MAJORITY REPORT. function of the optician would thus in the case of n- sured persons, be limited to the making-up of the spectacles prescribed by the eye-specialist. 91. We may perhaps be allowed here to make one observa- tion, even if it relate to a matter somewhat beyond our legitimate frontiers. In the case of midwifery and dentistry, we have recently seen the State compelled to make arrangements for ltmiting the practice of these professions to those possessing the requisite professional qualifications. In each case it has been necessary to provide for the inclusion in the Register at the outset of most, or of all, of those previously in practice, whether qualified or not. Such a situation, even if inevit- able, may lead to not a little friction and professional un- happiness in the transitional period. The larger the volume of unqualified practice, the greater will be the difficulty of establish- ing matters on a satisfactory basis, and if in the case of any calling within the range of medical services it may ultimately be necessary in the public interest to prescribe the conditions of entry, much may be gained by taking the necessary step while the problem is still easily manageable. While expressing no opinion on the question, it is perhaps a matter for consideration whether problems similar to those which led to the Registration of Midwives and to the Dentists Act of 1921 are not in process of being engendered elsewhere. Two such examples which occur to us are those of the opticians and the masseurs. TH oSPITALS AND (CONVALESCENT HOMES. 92. Nearly £538,000 was available in England in 1924 for this benefit, but only about 40 per cent., or £990,000, was expended in the period. Payments under this heading do not necessarily relate to specific applications by members, but may, in schemes consequent upon the first valuation, take the form of an annual payment to a hospital or home for the purpose of securing treat- ment of members therein. The benefit is limited to in-patients. The payment of travelling expenses, in whole or in part, is in- cluded within its scope. A common method of administration is for the hospitals to send periodically to the societies concerned lists and particulars of members who have received treatment and for the societies to pay the hospitals at an agreed rate, fre- quently 25s. or 30s. a week per patient. 93. We have received evidence as to these arrangements from the British Hospitals Association (App. LVI), the Sheffield Joint Hospitals Council (App. LVIID, and the Middlesex Hospital (App. LIX). Attention is directed to the fact that the treatment of insured persons by insurance practitioners is incom- plete because it is not satisfactorily linked up with provision for treatment in hospitals. It is represented that while any pay- ment made by societies with additional benefit schemes