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my greatest difficulties is to find a Maori in whom it is possible to implant any sense of official responsibility, and I fear that this difficulty will not be overcome till they have the free access to English books and ideas, in which I have a continually-increasing belief that the whole future of this kindly and assuredly improvable people must now depend. I have, &c, Frederick J. Moss, British Resident. His Excellency the Administrator of the Government, &c, New Zealand.

Enclosure No. 1. Asking Hospital Board to obtain Information. Sib, — Rarotonga, sth July, 1897. I am directed by the Chief of the Government, at the request of the British Resident, to ask, when the report of the Hospital Board is laid before Parliament, that it may make special reference—names of patients, of course, omitted —to any cases, in the course of either hospital or private practice (if the medical officer does not object to the last named), in which illness or disease is caused by or attributable in any way to the use of intoxicating liquor. The report to distinguish between Maoris and others so treated. I have, &c, Makea Daniela, The Chairman of the Hospital Board, Rarotonga. Clerk to Cook Islands Government.

Enclosure No. 2. Sin, — Rarotonga, sth July, 1897. I should feel much obliged if you will let me know, as the result of your experience at the Cook Islands Hospital and in private practice in Rarotonga, the number of Maori cases treated by you in which intoxicating liquor was the direct cause of disease, the number in which you consider it was the indirect cause, and the proportion which each of them, direct or indirect, bears to the number of cases of all kinds treated by you. I have, &c, Dr. Caldwell, Rarotonga. Frederick J. Moss, British Resident.

Enclosure No. 3. Gentlemen, — Cook Islands Hospital, 13th July, 1897. In compliance with your tequest that I should furnish you with a report upon any cases of disease directly or indirectly the result of alcoholic indulgence, 1 herewith give you the following particulars :— In sending this report the Board should remember that, while a special group of diseases is directly attributable to alcohol, the excessive use of alcohol has a baneful influence on disease in general, increasing the liability of individuals to disease, and weakening their natural powers of resistance and repair. In going over my diary and selecting cases I have noted all cases in which I can recognise alcohol as an important factor. The proportion in such cases is large, but it must be remembered that in this community there are special facilities and encouragement given for the liquor traffic among natives. With regard to the white population, it is so small, and the habits of the individuals are so well known, that it is inadvisable to present statistics on this subject. The following statement applies solely to the native population: Of the seven native in-patients, two were alcoholic. One of these has recently died from the effects of disease due to alcohol. Out of 130 native out-patients of different ages and sex there were twenty-four cases in which disease was the result of, or influenced by, overindulgence in alcohol. Trusting that this report will meet the requirements of the Board, I have, &c, The Chairman, Hospital Board, Rarotonga. George Craig, M.8., CM., Edin.

Enclosure No. 4. Sir, — Rarotonga, 15th July, 1897. I am directed to thank you for sending Dr. Craig's letter o£ the 13th July, respecting the proportion of diseases attributable to drink among the cases treated by him, and to ask if he will be kind enough to state the nature of the twenty-four cases in which disease was the result of, or influenced by, over-indulgence in alcohol. Dr. Craig also says, " The proportion of such cases is large, but it must be remembered that in this community there are special facilities and encouragement given for the liquor traffic among natives." lam directed to ask that Dr. Craig will also be kind enough to state what are " the special facilities and encouragement " to which he refers. I have, &c, Makea Daniela, The Chairman of the Hospital Board, Rarotonga. Clerk to Cook Islands Government.

Enclosure No. 5. Sir, — Rarotonga, Cook Islands, 16th July, 1897. Your letter, dated 6th July, has reached me. You ask me to give you the number of cases of sickness of natives treated by me in Rarotonga, both in hospital and private practice, which were directly or indirectly traceable to the use of intoxicating liquors. I will undertake to comply with your request, though, not having classified my cases in my case-book with reference to that subject, I must not be regarded as exactly accurate, only approximately so. I will add that I consider my position among the people here is such as to enable me to learn the cause of their sickness with far more accuracy than I could if in a position of either ecclesiastical or political authority over them. I am convinced, by testimony which has come freely from many of the natives themselves, that it is becoming comparatively rare for them to be satisfied with the " bush beer " alone. I have known a barrel of that article to be almost abandoned on a Sunday afternoon by those who made it when they learned that a little way off another barrel had been made and " fortified " with " kava paapaa." It is not an uncommon thing among the intellectual class of men in other countries to observe that many use wines and liquors moderately for years before they drink to excess. I cannot recall the name of a single native who has been able to restrain himself to habitually drink in moderation. Even the best of them who drink at all have been known to drink to intoxication. Once or twice I have thought an exception had been found, but further acquaintance has shown that my conclusions were drawn before the testimony was complete. This is the result of my observation among the more intellectual of them. Among the rank and file who live in the " bush " there really seems to be no self-restraint so long as the intoxicant lasts. No one who confined his observation to the street and public places could form an idea of the degrading effects of the Sunday " beer-barrel "in back bush land. Men, women, and sometimes children, gather round the barrel and drink until crazed by intoxication. Then half-naked —sometimes wholly naked—they sing lewd songs, called " ute," until continued drinking stupefies them, and stupor and sleep put an end to their shameful conduct. I have seen it myself, and know this description to be too tame to depict all the evils of the " bush beer " mixed with " kava paapaa." Many of the illegitimate births so common here, and the shameless licentiousness, the effects of which are so ofton forced upon the attention of the medical practitioner, are traceable directly to these orgies, or to the depraved moral sensibilities resulting from them. " Bush beer "is chiefly dangerous because of the decaying fruit consumed with the beer, since it contains but a small percentage of alcohol. The heavy liquors are objectionable because of the high percentage of alcohol found in them. In " fortified " bush beer, now in common use, are combined the evils of both and the advantages of neither.