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ward, as usual, looks very bright and comfortable, and I am glad to notice material improvement in the same direction in those used by the male patients. A supply of comfortable chairs is, urgently needed here. Wooden forms are not suited for persons just risen from a sick bed. I have directed a requisition to be sent in to supply this want. The need for painting the interior of the hospital, and more especially the bathrooms, lavatories and closets, is very great. In their present state it is impossible to make them look presentable. Two small rooms have recently been made for the steward and dispenser, by enclosing a small portion of a back ward seldom used. This former room will serve for the accommodation of the out-patients. I find the registers very neatly kept. The case-book is filled with valuable notes by Dr. King, the Medical Officer, who is most painstaking in this work, and much liked by the patients. The president of the hospital accompanied me during my visit, but I afterwards had a private conversation with every patient; all expressed themselves as thoroughly satisfied. The grounds are well kept, and an additional piece of land is now cropped with vegetables. Some pigs are kept in a praiseworthy state of cleanliness, and are a source of profit to the hospital. December 18th, 1884.

INVERCARGILL. Since my last visit some important structural alterations have been made (upon my advice) in this hospital. In the central block, the two small rooms on both floors have been thrown into one, by the removal of the dividing partition, and a central chimney-stack. These rooms now accommodate five beds each. Between the kitchen and the hospital proper a new building has been erected. This contains, on the ground floor, a good dining-room for convalescent patients, and a linen-store ; above is a good small ward containing four beds; and, adjoining it are bedrooms for a warder, the cook, and nightwatchman. The kitchen and old wash-house have been thrown into one, a properly ventilated ceiling put up, and an excellent large range fixed, with a good circulating cylinder for hot water supply. The result is a vast improvement, and not a costly one, as the old walls were made to serve again. Outside the kitchen a good pantry and a suitable laundry have been erected. In front of the hospital a good deal of asphalting has been done, and behind it, a large rain-water tank erected on brick piers. There is also an excellent new bathroom and lavatory. The subsidy granted last year by Government for the above purposes was very largely supplemented by local subscriptions, or the work could not have been carried out. The patients resident this day, number thirty-five; of these, twenty-four are males, and eleven females. Two or three only of the whole number are of the " chronic" class, and many very " severe " cases are to be seen ; two having lately undergone amputation of the thigh. With this population, the hospital is, in my opinion, much overcrowded. Wards containing five beds are only capacious enough for three. The register shows that, on a recent occasion, forty-two patients were simultaneously under treatment. No Refuge exists anywhere in the district. I learn that, up to the end of November in the present year, two thousand and twenty-seven out-patients have been treated. All who come are provided with orders from the committee, who enquire into their fitness for gratuitous treatment. A considerable addition has been made to the furniture of the establishment. Fourteen woven-wire mattresses have been purchased, and a number of comfortable chairs. I also noticed many attractive and well-framed pictures on the walls of the wards. All the wards are provided with electric bells, so that the patients can summon the warders in case of need. Everything I found in good order and very clean. I was glad to see that the use of sheets upon every bed is now made obligatory. The dispensing is now done by the head-warder, who also keeps the registers. All in this department I found in due form. I regret to learn that Dr. Wardale is about to leave the hospital service, owing to increasing private practice. He is very popular with the patients, and appreciated by his committee. The old lunatic ward has been several times in use as an isolated building for the treatment of fever, erysipilas, and a case of suspected small-pox. This building is quite unfit for further use, and should be pulled down and rebuilt without delay, in a more commodious form. In this way the pressure upon the limited ward-sj)ace may be temporarily met; but it is clear to me that a much larger hospital will eventually be needed for this important centre of population. December 2nd, 1884.

KUMARA. I INSPECTED this hospital on Sunday, December 21st, and found the Medical Officer and two members of the Committee engaged in visiting the patients. Of these, there were nine males and one female. With one exception, all were suffering from acute illness or severe accident. The accommodation afforded by the hospital has been at times severely taxed, and in the winter a number of old or infirm persons look to it for a home, there being no " refuge" in the province. As matters now stand, it will shortly become necessary to provide more beds, which would be best accomplished by throwing the Warder's room and store into the adjoining ward, and building a new Warder's room and a small room for female patients. I notice that three new mechanical bedsteads have been purchased since my last visit, and that hot water has been laid on to the bathroom. The wash-house has also been enclosed with a front, and fitted with