NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE ACT, 1924.

under the hand of the registrar having the custody thereof, and forms of requisition shall on request be supplied without any charge by every registrar.

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In the application of the foregoing provision to certificates of birth, the expression registrar means a registrar of births and deaths or a superintendent registrar, and in its application to certificates of marriage means the registrar or superintendent registrar or other person having the care of the register in which the marriage is entered.

(2) Regulations may be made for applying the provisions of section ninety-seven of the Friendly Societies Act, 1896, subject to any necessary modifications, to certificates of death of insured persons required for the purposes of this Act.

102. PROTECTION AGAINST DISTRESS AND EXECUTION IN CERTAIN CASES.-(1) Where the medical practitioner attending any insured person in receipt of sickness benefit certifies that the levying of any distress or execution upon any goods or chattels belonging to the insured person and being on premises occupied by him, or the taking of any proceedings in ejectment or for the recovery of any rent or to enforce any judgment in ejectment against that person, would endanger his life, and the certificate has been sent to the insurance committee and has been recorded in manner hereinafter provided, it shall not be lawful during such period as is specified in the certificate for any person to levy any such distress or execution or to take any such proceedings or to enforce any such judgment against the insured person:

Provided that, if any person desirous of levying any such distress or execution or taking any such proceedings or enforcing any such judgment disputes the accuracy of the certificate, he may apply to the registrar of the county court, and the registrar, if he is of opinion that the certificate should be cancelled or modified, may make an order cancelling or modifying it, and no appeal shall lie against any such order or a refusal to make any such order.

(2) A certificate granted for the purpose of this section shall continue in force for one week or such less period as may be specified in the certificate, but may be renewed from time to time for any period not exceeding one week, up to but not beyond the expiration of three months from the date of the grant of the original certificate, but no such renewal shall have effect unless sent to the insurance committee and recorded as aforesaid :

Provided that the protection conferred by this section shall not extend beyond the expiration of one month from the said date if, on demand being made by the person desirous of levying distress or execution or taking proceedings or enforcing judgment, proper security is not given for payment of rent thereafter to become due from the insured person or the amount of the judgment debt, as the case may be, and any dispute as to the sufficiency of the security shall be determined by the registrar of the county court whose decision shall be final.

(3) If any person knowingly levies or attempts to levy any distress or execution or takes any proceedings or enforces or attempts to enforce any judgment in contravention of this section, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

(4) A certificate or renewal thereof granted under this section shall forthwith be sent to the insurance committee, and the committee shall, unless they have reason to suspect its genuineness, record it without fee in a special register, and the register shall at all reasonable times be open to inspection.

(5) The genuineness of a certificate so recorded shall not be questioned in any proceedings against a sheriff or other officer for failure to levy any distress or execute any warrant.

(6) Where the time within which a warrant may be executed is limited, any period during which the warrant cannot be executed by reason of the provisions of this section shall be disregarded in computing the time within which the warrant may be executed.

103. PROVISIONS AS TO CASUAL AND INTERMITTENT EMPLOYMENT. (1) The Minister may, by special order, modify this Act in its application to persons whose employment is of a casual or intermittent nature and the employers of such persons,

14 & 15 GEORGE 5, CHAPTER 38.

and any such order may apply either generally or to any one or more particular trades or industries or branches thereof, and either generally or in any one or more particular localities, and where any such order is an order applying to a particular trade or industry or branch thereof in a particular locality, it may extend to other persons if employed in the same class of employment as the persons to whom the order primarily relates.

(2) The order may make provision

(a) as to the amount of the employed rate and the contributions payable by the employer and by the employed contributors respectively; and

(b) as to the payment, recovery and collection of such contributions in such manner, in such proportions and in respect of such periods, as may be specified; and

(c) for the apportionment among employers of the amounts payable by employers; and

may modify and adapt the provisions of this Act accordingly:

Provided that the employer's contributions shall not exceed ninepence nor the employed contributor's contributions fivepence, or in the case of a woman fourpence, in any contribution week, nor, if the contributions are payable day by day, shall the employed contributor's contribution for any day exceed one penny.

