170 
MAJORITY REPORT. 
INQUIRIES INTO EXCESSIVE SICKNESS. 
388. Very high hopes were founded on Section 63 of the Act 
of 1911 (Section 107 of the 1924 Act) which deals with excessive 
sickness ; but in fact the section has remained a dead letter. 
389. We deal in Chapter XIII with the reasons for this, and 
offer certain suggestions intended to make more practicable the 
aims of the section, even if on a less ambitious scale. So far as 
Insurance Committees are concerned, the section would only 
have had application in respect of deposit contributors, and the 
problem would therefore have been of small magnitude. But in 
any case nothing has been done, so that no argument for the 
continuance of Insurance Committees can be inferred from the 
existence of this provision. 
HeALTH PROPAGANDA WORK. 
390. Section 50 (1) (b) of the 1924 Act empowers Insurance 
Committees to make such provision for the giving of lectures and 
the publication of information on questions relating to health 
as they may consider desirable. It has, however, appeared in 
evidence given before us that only a very restricted use has 
been made of this power, owing mainly to lack of funds. (Brock, 
Q. 23,976.) 
391. We feel that work of this nature may be made of the 
greatest possible value in the public efforts to promote health. 
But in our view it is open to question whether such work, under- 
taken in the interests of the health of the whole community, 
should be financed only from insurance funds. We think that 
duties under this head would more appropriately fall within the 
province of the local health authority. And our view is reinforced 
by the opinion of the official witness of the Ministry of Health, 
Mr. Maclachlan, who said: ‘Until quite recently the 
powers of local authorities in regard to Public Health propaganda 
have been very limited. That defect has been remedied by the 
Public Health Act of 1925 which has just passed through Parlia- 
ment, and which gives pretty wide powers to all local authorities 
to undertake education and progaganda in relation to the pre- 
vention and treatment of any disease.” (Q. 24,143.) If our con- 
clusion is accepted, it is obvious that still another branch of the 
work of the Committees would disappear. 
DeposIT CONTRIBUTORS AND NAVY, ARMY AND AIR FORCE 
Found MEMBERS. 
392. Lastly, we have to consider the work done by the Com- 
mittees in connexion with the cash benefits of deposit contri- 
butors and members of the Navy, Army and Air Force Insurance 
Fund. This is the merest routine (Kinnear and Brocl, 
0. 23.981-90). A list of the deposit contributors of the area has