210 
MAJORITY REPORT. 
cases be paid in instalments at a weekly rate equal to the rate of 
sickness benefit normally payable by the Society. 
496. We also think that the attention of Societies should be 
directed to the provisions of Section 17 (2) (b) of the Act under 
which they are empowered to make payments towards defraying 
expenses of members during their stay in an institution, and that 
Societies should be encouraged to make fuller use of that power 
by meeting the cost of small additional comforts for their 
members in such circumstances. 
REcOVERY OF BENEFIT OVERPAID. 
497. We have considered the position as to the recovery from 
an insured person of any sum received by him from his Society 
as a payment in respect of benefit to which he was not entitled, 
and we examined Sir Walter Kinnear on the subject (Kinnear, 
Q. 23,825). We find that the Act makes no provision for re- 
covery by the Society except in the following three types of 
cases : 
(1) Benefit paid by way of advance pending the settle- 
ment of a claim for compensation (Section 16 (4) ). 
(2) Benefit paid by way of advance pending the settle- 
ment of a claim for a 100 per cent. disablement pension 
(Section 60 (2) ). 
(3) Payment of ordinary benefit to a married woman who 
was entitled to the special benefits of Class K only (see 
para. 515), but who had failed to notify her Society of her 
marriage (Section 56 (9) ), 
498. On the other hand, it is provided by Section 21 of the 
Act that every assignment of any of the benefits of the Act shall 
be void. 
499. In cases of overpayment other than those mentioned 
above, the present position is, therefore, that the Society stands 
to the member in the ordinary position of creditor to debtor, and 
is not ‘entitled to withhold from the member any benefit which 
may subsequently become due to him in order to recoup itself 
for the previous overpayment. 
500. We are informed that there is ample evidence before the 
Department to show that notwithstanding the last-named pro- 
vision, Societies in practice frequently recover overpayments by 
withholding benefit subsequently payable, and moreover, often 
do so without the member’s consent. Recovery of overpayments 
by this means often involves hardship to the member, as he is 
called upon to repay a debt when he can least afford to do so. 
There is good reason to believe that Societies adopt this method 
of recovery because the alternative methods are either ineffective 
or (as in the case of legal process) involve a maximum trouble and 
embatrassment to all concerned.