A—3

Child-welfare work oil Niue is carried out by the European Nursing Sister, who makes a weekly visit to each village. Women's committees were formed in five villages during the year to assist in this work. Confinements take place almost totally in the home and are not usually attended by the hospital staff. Female teachers and senior school-girls are instructed in the elements of baby care. The Administration issues infant-food free of charge to mothers who are feeding their babies artificially. The school medical service was reintroduced during the year. Lectures in elementary hygiene were given to Niuean school-teachers, and during the summer vacation a number of teachers have been attached to the out-patients' department as dressers. All children attending Administration schools were examined, and minor diseases such as scabies, sores, and ringworms were given routine treatment by school-teachers. Dental Officers also lectured in the schools and villages during the year. Niue has no natural supply of fresh running water. The Administration assists the villages with tanks and catchment areas, which ensure a limited supply of water. With a view to augmenting this supply, the experiment was made last year of drilling a deep well. Water was struck at 175 ft., and samples are at present being analysed to discover whether it is free from pollution and may be used for drinking purposes. There is no system for the mechanical disposal of sewage ; this lack is not greatly felt, owing to the porous nature of the coral terrain. D. Housing Conditions and Programmes With the exception of residences occupied by Europeans, housing is in the Native style. The original Niuean house was exceedingly primitive and of poor construction. House-building changed with the arrival of the Samoan missionaries, and " fales " are now constructed of local coral stone, timber, and lime plaster, usually with corrugatediron roofs (which act as important water-catchment areas) or coconut-leaf thatches. Sugar-cane was used for thatching until some ten years ago, but supplies of this material are not now available in any quantity. The main defects in the present housing are the lack of ventilation at the top of the walls and the excessive heat in " fales " with roofs of corrugated iron. Lack of ventilation at night, when all the windows and doors of the houses are sealed up (apparently to prevent the ingress of evil spirits), together with overcrowding, are responsible for the spread and advance of epidemics and diseases, especially tuberculosis. Houses are mainly used as family sleeping-quarters. Cooking is done outside in coconut-leaf-thatched outhouses. An efficient type of ventilation is now being considered which will improve the present houses. Dwellings which are condemned by the medical authorities as unsuitable for habitation are ordered to be pulled down, and new and more sanitary types erected in their place. Plans are in progress for assisting the Fatiau people to build a model village in which the new houses have improved ventilation. Development programmes include the erection of three houses, a Residency, four schools, and new prison quarters, the improvement of the main highways, landing facilities, and water-supplies, and the provision of a mobile child-welfare clinic. The Niueans are encouraged and assisted where possible by the Administration in the improvement of their housing and living conditions and recreational facilities such as village greens and playing areas.

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