a) MAJORITY REPORT. to health of timely, continued and effective dental treatment, the need for making the benefit generally available on uniform lines, and the adequacy of the number of qualified dentists to deal with the whole insured population. Considerable diverg- ence of view exists regarding the possible methods of organising the service and also regarding the scope of the benefit in the immediate future, when heavy arrears of work would have to be overtaken and while financial conditions remain adverse. But the evidence as a whole leaves no doubt in our minds that any system of public medical services cannot be regarded as complete until it includes the provision of adequate dental treat- ment in a generally available form. 85. The British Medical Association admit that dental treat- ment should be an exception to the general principle urged by them, that any form of specialist treatment should be available only on the recommendation of the general practitioner (App. XLVII, 22-23; Q. 15,003-15,005, 15,109-15,111). We think this is sound in view of the more stringest qualifications now required for the dental profession and the character of dental trouble itself. At the same time, it in no way debars the general practitioner from considering dental defects in their relation to the general health of his patients. 86. The wider and more uniform provision of this benefit has, as we have said, been pressed upon us from many quarters. We have accordingly felt obliged to examine very closely its claims to be made a statutory benefit available to all insured persons in the same way that medical benefit is. The discussion of this question will be found in Chapter XII where it takes its appropriate place in the examination of the order of priority of certain proposals in themselves desirable in greater or less degree. 87. In closing this review of the evidence on the dental service we may refer to an important change made in the arrangements in July, 1925. Sir Walter Kinnear in reply to Q. 23,915 said : ** Under the additional benefit schemes for dentistry at the present moment the insured person has a right to go to any dentist he chooses who is willing to do the service on the scale of fees agreed with the Societies generally. We do not allow Societies to select particular dentists. There is free choice of dentist. That is a development which has taken place during this year of course.’’ He added (Q. 23,916) ‘‘ I think the scheme is very much better than the one that was in vogue at the early part of this year.’’ OPHTHALMIC BENEFIT 88. The official evidence indicates that next to dental treatment ophthalmic benefit is most in demand. (Ministry of Health App. I,B, 212.) For the year 1924 in England alone nearly £82,000 was available for it and of this sum about 37 per cent. or