8.—6

VI

Income-tax. The income-tax receipts compared with those of 1917-18 show an increase of £599,775. The comparison is as follows : —- -£ Receipts, 1918-19 .. .. .. .. 6,219,336 Receipts, 1917-18 .. .. .. .. 5,619,561 Increase .. .. .. .. £599,775 The increase is due to the increased incomes of taxpayers, and in part to the review of previous years' assessments made by the Department. MENTAL HOSPITALS DEPARTMENT. The total spent On mental hospitals for the year was £261,977, and the receipts for maintenance, sales of produce from the farms, &c, amounted to £71,867, leaving a net expenditure of £190,110, an increase of £25,430 over the previous year. Increases in the scale of salaries for attendants and nurses from the Ist April, 1918, and increased war bonus for the half-year, together with the higher cost of provisions, bedding, clothing, fuel, &c, and the larger number of patients under care, account for the increase in expenditure. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH, HOSPITALS, AND CHARITABLE All). A heavy increase in expenditure under the vote " Public Health, Hospitals, and Charitable Aid " will be necessitated this year, the principal items of which are those relating to the influenza epidemic. It is anticipated that the total cost of the epidemic will be about £220,000, which should be reduced by recoveries from the sale of equipment and the use thereof at the Department's own institutions and quarantine-stations, to a net expenditure of £197,000. A sum of £60,000 will be required to meet the allowances to epidemic widows and widowers. The Government decided to authorize Hospital Boards to pay on its behalf to widows with children amounts not exceeding £l ss. a week for the widow and 10s. 6d. a week for each child, and to widowers with children in poor circumstances a sum not exceeding £l ss. a week in order that they may engage a housekeeper to keep their homes together and look after the children. The annual cost of these allowances will be possibly about £90,000, of which £60,000 is required this year. A further item in connection with the influenza epidemic is the cost of the Epidemic Commission, estimated to be £1,200. In addition to these increases in the expenditure, there has been a general increase in the administrative expenditure of the Department; additional staff has been necessitated, and the splitting-up of the present largo health districts into smaller districts means the appointment of additional. Health Officers and consequent office and administrative expenses, including increased activities necessitated in the prevention of infectious diseases. There will also be considerable increase in quarantine expenses during the year. Other items of increase are those under the heading " .Bacteriological Laboratory," and wages at the Department's institutions, which have increased in accordance with the general increase in wages. INTERNAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT. Dominion Laboratory. Supplies of various kinds have been tested for the Post Office, Public Works, and Railways, and chemical work has been undertaken as required for Customs, Defence, Public Health, a,nd other Government Departments. The samples examined under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act totalled 2,400. A process for cleaning kauri-gum recovered from swamp peat has been further tested, and proved successful.