SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— F. • 389 



solicitation of and pressure on prospects ; the evil of lapses ; the gambling 

 element. Reform needed. Different proposals : Public Utility Corpora- 

 tion ; inclusion into the National Health Scheme as originally planned ; 

 methods of Germany, Japan and other countries. Difficulties of reforming 

 industrial assurance merely by new legal enactments and a widening of the 

 powers of the Industrial Assurance Commissioner. Effective reforms must 

 be accompanied by a cheapening of funerals and burial in general. A problem 

 of wide economic and sociological importance not soluble without drastic 

 changes in traditional habits, customs and ethical conceptions. 



Mr. S. R. Dennison. — The State control of industrial location (12.0). 



The continuance of localised depression has resulted in proposals to 

 subject location in State control. The need for this depends upon the 

 possibilities of spontaneous re-adjustment in the areas concerned ; it 

 appears, however, that neither of the two possible lines of re-adjustment, 

 the development of new industries and transfer of workers, is likely to solve 

 the problem completely. 



An intermediate stage is the provision of various inducements to in- 

 dustrialists to establish their plants in depressed areas. Those which have 

 been proposed involve certain difficulties and implications, and it is not 

 certain whether they would be effective. 



The primary decision which is necessary is whether a policy which has 

 important long-run effects, involving changes in the whole industrial 

 structure of the country, is appropriate for dealing with a short-run problem. 

 The appropriateness of control further depends upon a balancing of cost 

 against gain. The former could result from a loss in industrial efficiency ; 

 the latter would be derived from alleviation of localised unemployment and 

 some saving in capital construction. 



Control would involve certain practical difficulties ; these would vary 

 according to the type and degree of control imposed. It would further have 

 certain important implications for the economic system as a whole. 



Afternoon. 

 Visit to works of Messrs. Birkin & Co. 



Evening. 



Joint Discussion, with Sections C, D, E, K, M, on Planning the land 

 of Britain (8.0). See page 486. 



Wednesday, September 8. 



Mr. J. D. Chambers. — The position of the occupying owners in Lindsey in 

 the period 1780-1830 on the basis of the land tax assessment returns 

 (lo.o). 



It has lately been shown that the small freeholder who also occupied as 

 well as owned his land did not decline but, on the contrary, increased in 

 numbers during the period when enclosure was taking place most rapidly, 

 e.g. 1780-1830. But no attempt has yet been made to ascertain the rate of 

 increase of the different categories of peasants, and at what point it reached 

 its maximum. Also, the cause of the increase is still unknown. The present 

 inquiry attempts to throw light on both these questions. 



