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tunnel for any necessary distance outside the parallel boundary of the claim, and also a space of 150 feet square at the mouth of the tunnel on which to deposit quartz or other substances.

41. The regulation of all other operations and proceedings connected with the proper working of the Gold Field, shall be left to the discretion and judgment of the Commissioner, until otherwise provided for.

42. Every person committing any breach, whether of omission or commission, of any of the above Rules and Regulations, will be liable to the penalties set forth in the "Gold Fields Act, 1862," viz.:

For the first offence, a fine of any sum not exceeding £10.

And for the second or any subsequent offence not exceeding £20.

43. No person other than the holders of the claim shall take up or occupy for residence or business purposes any ground within the parallels of any occupied claim unless with the consent in writing of the holders of such claim. Copy of such written consent must be filed with the Commissioner.

44. No person holding a "Business License" shall be entitled to carry on business in two distinct places in virtue of one license.

Superintendent’s Office,
Auckland, April 13th, 1865.

THE following Reports and Returns, furnished by the Provincial Surgeon, are published for general information.

ROBERT GRAHAM,
Superintendent.

MEDICAL REPORT, &c, FOR 1864.

HOSPITAL.

There have been admitted into the Provincial Hospital, 466 patients, being 96 more than last year, and the total mortality has been 13 per cent. This high rate of mortality is easily accounted for by the fact, that a sixth of all the deaths in the Province takes place in the Hospital, in fact many are sent thither merely to die. It may not in all cases be possible to avoid this, but it cannot be right to disturb the dying moments of the sick, and when a patient dies of disease within a few hours of his admission, it may justly be doubted whether it were humane to have removed him at all.

FEVERS.—The death rate of the Fever cases has been 27½ per cent., many of them were very severe and were admitted in an advanced stage, the type was typhoid, and several of the fatal cases were marked by intestinal perforation. In some, during life, the characteristic eruption was apparent on the skin. Delirium was also very frequent. No case of fevers was communicated in hospital to attendants or other patients.

BRAIN.—The cases of Brain Disease, as is usually observed, were very obscure in their early stages; in one, the prominent system was intractable vomiting, and the true nature of the disease was scarcely suspected until within a short time before death, which took place two days after admission. The patient followed her employment as a domestic servant, and retained full possession of her mental faculties, although after death; her brain was found to have been converted into a sac filled with serum. In another case, the prominent system was ear ache, with purulent discharge, here the mental faculties were entire, although after death extensive suppuration was found in the brain. It will be seen that only one death (or 5 per cent.), took place from delirium tremens.

HEART.—The fatal cases of Heart-disease amounted to one half of the admissions, they were all of long standing, and presented the usual appearances of dilatation of the aorta, inefficient valves, hypertrophy and fatty degeneration: one patient died on the day following his admission. In some the exciting cause was Acute Rheumatism. In another patient, death occurred suddenly from pulmonary apoplexy and ruptured bloodvessel in the lungs.

LIVER.—The cases of Hepatic disease were as usual marked by dulness in the right hypochondre, abdominal dropsy, Jaundice, &c., and were consequent on habitual drunkenness. In one case the liver was found greatly enlarged, in others atrophied. In one case the whole substance of the liver was converted into an enormous abscess. Dysentery was also a concomitant.

PNEUMONIA AND PLEURISY.—A fourth of the cases of general chest affections proved fatal. One of them was attended with dreadful suffering in the region of the heart—threatening instant death—and found to have been caused by the presence of a number of polypoid tumours in the left ventricle. These bodies were of a conical form, and resembled capsules of pus, adhering by narrow peduncles to the lining membrane of the heart. In another case an enormous abscess of the lower lobe of the right lung pointed below the ribs, having perforated the diaphragm, and was evacuated by incision. Vast quantities of gangrenous pus were discharged, but death terminated the sufferings of the patient. In a third case, a man presented himself with a tumor on the left breast as large as the fist. This was opened and found to communicate with the interior of the chest, between the cartilages of the 3rd and 4th ribs. Great quantities of putrid pus were discharged, but the patient became hectic, and ultimately died exhausted; on examination the pleura lining the ribs was found to have been converted into a bony lamina or plate, standing upright in a quantity of purulent matter.

PHTHISIS.—Half of the consumptive patients admitted died. Little that is worthy