STATE INSURANCE BILL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 184, 21 July 1911, Page 1

STATE INSURANCE BILL

FURTHER CONCESSIONS ] ASKED. \ LLOYD GEORGE’S PRUDENCE.; [PRZSB ASSOCIATION. —COPYBIGHT]. ; London, July 20. ! In the debate on the Insurance Bill Mr. Lloyd George was greatly; harrassed by critics on the Liberal and Labour benches asking for more concessions. Mr. H. B. Lees-Smith’s amend-! ment aroused excited interest. Its! aim was to relieve a contributor! who had fallen into arrears through ! unemployment from liability to make good the arrears of contribu-! tions which the employee would!

have paid had he been working.] Mr. Lees-Smith predicted that if! contributors were compelled to pay; arrears before reaping benefits, an I odium might be cast on the bill and i the scheme wrecked. He contend-; ed that a State grant of £150,000, ought to be made. Mr. Lloyd George said the State was unable to bear this additional burden. The proposal was impracticable and would encourage thriftlessness. Mr. Sherwell declared that the: Chancellor deprived the most help-

less of their due. Unless the! amendment was accepted the poor! and destitute would be sadly disap-! pointed. Messrs. Cripps, W. Peel, Har-, wood, and Rowntrce pressed Mr.; Lloyd George to make the concession. Mr. Lloyd George then proposed’ a compromise—namely, that friend- • ly societies should be given the; right to pay contributions which in; ordinary’ cases would be paid by

employers. Mr. Ramsay Macdonald strenuously opposed this, declaring that the State ought to come to the unemployed contributors’ assistance. Mr. Lloyd George refused to] yield, and warned the Liberals that if the amendment was carried it might mean not merely the defeat of the Government, but the defeat of the bill.

The amendment was negatived by 163 to 116. Afterwards Mr. Lloyd George’s compromise was carried by 210 to 77. (Received 21, 9.45 a.m.) London, July 20. An all-night sitting on the National Insurance Bill took place over clause 11, the Labour members demanding sick pay for workmen in addition to accident compensation. Mr. Lloyd-George, in an impassioned speech, secured its rejection by 99 to 23.

PREVENTION OF MALINGER- ] ING. London, July 20. The Manchester Unity of Oddfellows resolved that Mr. Lloyd George’s refusal to allow sick pay for the first three days’ illness was most detrimental to friendly societies, and might possibly have the effect of relinquishing the desire to become an approved society under the hill. Mr. Lloyd George’s refusal is due to a desire to prevent malingering.