110

This rule has not been followed for the last two years (1929 and
1930) and a 40 per cent. supplement allowed (as in 1928) though on
the basis mentioned above the grant would have been less.

POOR RELIEF
Poor relief in lceland is regulated by the Poor law of 1927, under
which those who, by reason of poverty, illness, lack of employment
or other causes,” are incapable of providing for themselves and dependants
 (medical treatment and nursing in sickness included) must be
relieved by the respective parishes, either in their own homes (outdoor
 relief), or lodged in good private homes, charitable institutions
(indoor relief), or hospitals, if considered necessarv by a doctor. Workhouses
 or poor-houses for the purpose of receiving the ablebodied
poor have not yet been built in this country.
Those who receive parochial relief are under the authority of the
parish (town) councils (poor law boards), and must, if capable of
work, perform such tasks as are assigned to them. Nor are they altogether
 independent in the choice of home or abode. Those who have
received poor relief are liable to repay it to the parish, just as any
other debt, if they can, and those who are indebted for poor relief
lose the right of voting at parliamentary elections; and in case they have
come on the parish through laziness or carelessness, they are also
deprived of the right of voting at local elections. On the other hand,
some kinds of poor relief are not recoverable, and do not therefore
involve any civil disabilities; these are, e. g. State grants, made under
special circumstances, to pay the expenses for the care of sick persons
in hospitals. When a poor law board have afforded a relief to an
applicant, they shall, within three months, have decided that this relief
is not recoverable, if they find that the applicant deserves it because of
his high age, the largeness of the family he has to provide for, his
own ill health or that of his dependants, or for other reasons. Similarly,
 a person, who for two years has not been dependent on poor
law for maintenance, may be excused from repaying the relief he
has already received. Relief granted to persons of sixty vears and
over shall not be looked upon as poor relief.
Poor relief rests with towns and parishes, while the expenses of
hospital treatment are partly defrayed by the State. During 1926 poor
relief expenses met by towns and parishes amounted to 1100 thousand
(see p. 48', whereas the contribution made by the State (excluding the
budget for tuberculosis, see p. 115) did not exceed 68 thousand krénur.