(3) In the case of a draft order made under this section, any inquiry to be held before the making of the order shall, instead of being held in manner provided by the section of this Act relating to the making of special orders, be an inquiry held by one or more competent and impartial persons to be appointed by the Lord Chancellor on the demand, made in the prescribed manner, of the person making the objection to the draft order.

(4) The provisions of the section of this Act as to the laying of regulations before both Houses of Parliament and the proceedings consequent thereon shall apply to special orders made under this section in lieu of the provisions contained in the section of this Act relating to the making of special orders.

104. PERSONS OF UNSOUND MIND.-Regulations may be made enabling approved. societies and insurance committees, and in the case of persons entitled to benefits out of the Navy, Army and Air Force Insurance Fund, the Admiralty, Army Council or Air Council, to appoint a person to exercise on behalf of any insured person of unsound mind any right of election which that person is, under this Act, entitled to exercise, and to appoint a person to receive on behalf and for the benefit of such person any sums by way of benefit which would otherwise have been payable to him.

105. BENEFITS NOT TO BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION IN CERTAIN CASES.-(1) In granting out-door relief to a person in receipt of or entitled to receive any benefit a board of guardians shall not take into consideration any such benefit, except so far as the benefit exceeds seven shillings and sixpence a week.

(2) In deciding whether or not they shall make an order under the Bastardy Laws Amendment Act, 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 65), for the payment of the expenses incidental to the birth of a child, the justices shall not take into consideration the fact that the mother of the child is entitled to receive maternity benefit.

106. PRIORITY OF CLAIMS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS DUE BY COMPANIES BEING WOUND UP.-(1) There shall be included among the debts which, under section two hundred and nine of the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908 (8 Edw. 7, c. 69), are, in the distribution of the assets of a company being wound up, to be paid in priority to all other debts, all contributions payable under this Act by the company in respect of employed contributors during the four months before the commencement of the winding up or the winding-up order, and that Act shall have effect accordingly, and formal proof of the debts to which priority is given under this section shall not be required except in cases where it may otherwise be provided by rules made under the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908.

(2) In the case of the winding up of a company within the meaning of the

NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE ACT, 1924.

Stannaries Act, 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c. 43), such contributions as aforesaid shall, if payable in respect of a miner, have the like priority as is conferred on wages of miners by section two hundred and forty of the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908, and that section shall have effect accordingly.

(3) This section shall not apply where a company is wound up voluntarily merely for the purposes of reconstruction or of amalgamation with another company.

107. INQUIRIES INTO CAUSES OF EXCESSIVE SICKNESS. (1) Where it is alleged by any approved society or insurance committee that the sickness which has taken place among any insured persons, being persons for the administration of whose sickness and disablement benefits the society is or committee are responsible, is excessive, and that the excess is due to

(a) the conditions or nature of employment of those persons; or

(b) bad housing or insanitary conditions in any locality; or

(c) an insufficient or contaminated water supply; or

(d) neglect on the part of any person or authority to observe or enforce the provisions of any Act relating to the health of workers in factories, workshops, mines, quarries or other industries, or relating to public health or the housing of the working classes, or any regulations made under any such Act, or to observe or enforce any public health precautions,

the society or committee making the allegation may send to the person or authority alleged to be in default a claim for the payment of the amount of any extra expenditure alleged to have been incurred by reason of such cause as aforesaid, and if the society or committee and the person or authority fail to arrive at any agreement on the subject, may refer the matter, with a statement in support of the allegation, to the Minister, and if the Minister is of opinion that a primâ facie case for an inquiry is disclosed, he may appoint a competent person to hold an inquiry:

Provided that, if the excess is alleged to be due to neglect to observe or enforce the provisions of any Act for the administration of which the Secretary of State or the Board of Trade is responsible, the Minister shall refer the matter to the Secretary of State or to the Board of Trade, as the case may be, and thereupon the Secretary of State or the Board of Trade, as the case may be, may appoint a competent person to hold an inquiry.

