H.—3l

Prosecutions under the Adulteration Prevention Act. No. 1. 9th October, 1905. Adulteration of milk with boracic acid. Fined 100s., and costs 7s. Prosecutions by other Departments at Instigation of Health Department. Unregistered dairy, Wanganui, 1. Drainage, and Disposal of Refuse. Considerable progress has been made in many of the country towns as regards drainage, and many of these are now models of what modern sewerage should be. At New Plymouth and Palmerston North the septic tanks are now in working-order, though in the latter, since few of the houses are as yet connected, only part of the plant is in use. Both these have been inspected, and they appear to be working satisfactorily. At Stratford the tank continues to give the most ideal results as regards effluent. At Feilding the tank is not yet at work. At the request of the Council I visited the site to advise them as to the possibility of nuisance being caused to a neighbouring house. This matter was satisfactorily arranged. The work of laying the sewerage is approaching completion at Feilding, Carterton, Pahiatua, and Lower Hutt, and plans for small schemes have been submitted and approved for Eketahuna and Kaponga. At the latter place the work is completed, having been done under the supervision of Mr. Schauer, Chief Inspector. In most of the places where sewerage is being laid the District Inspectors test the work as it proceeds, while all house-connections are made under their supervision. At Nelson I inspected and approved the proposed site for the septic tank. Nightsoil-depots have been inspected and approved for Karori Picton. Rubbish reserves have been granted by the Commissioner of Crown Lands for Taihape and Kimbolton. Unfortunately for the latter place, the site granted proved quite unsuitable and a new position has been applied for. Plans for private drainage schemes have been dealt with for the following places : Schools — Okaiawa ; hotels, boardinghouses—Manaia, Opunake ; milk-factories—Bunnythorpe. For Picton Hospital, improvements in the present tank have been designed after inspection of the ground. Improvements in the drainage have been carried out at the instance of the Department for 735 private premises. The following list of inspections and reinspections have been made by the Inspectors throughout the whole district in connection with —Complaints, 362; legal actions, 20; infectious diseases, 514; butchers' shops, 381 ; bakers' shops, 275 ; dairies, 393 ; fruiterers' shops, 473 ; auction-rooms, 160 ; fish-shops, 151 ; factories, 189 ; foodstuffs, 58 ; houses, 4,071 ; hotels and boardinghouses, 809 ; schools, 174 ; back yards, &c, 1,584 ; pan-privies, sewers &c, 819 ; unclassified, 1,134 : total, 11,567. By-laws. To meet the requirements of small boroughs and town Boards which have not attained to the luxury of a drainage scheme, a set of by-laws has been drafted which it is hoped may serve as models for the guidance of such bodies. These by-laws have been submitted to the District Health Officers in other districts with a view to obtaining suggestions and opinions thereon; they will then be submitted to you, and if approved will be sent to the Crown Law Officers to be put into legal shape. Meantime, I have supplied drafts to various local bodies in the district which are engaged in framing by-laws. They include clauses dealing with nuisances, buildings, air-space, nightsoil-removal, keeping of animals, and a few for the general guidance of people who are putting in private drainage, since, even where the means of disposal is of no more ambitious a design than a cesspit, there is no reason why the houseconnections should not be made so as to avoid the more gross errors so commonly found in small communities. All are of necessity made as simple as possible, so as to suit the more primitive communities for which they are designed. I have also in hand suggested models for larger communities, but unfortunately this work, owing to lack of time, progresses slowly. By-laws have been submitted by the following districts : Feilding (drainage), Inglewood (general sanitary), Petone (structure of stables). These have been approved. Draft by-laws have been forwarded to the following : Feilding (drainage), Eketahuna (drainage and general), Blenheim (nightsoil), Martinborough (general sanitary and nightsoil), Opunake (general sanitary), Kaponga (general sanitary), Picton (nightsoil, and for buildings), Horowhenua County (buildings). Suggested amendments in the present by-laws have been forwarded to Carterton and Wanganui. Examination of Water-supplies. At the request of Dr. Valintine I began a systematic bacteriological examination of -the watersupplies in the principal centres in New Zealand. As it is impossible, for accurate bacteriological work, to use samples which have taken perhaps several days in transit, it has been necessary to visit most of these places in person; and naturally this occupies a great deal of time, while to be of real value it will be necessary to do each at least twice a year. It is therefore impossible at present for me to carry on the work in the manner which its importance demands. The system I have used is to make the usual

43