5

H.-31

Current rate of wage for the work they do. I have had help from many Departments in various matters concerning the public health, but certainly I have never experienced anything like what Mr. Matthews, the Chief Forester, and Mr. Goudie, the Chief Nurseryman, have given us in this adventure. Mr. Matthews has gone out of his way to confer with Dr. Makgill, who has been intrusted to report upon a permanent camp, and his assistant, Mr. Goudie, has done yeoman service with respect to the cleaning-up of the ground, the setting-up of the tents, and everything pertaining to the establishment of " Karere." Mr. Reid, of the prison camp, has also been most helpful. Twelve ex-patients from Te Waikato have been sent down to " Karere," and Sister Urquhart has been placed in charge. The Department provides tents, bedding, cooking-utensils, and all that belongs to an encampment. The men have to keep the tents in order, arrange for the cooking, do their own washing, and earn as much as they can at the tree-planting. The name chosen for this new venture is one which, if its meaning be fulfilled, will assuredly bring gladness to many poor souls and at the same time be an advance from an economic point of view. "Karere" is the " goer-before," "the forerunner," "the harbinger" —the bringer of good tidings to the afflicted. lam certain it will succeed. Dr. Makgill has gone very carefully into the matter of the larger encampment. I asked him to inspect certain places, more especially Taupo. The main disadvantage of a camp at that place would be the expense of transporting goods, &c, from Rotorua. Did the railway tap the land there, no'better site could be obtained. Herewith is Dr. Makgill-'b report. Department of Public Health (Pathological Laboratory), Wellington, Ith May, 1908. Memorandum for Dr. Mason, Chief Health Officer, Wellington. tree-planting camp for consumptives. At your suggestion I have looked into the question of the establishment of a tree-planting colony for ex-patients from the Sanatorium, and have collected a good deal of information bearing on the question. Of course, as the proposal strikes out a new line, there are certain to arise aspects which have not been foreseen; but, so far as I have been able to judge the probable working of the project, there is every reason to believe that it will prove profitable both to the patients and to the Dominion, while the cost to the Department is moderate compared to the advantages which must follow. I need not go into the question of the necessity for finding suitable employment for these expatients, as this problem has been repeatedly gone into in the annua! reports of the Department, and any one who has had any connection with sanatorium work recognises that such emploj'ment must be regarded as a necessary sequel to sanatorium treatment if satisfactory results are to be obtained. The period immediately following discharge from that institution is the crucial point, determining whether the improvement is to be permanent, or whether the dormant tendency to disease is to be permitted to reawaken, encouraged thereto by a return to unwholesome methods of life. We all know how difficult it is to find wholesome out-of-door work for and we also know that the average employer of labour, with the usual exaggerated notion of the dangers of infection, fights shy of the man with a consumptive history, and that from a similar cause the public avoid goods produced by these unfortunates. In tree-planting as an occupation these difficulties do not arise. Even the most nervous would scarcely fear to use the timber from a tree planted by a consumptive, while from the medical point of view, no employment could closer approximate the ideal. The work is not heavy; it entails a life absolutely in the open, and, most fortunately, the places in the Dominion most suited for tree-planting are also those with the most perfect climates for the treatment of Wberculosis. It is also a matter for congratulation that the head officers of the Forestry Department are in full sympathy with the scheme, and are quite prepared to co-operate with the Health Department in organizing a tree-planting camp in some suitable spot. I should like to mention here the courteous assistance I have received from Mr. Kensington, Chief Land Commissioner, who is in full sympathy with the project, and has offered us every encouragement. Mr. Matthews, Chief Forester, and Mr. Goudie, Head of the Rotorua Nurseries, also have both gone out of their way to help us in finding suitable sites for a camp, and have, by their advice and explanation of the requirements of the work, gone far towards making the way clear. In estimating the cost of the scheme it is necessary first to consider the method of management, and how this may affect the question of site. 1. Management, Staff, die. We must presuppose that the patients are fit for the work, and to this end it will be necessary that none be accepted who have not passed an examination by some one with a clearer idea of the requirements than the ordinary medical man. I would suggest, then, that, except those sent forward by the Medical Superintendent at Cambridge Sanatorium, all applicants from other