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A.—3c

Sir,— Rarotonga, 14th March, 1911. I am compelled to remind you that you have not replied to my letter of 27th February last. Since then I have had a letter from you on a matter of minor importance. You have been placed in charge of the administration of these Islands, and it is your duty to see that your officers do their work. . I am, &c, C. M. Dawson. P.S. —Perhaps you cannot see that in this matter human lives are concerned. The Resident Commissioner, Rarotonga.

Sir,— 14th March, 1911. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of the 27th February last and the 14th instant respectively; and, in reply, to inform you that the whole of the correspondence will be handed to the Chief Medical Officer on his arrival for him to deal with, as indicated in mine of Ist February addressed to you. I have, &c, J. Eman Smith, Dr. C. M. Dawson, Rarotonga. Resident Commissioner.

Sir, — Cook Islands Administration, Wellington, 18th April, 1911. ■ 1 beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 22nd February last, forwarding copies of correspondence between Dr. Dawson and yourself, relating to the admission of certain patients to the Hospital. Further correspondence on the subject has been published in the Dominion, from which it appears that one of the patients referred to by Dr. Dawson has since died, and that an operation on another had to be performed in a Native house. The correspondence, has caused considerable comment here, and I think it most unfortunate that every possible facility was not given for the treatment of these cases in the Hospital. I shall be glad to receive full reports, giving the reasons for the objections to the admission of these cases to the Hospital. I have, &c, The Resident Commissioner, Rarotonga. J. Carroll.

Sir, — New Zealand Cook Islands Administration, Rarotonga, 16th May, 1911. Referring to your letter of the 18th April last, at the time of writing you had not received mine of the 27th April forwarding further correspondence on the subject mentioned in your letter. You will notice by my letter of the Ist February that Dr. Dawson was given every opportunity of sending in the patients mentioned by him whom he was attending prior to the Ist February. He did not send them to the Hospital when they would have been admitted. If you refer to Dr. Story's letter of the 2Sth February you will see the following : " Up to date of writing no case has been brought to the Hospital by Dr. Dawson, and my assistance has not been requested>.-to attend to Dr. Dawson's private patients." If Dr. Dawson had sent his patients to the Hospital, in accordance with my letter of the Ist February, all that possibly could be done by himself and with the assistance of the Acting Medical Officer would have been done.After all, they were his private patients. In consequence of the illness of Dr. Chesson, which was backed up by medical certificates, before any such cases were reported by Dr. Dawson to exist Dr. Chesson had left for New Zealand. It was not until after his departure that Dr. Dawson reported his cases. Dr. Chesson left on the 26th January last, and Dr. Dawson's first communication in the matter was dated the 31st of that month —five days after Dr. Chesson's departure. It must be apparent to any one that prior to the departure of Dr. Chesson Dr. Dawson knew of these cases, which were his own private ones —if they existed. The Gazette notice referred to I enclose a copy of. It was merely to intimate that as the old Hospital ha"d been destroyed the new Hospital was open to attend to the wants of the Natives as they had been attended in the past —some twenty years. At the time the notice was issued it was not possible, with the limited time at my disposal, to equip the Hospital as it is now. Dr. Dawson knew this well, therefore his reference to the opening of the Hospital carries no weight. In a correspondence such as this you must be aware that I am entirely in the hands of the medical division, as I do not profess to know anything about medicine. The illness of Dr. Chesson compelled a rapid rearrangement of things to enable him to comply with the advice rendered him by his medical advisers, and the only assistance I could possibly obtain on the island was that of Dr. Story, pending the appointment of Dr. Perceval' Dr Dawson, instead of sending the patients, as he was requested to do, and accompanying them himself, and availing himself of any assistance Dr. Story could give him, did not do so. It is clear that he' allowed the patient—if a patient existed—.to suffer in consequence of his own neglect to avail himself of the offer made in my letter of the Ist February by taking the two patients referred to by him —his own private patients—to the Hospital, or request the Government to send for them, neither of which he did. Dr Dawson has since his return here had his own hospital and nurse, and it is very strange that he did not take the case—his own patient—to his own institution.