MAJORITY REPORT. 
Ih 
should be retained. (App. VII, 76; Q. 5906-5920.) This latter 
Society has several important Branches established for, and con- 
sisting largely of, serving men, and its views are naturally influ- 
enced by the effect which the proposal would have upon these 
Branches. Other Societies with Branches are, to a lesser extent, 
in the same position. 
540. After due consideration of the arguments for and against 
the proposal, we have come to the conclusion that the proposed 
change would probably give rise to difficulties at least as great 
as, though different in kind from, those arising under the present 
system, and we therefore recommend that no change should be 
made. 
541. There is one further matter in connexion with the insurance 
of men of the Forces to which our attention has been directed. 
During their service, any of these men who are not members of 
an Approved Society become in effect members of the Navy, 
Army and Air Force Insurance Fund and receive from that 
Fund the only benefit, viz., maternity benefit, to which they are 
entitled while serving. On discharge from the Forces it is open 
to any man of this class to apply for membership of any Approved 
Society, but if by reason of the state of his health he is not able 
to obtain admission to a Society, he then becomes permanently 
a member of the Navy, Army and Air Force Insurance Fund 
and becomes entitled to receive out of that Fund all the normal 
benefits of the Act, but not any additional benefits. If he 
becomes a member of an Approved Society he does not become 
entitled to participate in any additional benefits provided by the 
Society until after the waiting period applicable to insured 
persons transferring from one Society to another. We have re- 
ceived a statement from the Secretary of State for War on behalf 
of the three Service Departments submitting two suggestions for 
Improving the position of men discharged from the Forces as 
regards title to additional benefits (App. CXXIX). These 
suggestions were (1) that the benefits payable out of the Navy, 
Army and Air Force Insurance Fund to discharged men who are 
established as permanent members of the Fund should not in 
future be confined to the normal benefits of the Act, but should 
include also additional benefits equivalent to the average of those 
provided by Approved Societies in general ; and (2) that men who 
join Approved Societies on their discharge from the Forces should 
not be subject to the ordinary waiting period before becoming 
entitled to additional benefits. 
542. We are informed that the financial position of the Navy, 
Army and Air Force Insurance Fund (the solvency of which 
1s guaranteed by the Service Departments) is so satisfactory that 
it can well afford the cost which would be involved in giving 
effect to the first of these two suggestions, and that there is a 
sufficient margin in the contribution payable during service to