Dunedin City to supply water at 6d. per thousand gallons, a loan of £4,350 was approved for reticulations, and the work is proceeding apace. Roxburgh. A loan of £600 has been granted by the Government Advances Department for a water-supply for this small town in Central Otago. The source is to be the high hills behind the town. Other Similar Improvements. Satisfactory improvements, chiefly drainage, though on a somewhat minor scale, have also been carried out at Waikaia and Waikaka by the Southland County Council. The Tuapeka County Council also is now facing the question of the drainage of Kelso, and the Taieri Council that of Middlemarch. By-laws. inspector Cameron has almost completed the drafting of a comprehensive set of by-laws for several of the local authorities in Southland. The code is being made to suit in nearly every respect the whole of the Councils concerned, minor alterations being made to suit individual cases. Invercargill Sewerage. Matters in this connection have made haste slowly since last annual report. Mr. J. Sturrock, Town Engineer, left for Napier in July last, when in the middle of preparing sewerage scheme for Invercargill and suburbs. However, he sent his completed scheme on to the Council in September. The total scheme, to cost £106,000, provides for a "partially separate system"—the existing rough-and-ready sewers to carry away all storm-water off the streets into the Estuary, as now, and the new sewers to take all sewage, together with the storm-water from roofs and yards only. The sewers would gravitate chiefly from east to west into a main outfall running from north to south along the foreshore of the Estuary. A pumping-station at Kew, some two miles south of the General Post-office, would deliver the sewage into septic tanks, used for disintegrating purposes only. No filter-beds would be installed meanwhile, the ettluent from the tanks being discharged straight into the Estuary. The Council eventually decided to get Mr. R. L. Mestayer, of Wellington, to report, the result ultimately being that Mr. Mestayer advocated the "entirely separate" Shone system, to cost £87,000. The Council is still undecided between the rival schemes. Dr. Valintine has suggested to refer the matter to a commission of Government experts for decision. Dunedin Drainage System. The Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board has now constructed fifty-four miles of new sewers, part of them under the " separate " system and part under the " combined." The Board, in addition, took over at the start twenty-six miles of "combined " sewers from the city. Ultimately these will be superseded by new " separate " sewers. The works at present in progress are the reticulation of North-east Valley, the harbour-frontage, and the Bay* View Road area. The completion of St. Clair, Momington, and Caversham is to be proceeded with next. During last year 767 premises were connected to the sewerage system. The New Public-health Duties ok Hospital Boards. All the Hospital Boards in this Otago-Southland District are cheerfully facing the new duties and responsibilities which now devolve upon the Hospital Boards throughout the Dominion on account of the recent amendment in the law governing the enforcing of precautions to prevent the spread of infectious disease, and providing for the efficient carrying-out of general sanitary inspections. The Otago Hospital Board has already appointed one Inspector for Dunedin and the surrounding districts, and another, to be stationed at Balclutha, will commence work on Ist April next. All the suburbs of Dunedin are availing themselves of the services of the Board's Inspectors to carry out the general inspection of their respective areas, and have each agreed to pay the Board for these services a special annual contribution in addition to the usual levy for general purposes. So far only comparatively few of the country boroughs have handed over their general inspectionpowers to the Board, but most probably a large proportion will do so once the proposals are more fully laid before the various Councils by personal interviews. The two Central Otago Boards of Vincent and Maniototo are also making arrangements for the proper carrying-out of their public-health work. The Southland Hospital Board's Inspector also takes up his duties on Ist April. Several of the local authorities have already agreed to hand their general inspection-powers over to the Board, and Inspector Cameron has almost completed negotiations with a number of others as well. Dr. Finch, of Christchurch. has rlso laid the matter before several of the Mayors or Town Clerks. The Wallace Hospital Board, having jurisdiction over only a comparatively small district, has agreed with the Southland Board for the services of the latter's Inspectors.