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myself in an address to the Council, was that the consumptives, who will come and must be allowed to enter and live in Cambridge Borough, should be housed in recognised homes under conditions which would give them the best possible chance of deriving some benefit from their stay, and, on the other hand, would protect the inhabitants from uncomfortableness or infection. The middle way was avoided, not because of any logical unsoundness, but on account of a preponderance of that feeling towards less fortunate and less happy human beings which measures itself only at " per foot on the frontage." Rotorua Town. —The principal outcome this year has been that a set of by-lawsjs being drawn up for the Town Council by the Department to regulate sanitary matters in their entirety ; and, because of Rotorua being a resort for tourists accustomed to the best of sanitary methods, it is intended that these by-laws shall not err on the side of wanting strictness and up-to-dateness. It has not been my lot before to see sewerage-work done in this colony with such care and attention and subjected to such severe tests as the work now being constructed under the personal charge of Mr. Hanna, of the Public Works Department. A new water-supply for the town has been authorised by the Government. With this new supply, good sewerage, and good house-drainage, Rotorua may claim to be really a health resort. GENERAL MATTERS. Quarantine Regulations. During the year there has been no inspection of passengers other than that by the Port Health Officer on arrival of the ship and issuing of certificates for further examination under these regulations. Dr. Sharman, Port Health Officer, desired consultations with me on two occasions before granting pratique. During my absence in the country on another occasion Dr. F. W. Gordon acted for me. Owing to the new harbour-works the shed for the fumigation of mails had to be moved to the Hobson Street Wharf. No fumigation has been performed in the shed so far. Harbour-pollution. Most of the sewers in Auckland, even those lately constructed, have been designed on the oldfashioned " combined system " —they carry both sewage and storm-water. These contents are conveyed in the raw untreated condition as far as the foreshore of the harbour. It is admitted by all that the inner harbour —that in the immediate neighbourhood of the wharves —already seriously polluted, is becoming increasingly foul day by day, as population and consequently sewer-contents increase. Surrounded with difficulties on all sides and of varying characters in carrying out-the removal of nightsoil by the pan or " conservancy " system, most of the suburban bodies have turned their thoughts to the " water-carriage " system. In all such systems the Waitemata or Manukau Harbour-waters are the natural final disposal-grounds —always excepting those small systems in Mount Eden and elsewhere, where volcanic caves, natural or artificial, are ostensibly the receptacles of the sewage, the final disposal of which, however, is most likely explained by the excess of nitrates in the city watersupply. The position as to sewage-disposal in harbour-waters is perhaps best here stated in the form of an extract from a letter addressed by me to the Auckland Harbour Board, a copy of which was sent to the local bodies interested. " In continuance of my letter of the 6th July [1904], and your Board's subsequent action in notifying the local authorities concerned that they must discontinue the discharge of offensive sewage into the harbour, may I suggest the need of defining under what conditions sewage may be permitted to mix with harbour-waters. It is not practicable to cause all sewage to be discharged into deep water outside harbour-limits. The various local governing bodies would, I think, be better able to direct future efforts to carry out your Board's requisition if some standard were fixed. Some local authorities have expressed it to me that they hesitate to act fearing your Board may in the future refuse to continue to sanction such works as may be to-day engaged upon with a view of fulfilling —to the best of presentday knowledge —the requirement that sewage must be discharged into the harbour so as not to be offensive. I respectfully suggest a standard on the following lines for your Board's consideration : — " 1. Definition of word ' sewage ' : Sewage shall include solid and liquid excreta of man, the liquid excreta of animals ; waste waters from sinks, lavatories, baths, &c, waste water resulting from trade processes. " 2. That no sewage be permitted to be discharged in the raw or untreated condition into the harbour at anyfpoint within the area controlled by your Board. " 3. The treatment to which raw sewage must be submitted before discharge into the harbour shall be such as to insure the fulfilment of the requirements of section 72, subsection (9), of " The Public Health Act, 1900," and section 283 of " The Municipal Corporations Act, 1900.' " 4. No sewage, be it in the raw or untreated condition or an effluent after subjection to the treatment required by clause 3 shall be permitted to be discharged within the limits defining the future inner harbour, that between the east and west breakwaters of your Engineer's permanent harbour scheme. " 5. That, elsewhere than specified in clause 4, the point of discharge of treated sewage, or effluents, shall be below low water, or where the length of foreshore is great- —that is, the distance between H.W.S.T. and L.W.S.T.—then discharge shall be at such distance from the H.W.S.T. mark as your Board shall decide upon in each individual case." Sewage-Disposal. As during last year a very great amount of time has necessarily been given to persons seeking advice upon " septic tanks." I use the word " necessarily " for the reason that, convinced of the need of the greatest caution where such installations are proposed, I have, as far as possible, declined to take the responsibility of advising unless I have personally examined the proposed site and all the surround-