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patronised and the numbers attending are steadily increasing. It is intended that there shall be a third centre established as soon as the financial position permits.) There are at present 404 fully qualified midwives on the roll including 15 in Government service. There are seven midwifery schools which prepare candidates. for the Midwives Board examinations. Recently an ordinance was passed making maternity homes registrable. Fifty homes have already been registered and fifty more will shortly be added to the list.

School Hygiene.

40. The school medical Branch is at present housed in the Violet Peel Health Centre in the offices intended for the district Health Officer and his staff.

It was formerly housed in offices in the education building but had to shift owing to the accommodation being required by the Director of Education for his staff. In 1929 there was one Lady Medical Officer for schools and one school nurse, now the staff includes the School Health Officer, two Chinese school medical officers and five school nurses. There being altogether 75,000 school children the staff is insufficient to deal with the whole.

Bacteriological Institute.

41. Activities at the Bacteriological Institute have greatly increased since 1928. According to the returns the number of examinations and investigations have increased over four fold. This is in part due to increased desire on the part of clinicians to have their diagnoses confirmed by laboratory findings, partly to the establishment and growth of specialist branches dealing with malariology, venereal diseases, infant welfare, school welfare and rural hygiene, and partly to increased effort on the part of the staff to engage in medical research. Accommodation has been increased by enclosing verandahs and in making greater use of the basement Very good work is being done in this institution.

The Malaria Bureau.

42. The Malaria Bureau which was established in 1930 has done excellent work. The Malariologist and his assistants have produced results which have had far reaching effects on the health and comfort of those living in mosquito infested areas. We now have a much better knowledge of the mosquitoes frequenting Hong Kong, where they breed and on which animals they prefer to feed. We also know which are the principal carriers of malaria and the factors favourable for their propagation. Minimus and Jeyporiensis have been proved to be the most potent carriers, not maculatus as was formerly believed. Maculatus abounds in the Colony but it prefers the blood of cattle and pigs to that of man. Many thousands of anophelines have been caught and dissected and the results tabulated. Many authorities on malaria have visited the Bureau and all have been struck by the results obtained.

43. The Peak is now free of the plague of mosquitoes which formerly caused such annovance and necessitated the of mosquito curtains. The Europeans living at the select resort called Shek O were so pleased with the work done that they presented Mr. Deb with a gold watch. For the first time in history they have been able to sleep without nets.

44. During the construction of the Shing Mun Dam, a work carried out in what was known to be one of the most malarious districts in the Colony, the labour force averaging 2,000 daily, never had more than three per cent absent from sickness. Most of the credit for the freedom from malaria must go to the Malariologist and his staff.

45. The Bureau is doing all the anti-malaria work in connection with the construction of the Royal Air Force aerodrome in the New Territories. So far the results have been excellent and there is every reason to believe that the works will be completed without trouble from sickness.