BRITISH SOCIAL SERVICE

Evening Star, Issue 22228, 4 January 1936, Page 15

BRITISH SOCIAL SERVICE

PROGRESS UNDER GEORGE V. More social reconstruction on large governmental lines has been achieved during the 25 years of King George’s reign than in any other period of British history, it is shown in the latest annual report of 'the Ministry of Health. At the time of the King’s coronation, in 1910, the only social services of any importance were those of a harsh and oppressive Poor Law and an old-age pension scheme which was hardly into its stride. During the following 25 years the Ministry of Health has itself been established; a'vast advance in regard-to the national health and pensions scheme has been made; there have been enormous extensions of the functions of local government, particularly in relation to housing; the Poor Law system has been broken up and replaced by a system which holds promise of lively expansion ; and, possibly most remarkable achievement of all, public thinking has advanced. It has been jolted out of the notion that, if a fellow citizen is in want, ho should he helped as a charity, into the understanding that—charity apart —it is the profoundest duty of citizenship to see that the individual citizen is cared for reasonably and in his own > right. . The National Health Insurance Scheme was set up in 1912, under a statutory partnership of State, em- . ployer, and employed. The report now states that no fewer than 16,450,000 persons were registered as insured during the past year. During the last 10 years a sum of over £150,000,000 has been disbursed, in “ statutory sickness and maternity benefit ” and over £90,000.000 in medical benefit, -while over £232.981 has been spent in additional benefits. The report states that the stanndard 1 death rate has fallen from 13.2 per 1,000 in 1910 to 9.3 per 1,000 in 1934. With regard to pensions, £232.981,000 has been spent to the end of the i last year of account under the contributory Pensions Act. In addition, . over £103,000.000 has been paid, without means test, since 1926 by way of pensions to people who are over the age of 70—a matter which, as the report points out, has done much to maintain the purchasing power of the people during a time which such power has been sorely needed. One-seventh of the insured population, or one-twentieth of the total population,, is receiving pensions under the contributory Pensions Act—a figure outside that of the £43,000,000 still being provided by another department for war pensions. A large section of the report is devoted to the question of housing, since housing underlies so many of the matters dealt with by the Ministry and could, were it effectively organised, • solve so many of its problems. During the year, 286,050 houses have been built by private enterprise and,. :t is stated, “ in no previous year have so many been built in England and ■ Wales.” Of these, 105,344 are of a taxable value below £l3 a year in the country districts and £2O a year in Greater London. But the figures do not indicate—and this is a point to which critics have not .been slow to ‘draw attention—that all the 105,344 are available for letting..' Of the cheaper kind, as a matter of fact, only 33,103 are to be rented. The remainder, which represent more than, two-thirds of the whole, are built for sale, and this fact often _ puts . them beyond the bounds of working-class incomes. The outcome of private enterprise, however, does not constitute the total housing output. In addition to the clearance of slnTn houses—which showed better progress in 1934-35 than in the whole of the time since the passing of the Act of 1930—-the Minister has approved the proposals of local authorities to hui1d»12,702 houses without subsidy, while, under the Housing Act of 1933, schemes for the building of 28,853 houses have been approved. In its 350 pages, the report touches upon the progress of town planning—some 15,500,000 acres, or more than two-fifths of England and Wales—are now subject to one form of planning • Control or another. It deals with drainage, with the merits of controlled tipping, with rural water supplies, with . the administration of the Poor Law, and like matters—a multitude of interests handled in a manner human enough to dispel the notion that WhiteHall is little more than a machine, a centre whore files and statistics stand in cold rows bound round with red tape.