MAJORITY REPORT. 
Committees engaged in the administration of the Scheme 
of National Health Insurance. =~ We also heard evidence from 
representatives of the medical profession, from chemists, dentists, 
nurses, ophthalmologists, opticians, hospital authorities, Medical 
Officers of Health, Poor Liaw Guardians, and others, including 
several persons who did not speak in a representative capacity 
but as individual observers and critics of the Scheme. The 
greater part of the evidence, perhaps inevitably, came from 
persons or bodies taking some part in the operation of the Scheme 
of National Health Insurance, or desiring to be associated in that 
work in the event of its extension. We could have wished that 
more evidence had been forthcoming from the insured persons 
themselves or from their employers but, while we took such steps 
as we thought practicable to obtain evidence from these sources, 
we recognised the difficulty in securing evidence which could be 
considered to be truly representative of the general body of 
insured workers and the employers of labour. We received, 
however, the considered views of the National Confederation of 
Employers’ Organisations (Appendix CVII) which were directed 
mainly to the burden imposed on industry in a time of great 
financial and economic difficulty by the contributions levied for 
the various schemes of Social Insurance. The point of view of the 
average insured person, who is in such matters elusive and inarti- 
culate (if indeed he can be said to exist at all), was to some extent 
indicated by the evidence submitted from the Inquiry Room of the 
Ministry of Health (Appendix XLI) and by the evidence of 
certain witnesses, as for example Dr. Harry Roberts, who are 
intimately in contact with insured persons and who speak from 
a wide experience. 
SOHEMES OF SICKNESS AND INVALIDITY INSURANCE IN OTHER 
COUNTRIES. 
5. The Ministry of Health have submitted to us a full and 
interesting account of the State schemes for insurance against 
sickness and invalidity in 14 European countries (App. CVIII). 
This illustrates the remarkable extent to which such schemes 
have been adopted and developed in countries of widely varying 
economic position and social habits, and undoubtedly provides 
much matter of interest to the student of these social problems. 
It may be remarked that any scheme of the kind under discussion 
must necessarily have regard to the peculiar social and industrial 
conditions of the country in which it operates, and that therefore 
in its machinery, if not in its principles, it must be developed 
on its own lines. 
TaE ACTUARIAL COMMITTER 
6. At the outset of our investigation it became evident to 
us that for the proper consideration of the financial side of the