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ill-ventilated rooms." " OC 2 : o'3 to o'4 per 1,000 parts in air. o'2 per 1,000 parts is the limit of admissible impurity, l'l per 1,000 C0 3 in air of a room after occupation shows that only 857 cubic feet of air entered during occupation. l'O per 1,000, that 1,000 cubic feet of air entered during occupation. In repose a soldier would evolve o'7 C0 3 per 1,000. 3,000 cubic feet of fresh air should be provided per hour for each occupant of a hut. CO a is the chief measure of air-vitiation : not because it exists in such an amount, as to influence health, but because it appeal's to exist in a constant ratio with the other offensive and possibly more dangerous impurities. We may accept the C0 3 present in any given air-sample as the best and most reliable index of air-pollution." "Warmth concerns the positive mental asset of physical comfort and the negative effect of cold in lowering physiological resistance. Every effort should be made to keep the men warm. The trouble involved in making simple arrangements for the men's comforts is amply repaid by the increased efficiency which results " (Major Lelean, in " Sanitation in War "). Next to the overcrowding of the huts and the defective ventilation, the gravest fault in their design is the use or iron on the walls without inside lining. Timber, canvas, oi' asbestos sheets on wood frames would have been cheaper than iron at the present prices, and, possessing less conductivity than iron, would have preserved a more equable temperature in the huts. In South Africa iron was used extensively owing to the other materials, except canvas, being unobtainable or too expensive, but it was recognized that it was unsatisfactory. Bare iron huts are dangerous, cruel, and unhealthy, because the iron intensifies the temperature of the outside atmosphere. The draughts complained of in the huts were frequently the cold waves radiated from the iron on to the men's bodies, and, owing to the position in which they lay, on to the most vulnerable parts — i.e., the head and chest, I can speak from personal experience of the chilling and devitalizing results of sleeping in an unlined, unwarmed, bare iron hut during cold and frosty weather, and the coldest part of the night usually coincides with the time when the vitality of the body is at its lowest. 6. Dr. Martin] What time?— From 2 to 4 o'clock in the morning. The huts should be lined and ceiled across at the level of the collar-tie, and outlets provided for the escape of foul aii'. It is doubtful whether the ventilation can be improved while the huts lie so close together unless mechanical means be employed. It would facilitate the admission of fresh air if some of the sashes were hung at the side and opening outwards to catch any current of air that may pass down between the huts, and if ridge ventilators were installed to catch the currents of air passing over- the tops of huts and so draw out the impure air inside. At present they are hung by the side and opening at the bottom, and owing to the closeness of the huts and the formation of the eaves a light current of air that might pass down between is not carried into the huts at all. The sashes should be opening outwards on the same principle as the hoppers used on the steamers in the Red Sea : there they put out a hopper and a fresh breeze is drawn into the cabins. Plenty of fresh air can get into the huts in windy weather, but they are too close together to admit fresh air in calm weather. 7. The Ghiirman] Does that complete the statement you desired to make? —Yes, sir. 8. Mr. Ferguson] Would you elaborate the point that you made about putting a ceiling at the level of the collar-tie? Why do you think the huts should be ceiled at the level of the collartie?—lt would help the passage of air through the huts. That is my view of what is required if you wish to have perfect ventilation. 9. It really shows that wdien you make anything less than a house you get into the region of danger? They would almost become permanent huts with ceilings and so on, would they not? —It is essential for the health of the occupants. It would be money well spent. 10. The Chairman] You have made an exceedingly valuable contribution to the evidence on this subject. I think we are greatly indebted to you for the trouble you have taken?— Thank you, your Honour. I think that the principles governing the treatment of consumptives might very well have been applied in this camp. 11. That is what we understood was the principle that was applied—that as a consumptive seems to do best in a place having a constant flow of air, such a place would do well there?—l think it would have been better to have simply built consumptive shelters. Those huts would be death-traps to consumptives. There is no sunshine, no proper ventilation. They are of the wrong type altogether for consumptives. They are wrong, I consider, for healthy men. Of course, the overcrowding was the greatest fault. It does not matter how well-ventilated the rooms were, the fact that the men were lying so close together must have increased the risk. 12. Mr. Ferguson] We are faced with this difficulty in connection with that: the expert who designed the consumptive shelters—or the great bulk of them—was one of the Board which designed these hutments, and designed them on the result of his experience of consumptive shelters : he told us in evidence that it was in consequence of his experience that he so designed these sheds?—Do I understand from that that there are consumptive shelters of that type in New Zealand? - . , ■ ■ 13. I do not know that?—! should hope not, sir. There is no authority who would not condemn that type of hut. ■_ ~..,, ___.__, . 14 Mr Gray] You realize that the men are,not living in these huts : they have their meals and sleep there, but are out all day?— That is the important point. If they were working in those huts they would be healthier. _ 15 Without questioning your sincerity in the matter, may I ask who requested you to make an examination of these hutments at the camp ?—I got permission from the Commission. The Chair-man: We understood that Mr. Robb was going to do so. '■Mr Ferguson: I think we understood, that Mr, Robb had had experience in South Africa of military hutments, and that he would like to give us the result, of that experience, and we approached him.