(2) If the Minister is of opinion that the sickness which has taken place among any insured to him that the excess is, or may be, is excessive, and it persons appears due to any of the causes set out in subsection (1) of this section, he may make a claim in the same manner as a society or committee under that subsection, and on failure to arrive at any agreement with the person or authority may cause an inquiry to be held as provided in that subsection.

(3) If, upon any inquiry being held, it is proved to the satisfaction of the person holding the inquiry that the amount of sickness has, during a period of not less than three years next before the date of the inquiry, or where there has been an outbreak of any epidemic, endemic or infectious disease, during any less period, been in excess of the amount of sickness which, in the opinion of the person holding the inquiry, would have occurred if there had been no default by any person or authority as aforesaid, the amount of that extra expenditure found by the person holding the inquiry to have been, by reason of the default, incurred under this Act

(a) where the claim is made by the Minister, by any societies or committees ;

or

(b) where the allegation is made by a society or committee, by the society or committee in question,

shall be ordered by the person holding the inquiry to be made good in accordance with the following provisions :

(i) Where the excess is due to the conditions or nature of the employment or to any neglect on the part of any employer to observe or enforce any such Act or regulation as aforesaid, it shall be made good by the employer: (ii) Where the excess is due to bad housing or insanitary conditions in the locality,

14 & 15 GEORGE 5, CHAPTER 38.

or to any neglect on the part of any local authority to observe or enforce any such Act or regulation or such precautions as aforesaid, it shall be made good by such local authority as appears to the person holding the inquiry to have been in default, or if due to the insanitary condition of any particular premises, shall be made good either by the authority or by the owner, lessee or occupier of the premises who is proved to the satisfaction of the person holding the inquiry to be responsible:

(iii) Where the excess is due to an insufficient or contaminated water supply, it shall be made good by the local authority, company or person by whom the water is supplied, or who having imposed upon them the duty of affording a water supply have refused or neglected to do so, unless the local authority, company or person prove that the insufficiency or contamination was not due to any default on the part of the authority, company or person, but arose from circumstances over which they had no control.

(4) Where any such inquiry as aforesaid is held in respect of bad housing or insanitary conditions in any locality, it shall be lawful for the local authority to serve notice upon the owner, lessee or occupier of any premises which are the subjectmatter of the inquiry, and where it is proved that such a notice has been served and that any such extra expenditure as aforesaid, or any part thereof, has been caused by the act or default of the owner, lessee or occupier, the person holding the inquiry may order the owner, lessee or occupier to repay to the local authority the amount of the extra expenditure or part thereof which has been so caused.

(5) Regulations shall be made as to the procedure on inquiries under this section, and a person holding an inquiry under this section shall have all such powers as an inspector has for the purposes of an inquiry under the Public Health Acts, and shall have power to order how and by what parties costs, including such expenses as the Minister or the Secretary of State or the Board of Trade may certify to have been incurred by him or them, are to be paid, and any order so made may, by leave of the High Court, be enforced in the same manner as a judgment or order of the High Court to the same effect:

Provided that a society or committee shall not be ordered to pay the costs of the other party to the inquiry if the person holding the inquiry certifies that the demand for an inquiry was reasonable under the circumstances, and, where he so certifies, the Treasury may repay to the society or committee the whole or any part of the costs incurred by them.

(6) Without prejudice to any other method of recovery, any sum ordered under this section to be paid by a local authority may in accordance with regulations, and subject to the approval of the Treasury, be paid out of the Local Taxation Account and deducted from any sums payable either directly or indirectly out of that account to the local authority.

