The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST” FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1938. Social Security

Northern Advocate, 16 December 1938, Page 4

The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST”

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1938. Social Security

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WITH the announcement of the executive personnel which is to administer the Social Security scheme, the stage is set for tiie vast amount of organisation and detailed work which will have to he completed within the next three months if the full scheme is to be brought into operation, as proposed, on April 1 next.

At the head of affairs stands one of the ablest men in Cabinet, the Hon. Walter Nash, whose appointment as Minister of Social Security negatives earlier speculations that Dr. D. G. McMillan might be given Ibis portfolio to reward him for his work in preparing the rough groundwork of the scheme. It is still possible that Dr. McMillan may be appointed under-secretary, in which case, if Mr. J. A. Lee’s work in the Housing Department is anv criterion, he will probably shoulder a good share of the work. In the meantime, irrespective of any such appointment, Mr. Nash has with him a good team of experienced Civil Service executives as the Social Security Commission, of which Mr, J. H. Boyes, Commissioner of Pensions, will be chairman. There are men with, specialised training for the various sub-departments. Dr. M. H. Watt, Director-General of Health, is to be a member of the commission, and will have a.' voice in the administration of the free medical scheme. Mr. d. 11. Hunter, previously of the Labour Department, will direct the unemployment division, and Mr. H. Dighy Smith, at present Commissioner of Pensions, will direct the pensions or superannuation division.

These appointments, on whieh the Government, is to be congratulated. mean that it will have the assistance of reliable and seasoned men who know their own jobs particularly well. But even with this assistance, the task ahead of MivNash in completing the organisation by April I is almost a labour of Hercules, and bis problems are not diminished by the fact that, he, the keystone of the whole structure, is not free to give it Iris undivided attention, but has other most important Ministerial responsibilities. Within the next three months, arrangements will have to he made with doctors, chemists and hospitals in connection with arrangements for free medical service, hospital treatment and medical supplies. No doubt the Government already has some broad conception of the basis on whieh this phase of the scheme will he run, hut if so it has yet to take the medical profession into its full confidence.

The payment of sickness benefits, unemployment benefits, superannuation and the numerous other payments of various kinds to which the Government has committed itself, will undoubtedly require special offices in each town, and the method of payment will have to be arranged. Beneficiaries will no doubt, he expected to call at the Social Security offices for their money, hut suitable safeguards and methods of identification will he needed,- while at the same time the need for simple working, and the elimination of “red tape” wherever possible will have to be kept in mind. When all this is taken into consideration, the prodigious character of the task which confronts the Minister and his commissioners may be realised. It is plain that for the next three months they will be very busy men.