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