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to the Wellington Hospital, and if they wanted to get hold of anybody then a doctor was got from Wellington. I was rung up, I think, once or twice on my own telephone. 266. 1 understand that when the orderly or nurse considered a case serious they would go 300 yards away aud ring you up ?—Yes. 267. The Chairman.] Was it a private house that had the telephone, or a penny-in-the-slot telephone?—No, not a penny-in-the-slot telephone; it was in a house somewhere near the tramline. 268. Dr. Martin.] Where were you living at this time? —At the Hutt. 269. Supposing you wished at any time to communicate with the hospital at Berhampore, how did you arrange it—did you ring up the house? —No; I never rang up the house. 270. How would you ring vp —you would naturally communicate?—l never rang up, because there was no necessity. I could not have done so if I had wanted to, and there was no necessity. 271. You did not communicate from the Hutt?—No. I did communicate with a doctor and asked him to go and see, 272. Were you satisfied with this means of communication? —Absolutely satisfied up to the time of that week. 273. When was the telephone put into the Berhampore Hospital? —Early in June. We had wanted a telephone from the very beginning, but we could not get it. It was put in after the 6th June. 274. After you returned from the South?- —Yes, and I used to ring up twice a day then. 275. The Chairman.] No injurious consequences followed, to your knowledge, from this absence of the telephone?—l am absolutely certain no injurious consequences followed. 276. Dr. Martin.] You say you asked for a telephone and it was refused? —Yes. 277. Who refused?—l suppose those in authority. 278. You asked for a telephone to be put in an infectious-diseases hospital and it was refused ?—Yes. 279. Could you produce the correspondence?—lt will be on the requisition. I will try and get it. We never laid very much stress on it because we never had had more than twenty or twenty-four patients there. 280. You would have sent the requisition in through the Adjutant-General?—Through the Stores. Captain Duncan Stout went out and he made a report on the building, and he put in a requisition for everything he thought was necessary, and 1 think on that requisition was a telephone. 281. That report went into the Adjutant-General?—Yes. 282. And you backed up the requisition with your weight as D.M.S. and it was refused? —Yes. They said, " Could you not, do without it? " and 1 said " Yes, I suppose we can." There were no serious cases there, and we had nurses, and Wellington Hospital is close at hand, and it is so easy to transfer a patient wdio shows the slightest sign of illness and I arranged that that was to be so. 283. Mr. Ferguson.] Who refused the requisition?—l do not know who does those things. 284. You say it was refused ?—Well, we did not get it. ■ 285. Dr. Martin.] Then the Adjutant-General is responsible for those things?—lt generally comes from the Stores. I expect Colonel Pilkington struck that off. 1 think Captain Duncan Stout put it on the requisition. 1 was told it was applied for. 286. You thought it was necessary?—l should have liked it, 287. Mr. Ferguson.] Do you of your own knowledge know that it was requisitioned for? —No. 288. Dr. Martin.] Were you satisfied to have the hospital there without a telephone?— Yes, quite, under the conditions we were working up to the time of the big rush, and then something different had to be done. 289. Who was the judge if a case was going wrong at the hospital?— The head nurse; the temperature would tell her. 290. What would she do? —She nearly always rang me up, and sent the patient straight away to the Wellington Hospital. 1 said, "If you have the slightest suspicion in any shape or form that a patient is not doing well, send them to the Wellington Hospital." I had arranged that with Dr. Barclay, and it was always done; but I say not a single case did badly. 291. Mr. Ferguson.] How many cases were sent back from Berhampore to Wellington Hospital?—l could not say from memory. 292. The Chairman.] You are speaking of the time up to the 20th June?—No, up to the 6th June. 293. Were you not responsible for the fourteen days?—ln that way there was a sort of interregnum. 294. Who was responsible during those fourteen days?—l think I was. T take the responsibility, anyhow. I think Dr. Harrison went to see the patients also. 295. Dr. Martin.] You say the patients were sent to the Wellington Hospital on the authority of the sister in charge?—On my authority and the authority of the sister in charge. 296. But the sister used her own judgment?— Yes, if she thought a case was at all of a serious nature. 297. Was that always done? —Yes, always done. 298. There is no instance on record of the sergeant in charge having sent patients to Wellington Hospital?—l do not know, because Sergeant Yallop. when he came on, being a man of authority and having knowledge, may also have taken authority. I gave him orders also to the same effect —that if a man was not doing well he was to be sent to the Wellington Hospital immediately—not to wait even an hour, and even if they had to bring a man from the Wellington Hospital who was convalescent.