Mil MEDICAL SECTION 



have been insured. In 46 of these cases the mothers 

 were unmarried women, and although some of them 

 acted as housekeepers for their immediate relatives 

 and were so not insured, many worked as charwomen 

 and apparently should have come within the powers 

 of the Act. In a few cases the mothers lived as the 

 wives of insured men, but, as there was no legal tie, 

 maternity benefit could not be claimed. 



In 33 cases of non-insurance the husband described 

 himself as his " own master " ; many of these men 

 were small shopkeepers, whose wives might have 

 benefited greatly by the receipt of maternity benefit 

 had they come within the scheme. 



In 9 cases the parents were foreigners, and it 

 was difficult to ascertain why they were not insured. 

 Among the list of non-insured husbands were 7 

 policemen, 4 post office employees, and 2 corpora- 

 tion employees, all presumably insured in a special 

 scheme, which did not include the payment of 

 maternity benefit. Seven parents earned their liveli- 

 hood as hawkers and remained outside the scope of 

 the Act ; in 5 cases the father was dead, and the 

 mother not herself insured, while in 6 the husband was 

 abroad. In 2 cases the father was unemployed owing 

 to illness, and in 2 others the husbands were soldiers, 

 who were not insured. One husband was in prison, 

 while one was a casual worker who had deserted his 

 wife. The occupations of the remaining^ 12 were 

 as follows : Cattle-drover, music-hall artist, spindle 

 maker, chemist, watchman, traveller, coach-painter, 

 grinder, labourer, steel-worker, coat-maker, and 

 picture- framer. 



Obviously most of these persons should have been 

 compulsorily insured, and it is difficult to understand 

 how they managed to escape the ever-watchful 

 Insurance Inspector. Even if insurance were not 

 necessary in some of the cases, yet with the benefit 

 scheme working well in thousands of other cases. 



