410 



MEDICAL SECTION 



DISCUSSION. 



Dr. SALEEBY said he believed there was no subject before 

 the Conference of more urgency and importance than this 

 and there was no object they could be of more use in 

 respect of at the moment, because, as they knew, the 

 Insurance Act Amendment Bill was now before the House 

 of Commons and the particular clause which dealt with the 

 administration of the maternal benefit would come up for 

 discussion either that day or the next. As they knew, on 

 the Committee stage of the Bill it was decided that the 

 money should be paid to the mother, but it was highly 

 possible that that decision would be reversed by the whole 

 House unless the most strenuous efforts were made in 

 support of it. The gentlemen of the Press would perform 

 a great service if they would give publicity to the opinion 

 of the Conference and the resolution which he hoped they 

 would pass in forcible terms. The circumstances were 

 these. The men and their representatives in the House of 

 Commons because the men only were represented in the 

 House (and there never was such a good opportunity in 

 favour of a particular proposal) were going to fight against 

 the mothers receiving the money. The High Court of the 

 Ancient Order of Foresters opened in Manchester the pre- 

 vious day and the High Chief Ranger presided over an 

 attendance of more than eight hundred delegates. He read 

 in The Times that, on the motion of Mr. Marlow (London), 

 the Parliamentary agent of the Order, a resolution was 

 passed protesting against the action of the House of Com- 

 mons Standing Committee on the Insurance Act Amend- 

 ment Bill in preventing the husband from drawing the 

 maternity benefit as an unwarrantable interference with 

 domestic life. The resolution affirmed that the suggestion 

 that the money might be viciously expended by the husband 

 was an insulting reflection upon the moral character of the 

 working classes, and supported the amendment on the 

 subject put forward by Mr. Roberts and Mr. Bowerman. 

 Sir John Randies, M.P., and Mr. Needham, M.P. (who, 

 with others, had welcomed the delegates), said that they 

 would lay the opinion expressed at that meeting before 

 the House of Commons. He would say that the chances 

 were pretty high that that opinion would carry considerable 

 weight in the House of Commons, and it was for them to 

 deliver a counter-stroke if possible. It was stated by Mr. 

 Masterman that there were but few cases where the 

 maternity benefit had been abused, but he (the speaker) 

 believed that there were as many instances as he chose to 

 look for. He held in his hands a list prepared by 



