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Shortly after the outbreak of war the Department placed its services at the disposal of the Government, in order that advantage may be taken of the special knowledge find skill its officers possessed for the treatment of mental and allied nervous disorders due to the stress of military service. The offer was accepted, and towards the end of 1915 a start was made at Karitane, near Seaclifi, where Dr. Truby King lent a seaside cottage. As numbers increased tents were provided for the overflow, and the little settlement was named Anzae House Hospital. It was arranged with the military authorities that as far as possible all soldiers for whom the special treatment was indicated would be sent there, but that where mental disorder was pronounced, in the first instance or during residence at Karitane, tho patient should be admitted to a mental hospital as affording him the best chance of recovery, and in the interests of other soldier patients. Patients so received, with due regard to their condition and well-being, were to be kept apart as far as possible. Quite recently the Wolfe Home, Auokland, has been added to our resources for North Island patients, Anzae House, Karitane, being reserved for those belonging to the South. The following is a statement in tabular form of all patients treated under the above conditions :—

The anxiety ever,, present with our Superintendents and the higher officials working under them has been intensified by the large number of experienced attendants who have volunteered for active service—the alacrity with which these attendants responded to the call is a sample of their quality. -Their places have had to be filled with what offered. Though we secured a proportion of suitable men, the institutions arc suffering from the depletion of our trained and experienced staffs and the substitution of temporary officers who have not had the necessary training and experience, and perhaps in a still greater degree the sense of discipline and responsibility, so necessary for the work. Our sheet-anchor has been the senior staff. Its loyalty and devotion to duty has not been in any way affected by the knowledge of rights of appeal conferred by legislation. Whilst fully recognizing the desirability and necessity of safeguards for the protection of the average civil servant from injustice and petty tyranny, it must (I think) lie recognized that the attempt to place all public officers on the same level in that behalf must lead to lack of control and weakness of discipline. The Superintendent of a great institution, having under him a large body of employees—of varying responsibility and more or less education—must have summary powers for disciplinary purposes that could never be safely applied to an ordinary clerical staff, the type which is largely distinctive of the Public Service. I strongly recommend this aspect to your consideration.

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