(7) For the purposes of this section, any expenditure on any benefit administered by an insurance committee shall be deemed to be expenditure of that committee, but any sums paid to any such committee under this section to meet extra expenditure on sickness benefit or disablement benefit shall be dealt with for the benefit of deposit contributors in accordance with regulations.

(8) Where under this section any sum is paid to the Minister, he shall apply the same in discharge of any expenses incurred by him under this section and shall distribute the balance among the societies and committees which appear to him to have incurred extra expenditure on account of the excessive sickness, in such proportions as he may think just.

(9) Where an association of deposit contributors resident in any county or county borough has been formed under regulations, the insurance committee for the county or county borough shall, if so required by the association, take proceedings under this section on behalf and at the expense of the association.

108. APPLICATION OF ACT TO PERSONS IN THE SERVICE OF CROWN.-(1) This Act shall apply to persons employed by or under the Crown, other than those with

NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE ACT, 1924.

respect to whom special provision is made by this Act, in like manner as if the employer were a private person:

Provided that in the case of a person employed in the private service of the Crown, the head of the department of the Royal Household in which he is employed shall be deemed to be his employer.

(2) Where a man of the Naval Reserves, the Army Reserve, the Air Force Reserve or the Territorial Army or the Auxiliary Air Force is being trained and is in receipt of pay out of the moneys provided by Parliament for Navy, Army or Air Services, he shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed, whilst so training, to be employed within the meaning of this Act and to be in the sole employment of the Crown:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply to a man who was not, immediately before the training commenced, an insured person, except in such cases and under such circumstances as may be specified in a special order made by the Minister.

109. APPLICATION OF ACT TO ALIENS.-This Act shall, subject as may be prescribed, apply to all persons who are not British subjects in the same manner as it applies to persons who are British subjects.

110. APPLICATION OF ACT TO SCILLY ISLES.-(1) In this Act references to a county include references to the Scilly Isles, and references to the council of a county include references to the council of those Isles.

(2) The insurance committee for the Scilly Isles shall be constituted in such manner as may be prescribed.

PART VII.—APPLICATION OF ACT TO Scotland.

111. (1) SCOTTISH BOARD OF HEALTH, (2) SCOTTISH NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE FUND. (1) For the purpose of carrying this Act into effect in Scotland, the Scottish Board of Health (in this Part of this Act referred to as the Board"), and the officers, inspectors, referees and servants appointed by the Board shall, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, respectively have all the like powers and duties as are, by the provisions of this Act, conferred and imposed on the Minister and the officers, inspectors, referees and servants appointed by him, and references in those provisions to the Minister shall be construed as references to the Board.

(2) All sums received by way of contributions under this Act in respect of persons resident in Scotland, and all sums paid out of moneys provided by Parliament in respect of benefits conferred on such persons, and the expenses of administration of such benefits, shall be paid into a fund to be called the Scottish National Health Insurance Fund, under the control and management of the Board, and the sums required to meet expenditure properly incurred by approved societies and insurance committees for the purpose of benefits and the administration thereof shall be paid out of that fund, and the foregoing provisions of this Act with respect to the National Health Insurance Fund shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to the Scottish National Health Insurance Fund accordingly.

112. SCOTTISH INSURANCE COMMITTEES.-(1) The number of members of a Scottish insurance committee shall in no case be less than twenty-five or more than eighty, and, where the number of members of an insurance committee is fixed at less than forty, the constitution of the committee may be varied as may be prescribed, so, however, that the proportion of members to be appointed by insured persons and by a county or town council and the number of members possessing a medical qualification shall not be altered.

(2) The two members of each Scottish insurance committee representing medical practitioners shall, instead of being appointed by the local committee of the county or burgh, be elected in manner provided by regulations either by any association of duly qualified medical practitioners resident in the county or burgh which may have been formed for that purpose under the regulations, or, if no such association has been formed, by such practitioners.

(3) No person, except a medical practitioner qualified as such, shall be qualified for appointment as a member of a Scottish insurance committee by a county or town