utmost to help the sometimes big numbers of detainees every day in spite of the severe difficulties encountered owing to transmissible diseases such as Scarlet Fever, TB or even Seabies.. Unfortunately the contract of the doctors ended in October and consequently the Centres were without the services of the doctors. This created great difficulties since all sick detainees had to be taken to the polyclinic to be examined for even minor ailments. Another difficulty was the constant change of nurses and sometimes some of them could not even communicate in English Another issue was the identification of detainees when dispensing medicines. The Board brought this to the attention of the Director and a system of identification was set up to make the process more reliable. Another common complaint concerned the lack of cultural, educational and sports activities. Some complaints centred on conditions in the Warehouses. A great deal of work has been done to refurbish the Warehouses yet having so many people housed on one warehouse is not conducive to privacy and mental health. The Board still thinks that the Warehouses are not fit for humans to live in and would like to see the detainees transferred to other more civilised locations. 5· Administration of Detention Centres With the appointment of Schembri as Head, Detention Service, Col Harold Stivala in charge of Hal Far and of Col Martin Boudin at Hal Safi Detention Centre brought about a positive atmosphere and hope for a needed change in the Administration. Unfortunately however there has been a constant turnover of the deputy heads. Col Harold Stivala, Col Martin Boudin were later replaced by Col Ruggier and Col Frank Sammut. Their dedication to work made a big difference to the Centres. However even Col Ruggier has resigned with all the ill effects that these changes in the administration bring about. The DS members of staff do their utmost in difficult conditions. They supervise food distribution and accompany detainees wherever they need to go. However, the Board has always questioned the amount of contact that there is between these people in charge of the Centres and the detainees themselves. Consequently, the personnel are usually not aware of the problems that arise. There is no alarm system (except banging on the gate and shouting) with which to alert the detention personnel on duty in the event of an emergency. 8 ,,