nlf)
MRT

MAJORITY REPORT.

that they did not belong to any Society. This results in the
Society not being credited year by year with the contributions
payable in respect of the man during his service and an adjustment
 becomes necessary on the man’s discharge. Moreover,
the Society, not having been notified of the man’s enlistment,
will have treated him as having gone out of insurance and will
have been debited with the transfer value.
536. On account of these administrative objections to the
present system, we have considered the expedience of suspending
men from insurance altogether on enlistment and re-instating
them in insurance when they again take up civilian employment
after discharge.
537. One difficulty which would arise under this plan is that
in the absence of provision for the automatic re-admission of
these men to their old Societies on discharge, such a procedure
would entail the loss of acquired rights to additional benefits, a
consequence which in certain cases would represent a considerable
 hardship. On the other hand, if provision were made for
their re-admission, it would be necessary for the Department
to keep a record of the Societies to which the men belonged at
the time of enlistment, and this would present very much the
same difficulties as arise under the present system. An even
more serious difficulty would arise in respect of men discharged
prematurely as invalided. Compulsion on their own Societies to
readmit such men could not be justified, with the result that
many would permanently lose the advantages of Society
membership.
538. There is a further difficulty in the way of the adoption
of the proposal to suspend insurance during service. At present,
under the Insurance Act, maternity benefit is paid on the confinement
 of the wives of serving men, although, as we have
seen, the insured person pays no contributions during service.
If it were, in effect, proposed to place men in the Services wholly
outside the Insurance Scheme, it would obviously be necessary
to make some provision for a corresponding payment from
another source in lieu of the maternity benefit, of which the
new arrangements would deprive them. We are informed, however,
 that the Service Departments, on whom the responsibility
for making such payments would naturally fall, do not view
such a proposal with any favour.
539. The evidence given by Approved Societies on this subject
was not all in one direction. The Hearts of Oak Benefit Society
suggested (App. IV, 134-143; Q. 3259-3312) the suspension of
insurance during service, but the Joint Committee of Approved
Societies were opposed to the proposal (App. XIV, 46), as was
also the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows, who expressed the
ovinion that the present svstem is satisfactory on the whole, and