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At Christchurch the occupation of the reception and hospital block (four divisions each for 25 patients) has been delayed because of the plaster cracking. When this is remedied it will add to the resources of Sunnyside a building similar to the one which is proving a boon at Porirua. Some addition is needed for ground-floor accommodation for aged patients. At Nelson it is intended to build one of the pavilions in accordance with the scheme for rebuilding that institution. At Hokitika some additions are being carried out on the women's side. At Tokanui the original temporary building is about to be abandoned for its present employment now that the third male unit is almost ready for occupation. A unit of 50 women is now in progress. These buildings at Tokanui will relieve some of the excess at Auckland, but we are nearing the time when we shall be able to admit direct to Tokanui, beginning in the surrounding district, which at present sends patients to the northern institution. The buildings Hearing completion will meet our excess as far as mere accommodation is concerned, but more than that is necessary for satisfactory classification; and all the time one must go on building without pause in order to keep pace with a yearly increment of about 150 patients. Visits of Inspection. I have again to express appreciation of the work of our District Inspectors and Official Visitors, whose manifest interest in their respective institutions and sympathetic regard for the patients is most helpful. My thanks are also due to Miss McLean, who has found time amidst her responsible duties of Matron-in-Chief, N.Z. Army Nursing Service, to pay special visits to the institutions and to hold viva-voce examinations in nursing. I have to record with regret the resignations of Mrs. Reynolds and Mrs. Field as Official Visitors at Hokitika and Nelson respectively, and the death of Mr. C. Y. Fell, one of the District Inspectors at Nelson, whose loss is felt by the patients and the Department. Mr. Smail, at Christchurch, and Mr. Cumming, at Seacliff, in the capacity of patients' friends, spend many hours weekly in the institutions, passing freely through the wards, <fee, conversing with the patients and helping them when opportunity offers. They send me a weekly report of their work, with special reference to .any matter they wish to bring under my notice, and it is very gratifying to learn from them of the general well-being of the patients. Hereunder are epitomized notes of my visits to the institutions. On these visits, some extending over many days, all the patients are seen and given an opportunity to converse with me. Occasionally there were complaints of wrongful committal or detention, but in no case did investigation bear these out. Such complaints are generally made by patients whose minds are most obviously disordered, but, having no insight of their condition, they naturally feel aggrieved at the loss or restriction of their liberty. On all the visits the food was examined and found to be of good quality and of a high caloric value. The bedding and clothing were satisfactory in kind and quantity. The wards were clean. Mr. Souter, Chief Clerk at the Head Office, has carried out his usual round of the institutions to check the stock in the stores and wards, and has reported favourably on the card system, and that he found the stock in good order. Auckland. —Visited in March and November, 1917, and in February and March, 1918. The Wolfe Bequest Hospital has been set aside for soldiers labouring under war neuroses. This has reduced the accommodation at this institution and its amenities for the ordinary patients; but the successful results attending the treatment of the soldiers here has justified the temporary inconvenience. The male infirmary nearing completion will be a great improvement on the past accommodation. The old big dormitory will be transferred into a cheerful day-room, and the sick and infirm will be classified in small associated dormitories and in single rooms. The new auxiliary buildings are already fully occupied, and plans are in preparation for additional units. There have been a number of exacting cases, and the staff has been very much depleted by numbers serving at the front. Dr. Beattie and his senior assistant, Dr. Tizard, both in indifferent health, have worked unremittingly; the junior assistant has not been a permanent officer. A number of the senior attendants and nurses have shouldered the extra burden faithfully. Sunnyside. —Visited in May, June, and December, 1917, and in February, 1918. The chief want here is an addition to the day- and dining-room, accommodation for disturbed and excited women patients, a class which requires more than the usual floor-space in living-rooms. This can be accomplished without great difficulty and economically. The delay in completing the reception building is disappointing. The furniture is being procured and made, so that there will be no further delay once the building is fit for occupation. The resources of the farm, garden, and orchard have been employed to great advantage for the benefit of the patients. The increase in the dairy herd has supplied our needs for butter without reducing the milk item in the dietary, and the Matron has made full use of the orchard by providing a plentiful and varied supply of home-made jam. The diet of the patients is excellent and generous. I was pleased to note the co-operation on the part of the staff to make the institutions as comfortable as possible for the patients. The new auxiliary farm at Templeton is proving the acquisition it promised to be. It was found more profitable to concentrate on the dairy herds and not raise mutton and beef; fat stock has therefore been bought at Addington, and topped off when necessary, so that we have had prime meat supplied and a saving effected. The laundry extension has to wait till after the war, and also the completion of the kitchen renovation, which involves the installation of a series of new-type cooking-pans; meantime the existing apparatus has been altered and arranged to facilitate labour, and Mr. Rose, the engineer, has introduced some ingenious and original electrical heating units. Seacliff. —Visited in May and December, 1917, and in February, 1.918. During the year Dr. Truby King received a call to England to assist in organizing the infant-life-protection