H.—3la.

Gore . There are three private maternity hospitals at Gore—one of six beds and two of four beds each. Two of them are subsidized £30 each to pay for the admittance of indigent cases. A local committee holds the sum of £765 16s. 7d. which was subscribed by the local citizens twenty years ago for the construction of a maternity annexe at Gore. A local resident also left £900-£l,ooo some years ago to defray the cost of construction of maternity and children's wards. This money, along with Government subsidy, is held by the Southland Hospital Board and now amounts to about £3,000. These funds should be used to help defray the construction cost of a public maternity annexe at Gore. Mat aura. Mataura is the seat of the New Zealand Paper Mill's plant, and its population is destined to show steady and gradual expansion. There is a private hospital of three private beds, which meet the present needs fairly adequately. Wyndham. The four private beds at Wyndham are all that are required. Bluff. At Bluff there is a three-bedded private hospital which receives a subsidy of £50 per annum from the Hospital Board. Stewart Island. On the Island there is a district nurse who is a qualified midwife and who attends about six mothers per annum in their own homes. Winton. At Winton there is a private hospital of three beds which receives a subsidy of £50 per annum to compensate for caring for indigent cases. Lumsden. Here the Board has provided a converted-house hospital, along with a subsidy of £150 per annum. The efficacy or otherwise of this arrangement remains to be proved. Queenstown. At Queenstown a private hospital of four beds receives a Board subsidy of £100 a year and is meeting the needs of the district. Glenorchy. Glenorchy is an isolated area inland from Queenstown. The residents are engaged in mining and farming. The population is not sufficient to warrant the appointment of a nurse, and it appears that the solution of their problem lies in the construction of a road from Queenstown to Glenorchy. Pembroke. The area of the Southland Hospital Board district which lies around Lake Wanaka has but little community of interest with the remainder of the area ; indeed, during the portion of the year when snow renders the Crown Range Road impassable, the route to Queenstown from Pembroke lies over the Cromwell Flat, and maternity cases for that area go chiefly to Cromwell. Invercargill. Public-hospital Facilities. —In Invercargill there is a twelve-bedded St. Helens' Hospital, which is at times grossly overcrowded. Structurally it is not capable of providing accommodation for the number of patients which are being admitted. The average occupied bed rate is 10-4, and 285 patients were confined therein last year. It is recommended that a new St. Helens Hospital be erected at Invercargill at the earliest opportunity. There is no public provision for abnormal cases, and provision for such cases should be made in the new St. Helens block or in a Hospital Board institution. There is no public provision in Invercargill for those mothers who desire to be attended by the doctor of their choice.

66