or families. No suspected groups can now be isolated. There is no opportunity at all to separate those who may be amply able and willing to pay. There are no proper accommodations, bedsteads, bedding, tables, forks, knives, spoons, plates, or towels. As an instance of the hardships caused by want of means of isolation, a steamer is at present detained at quarantine, owing to the passengers and crew having been exposed to small-pox. They cannot be taken on the island, as there is no subdivision of the Hospital of Observation.

WATER-CLOSETS.

The supply of water is insufficient, and warm water is almost entirely wanting.

For a population now there of more than five hundred persons, there are about four water-closets, each closet having three or four hoppers, some of which are not flushed at all, and all of which are old, badly constructed, and out of repair.

The cleansing and disinfecting plant is entirely inadequate in extent and efficiency, thus making it impossible to cleanse

the persons of the quarantined or disinfect their luggage, either expeditiously or thoroughly.

The "sulphur room" should not be where it is and as it is; for, being on the main floor of a building occupied by masses of the quarantined, the latter are constantly exposed to fresh infection from clothing brought in to be disinfected, and to the fumes of sulphurous acid when the door of the sulphur room is opened.

SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS.

Sea Wall.-The island must be protected against the inroads of the sea. This may be done as may seem best to the State

Engineer.

Ist. The riprap wall extending round the island should be made smooth and even to the water's edge.

2d. The concrete wall extending, at present, only part way round the island and inside the riprap should be completed.

3d. A solid wall of masonry, with smooth surface and steeply sloping, should be laid on the face of rough stones, either on the line of or within the existing riprap.

4th. A low wall might be built within the riprap, capped with stone or granite curbing, on which a broad walk should be constructed around the island.

An iron fence on the outer edge of the wall should extend entirely round the island; in order, first, to separate the occupants of the island from the riprap; and, second, to prevent access of strangers to the island.

Pavement.-The surface of the island should be cemented or asphalted, and should be raised sufficiently above the exterior wall to allow of good drainage. It should be smooth and hard to allow of thorough cleansing, and prevent the lodgment of filth or germs.

Docks.-The docks should be reconstructed, and two in number; the floorings made non-absorbent with concrete or asphalt. One should be for general use, and the other exclusively for the disinfecting plant. A covered landing stage should be constructed on the former, from which the sick on stretchers could be transferred to boats. A covered way should be provided from this dock to the large buildings and hospital.

It would be well to have a hand-car; and rails to be laid from the dock to the buildings.

Division of Island.-The surface of the island outside the buildings should be divided by a wall or iron fence into two distinct portions:

(a) The part adjacent to the boat-landing should be used for disembarking, disinfection, etc., and on this should be placed the cook-room and dormitory for employés and all other administrative appurtenances.

(b) The remainder of the island should be divided by walls into approximately equal areas, corresponding to the number of rooms for separate groups of people, each with a water front; and each one of these areas should be in communication with one only of the sets of apartments occupied by the separate groups of people.

It would be advisable to separate each of these yards from the water-front by an open iron fence, so as to leave a walk of about ten feet in breadth around the island, exclusive of the administration area. There should be on the outer or seaside of this walk another iron fence around the entire island.

Remodel old Buildings.-The present administration building, if retained, and one of the large buildings must be remodelled to answer for a new administration building, a disinfecting building, and a storehouse.

If the present large buildings are to remain, the roofs should be repaired; each main floor should be subdivided into two or more portions by solid partitions, to allow the grouping of the inmates according to age, sex, and relationship. Each apartment should have a separate entrance, and be thoroughly ventilated. This method should be condemned, however, unless absolutely unavoidable, as poorly ventilated apartments would result. The best plan and, in the opinion of the committee, the only sanitary one would be to construct new fire and filth proof buildings, tearing down the old ones as speedily as possible, or, if need be, one at a time.

Administration Building.-The present administration building should either be remodelled or a new one erected. Reconstruction will prove costly and unsatisfactory, and a new building would be better. It should contain the medical offi

cers' apartments (who should also be superintendent) and quarters for an engineer, and with private kitchen; also an extension on one of the docks, the disinfecting plant, storage rooms, laundry, etc., together with a furnace suitable for burning actually infected bedding, clothing, food articles brought in by infected passengers, kitchen refuse, etc.

Separated from these apartments there should be a large kitchen with accommodations for cooking meals for eight hundred or one thousand persons; rooms for the attendants; boiler room, containing at least two boilers for adequate power and security in case of accident to one; engine, pumps, and apparatus for electric lighting. The sleeping and living rooms for the employés, together with three rooms for the resident physician, may be placed in a separate building.

The boilers should be of sufficient capacity to heat all the buildings, and to furnish steam in great abundance for disinfection, cooking, and washing. They should, if possible, be placed in a separate building, or the present one be devoted to their use.

Temporary Hospital.-There should be a small isolated building easy of access to the dock, where persons taken suddenly ill could be at once placed, prior to their removal to Swinburne Island. It should contain, at least, four rooms, to admit of the separation of the sexes and of diseases, and should be provided with two water-closets and two baths. The necessity for this hospital was recently illustrated by the simultaneous presence of measles, mumps, cholera, rheumatism, and pneumonia, and further made necessary by the great difficulty which attends conveying the sick from Hoffman to Swinburne Island in stormy weather, against opposing tide or with heavy sea.

Main Buildings.-The main buildings should be on the pavilion plan, of brick and iron with two stories. Each should have a central hall, from which wings should radiate at right angles. These wings should constitute rooms capable of giving six hundred cubic feet of air to each adult or to every two children, and of a size to accommodate twenty-five persons, with an extreme capacity of forty to fifty.

If isolated pavilions are decided on, there should be eight or ten, and each floor in some of them should be divided into