^8 



The Review of Reviews. 



women, and if their malady is incurable and they 

 are permanently incapacitated from earning a living 

 they receive 5s. a week until they are seventy years 

 of age. Then they will ordinarily become Old Age 

 I'rnsioners and draw their 5s. a week like other 

 Pensioners. In addition to this there is a maternity 

 benefit of 30s. for women at the time of their 

 greatest need, and special provision is made for 

 ihe cure of sufferers from consumption. What the 

 Bill aims at doing is to secure medical attendance for 

 every man (and woman) in the land, to secure that he 

 has los. a week when he is laid up by temporary 

 sickness for half a year, and 5s. a week if he is per- 

 manently incapacitated. 



THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST CONSUMPTION. 



"We have voted this year ^1,500,000 for the 

 beginning of a great campaign against tuberculosis. 

 This great White Plague has never before been 

 griippled with systematically by the nation. We 

 regard this as a campaign that is as much "one of 

 national importance as the resistance of a foreign 

 enemy. Provision is also made for maintaining these 

 sanatoria, each of which will be a kind of base of 

 ojjerations against tuberculosis, and we are sanguine 

 that before long we shall have done much to abate 

 one of the greatest plagues which destroy the 

 happiness, impair the physique, and threaten the life 

 of our working population." 



" The doctor, sick pay, the maternity benefit, 

 and the campaign against consumption — are these 

 the four heads of your Bill?" 



WAR AGAINST THE SLUM OWNER. 



" These are four of the heads, but there are others, 

 and one of the most popular of them, and that which 

 is most frequently overlooked, is the provision which 

 it makes for an organised campaign against slums." 



" Possibly you do not put it sutTiciently in the lime- 

 light," I ventured to remark. 



.\Ir. Lloyd (ieorge replied, " That is not my fault, 

 i'uhlic attention has been pre-occujiied with one 

 sensation- after another ; outbreaks of foreign war, 

 risks of war nearer home, revolutions in China, etc., 

 etc. 'J'here has been an endless succession of ex- 

 citing incidents to distract jjublic attention ; hence 

 the debate upon that provision of the Bill which deals 

 with slums failed to attract the attention which it 

 will undoubtedly command. There are no greater 

 (ontributory causes of ill-health than insanitary 

 dwellings. Insanitary dwellings have hitherto defied 

 all the efforts that have been made to deal with 

 them. Housing Acts have been [lasscd, stringent 

 regulations have been made, but hitherto all our best 

 endeavours have been baflled by the simple fact 

 that the people who own the slums, the local builder 

 and the owner of small house property, have been 

 able to dominate the local authorities who have been 

 charged with the administration of the sanitary acts. 

 'J'hc .Medical (.)fficer of Health is employed by the 

 local sanitary authority, and it is sometimes as much 



as his place is worth to make things unpleasant for 

 the owners of slums who control his salary and are 

 masters of the situation. In my Bill for the first time 

 we have a fair chance of laying the axe to the root 

 of this upas tree." 



THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. 



"Would you mind explaining," I said, " how the 

 insurance of working men against ill-health affects the 

 slum-owner ? " 



" Nothing is more simple. The administration of 

 the Act is placed in the hands, primarily, of Health 

 Committees, which are in future to be known as 

 Insurance Committees, including the representatives 

 of the Friendly Societies and medical men who are 

 charged with the administration of the Act and the 

 distribution of the insurance benefits. If, in any area, 

 the percentage of sickness rises above the average, so 

 that the people resident in that area are drawing 

 a disproportionate amount of money in the shape of 

 sick pay, an inquiry will be made into "the local 

 circumstances, and should it be found that the excess 

 of demand upon the fund is due to slum property, 

 then the owners of that slum property will be 

 liable under the Act for paying the difference of 

 what may be regarded as the average normal charge 

 on the fund, and the e.^cess brought about by the 

 insanitary buildings from which they are drawing 

 revenue. 



HOW IT WILL BE CARRIED OUT. 



"This is tremendous,' I said : " but how on earth 

 did you get that clause through ? " 



" Get it through ? " said Mr. Lloyd George. " I got 

 It through without a division. It was one of the most 

 interesting debates in the discussion in committee. 

 Sir A. Cripps proposed to strike it out on the ground 

 that it was a monstrous burden upon owners of 

 property. It was asserted that the existing Sanitary 

 and Building Acts were quite sufficient, that local 

 authorities had ample powers, and that there was no 

 need for legislation. I was challenged to produce 

 evidence of the existence of the evils wliich I alleged. 

 I produced and read out to . the House a list of 

 local authorities in England and \Vales as instances 

 where they had failed to put into execution the powers 

 with which they were vested. I was challenged as to 

 my authority, and replied that the facts were takeii 

 from the reports of the Local Government Board. 

 Lord Charles Beresford made one of the best 

 speeches in the discussion. He began — " What I 

 want to know is this : Does this Bill place the owners 

 of slum jiropcrty under discipline?'' "Yes," 1 

 re[)hed. " 'I'hen I am for it," said Lord Charles 

 Beresford 'J'hc result was that Sir A. Cripps with- 

 drew his amendment and the clause passed. Thus 

 we have now a self-acting check upon the existence 

 of slums. Observe how simply and effectively it 

 works. The Insurance Committee, which has to 

 superintend the payment for medical advice and sick 

 pay, finds that, say in Little Peddliiigton, twice as 



