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ridicule if a Conference which very largely represented the country should attempt to interfere with the rights and liberties that had been gi anted to the cities. It would have been much more in keeping if the Conference had seen its way to recommend that the county vote be brought into line with the vote in the cities. He thought Mr. McLaren had struck the right note, and that manhood should be considered supreme to property —at any rate, to the extent of having some say in the election of the representatives who were to carry on the affairs of government. The proposal in the Bill did not go quite that length, because it recognized that property had a distinct right over and above manhood. He hoped the Conference, whatever might be the opinions of delegates as to the rights or otherwise of extending the franchise, would not permit such a glaring blunder as he thought it would do if it carried the motion that Mr. Jull had proposed. Mr. A. E. Jull (Hawke's Bay) desired to make a personal explanation. According to Mr. Fisher, he was seeking to take away the manhood vote. There was nothing of the kind in the motion. It was only proposed to give a vote to the property-owner himself. The President suggested that it would be a tactful move on Mr. Jull's part if he withdrew the motion. They were representatives of country districts to a large extent, and for them to pass at that juncture a resolution which was dictatorial with regard to cities would be imprudent. The motion had no possibility of passing, and it might set up hostility on the part of cities to have motions of that nature brought down. Mr. Jull said he was quite agreeable to fall in with the suggestion. He wanted to bring the matter before the Conference, as he thought it was the only Conference suitable to bring it before outside the Municipal Conference. It was quite competent for this Conference, without infringing on the domain of the municipalities, to have it brought forward. Motion, " That the municipal franchise be amended so as to provide for a vote for ratepaylng qualification in addition to the residential qualification," withdrawn. Mr. C. N. Orbell (South Canterbury) asked the Minister his intention regarding subclause 2 of clause 325, referring to bank overdrafts. The President replied that he had no intention whatever of proceeding with that clause hi any Bill that was brought down, because he thought it would be unworkable. He thought it would be in accordance with the wish of the Conference that the law in regard to overdrafts be left as at present. Delegates : Hear, hear. Mr* Williams considered that counties having overdrafts should have power to pay them off. The counties now were unable to get rid of their overdrafts, even if they had the money to pay them. The President.—You cannot pay off and begin to build up again. Mr. Williams replied that the Act provided all necessary precautions, and Councils had no hope of getting rid of their overdrafts in the ordinary way. If the law would allow them they could borrow the money and pay it off in a given number of years. The President said he would have that aspect of the matter looked into. Report of Committee No. 3 as amended agreed to, with the exception of the deferred clauses. Report of Committee No. 4. Mr. J. H. Walker (Chairman of Committee No. 4) had much pleasure in submitting the report of the Hospitals and Education Committee. Dr. Valintine was of great assistance to them, and he desired to thank him and the officers who attended. He moved, That clause 1 be adopted, viz. : " That this Committee recommends to the Conference that Part IX be deleted from the Bill, the present Act, with some minor amendments, being satisfactory. The present Act, which had been in force during the last two years, was eminently satisfactory as far as it went, and it would be a great mistake if that Act were suspended. It had only been in force for two years, and during that time it had got into working-order. That was evinced this morning by the InspectorGeneral, who informed them that the working of the ntw Act was very satisfactory. The President.—Gentlemen, I have one or two remarks to make about this. In addition to the portfolio of Internal Affairs I also have control of the Departments of Public Health, Hospitals, and Charitable Aid, together with some others. F would like to say that the suggestion contained in clause (b) —viz., that there should be placed upon the estimates a sufficient sum annually to cope with consumption—is entirely in accordance with the proposals I have made to every one of the Hospital Boards that I have had the pleasure of meeting since I became Minister and I have met a good number of them, and I propose to meet the remainder. There is nothing more important in this country of ours than that we should tackle with serious earnestness this question of what is called the "white plague," referring to consumption. One proposal which the Cabinet intend to bring into effect at a very early date will, I am satisfied, be productive of good results—l refer to the medical inspection of our State schools, and for that work the Government propose to appoint a female medical officer and a male medical officer, whose duties it will be to go from school to school throughout the country for the purpose of examining the children from a health point of view. The effect, I believe, will be that by that means the Government will be able to locate and trace consumption from its very inception in the health of the children who will be examined at the State schools. When that has been done I hope that one effect will be that the cases discovered will be able to be traced further, from their earliest beginnings, so that the disease may be studied, and the parents of the children may be informed of the condition of the health of their children, who, if necessary, with the consent of the parents, could be segregated. By this means the spread of disease would be checked and located in its earliest years. I repeat that this fell scourge must be wrestled with and tackled in real earnestness. There is also, as you know, a Government sanatorium at Cambridge, in the Waikato, and instructions have been given by me since I visited that institution some weeks ago that the officer in charge is to