schools. Since this was written, several similar cases have come before the writer in his capacity as Chairman of a Board of Guardians.
There have been several recent cases in the same Union in which women have come into the lying-in wards for their confinement, where, of course, they received every medical care and attention, and where they are encouraged to stay till they are entirely convalescent, and have then gone out and claimed maternity benefit either themselves or through their husbands before they were really fit to go. It should be noted that, where the husband is an insured person, he usually regards the maternity benefit as his by right.
It must be remembered that all the above-mentioned cases have occurred within a few months in a single London Union, and that there are some 640 odd Unions in England and Wales only, where the same conditions prevail. Some information, though not so detailed, has been obtained from certain other parts of London, and this information seems to point in the same direction. One Relieving Officer writes: "I have had in several instances to supplement inadequate sickness benefit. Several persons have applied, not being satisfied with their panel doctor. Single women have been admitted to the lying-in wards and have obtained maternity benefit after leaving." Another Relieving Officer from the same Union writes: "I have had to supplement unemployment benefit." In another case sanatorium benefit was provided by the Insurance Committee, and four of the children were taken into the parish schools.
The Superintendent Relieving Officer of a third Union gives the following information:—
"On making inquiries into the matter of the National Health Insurance, I find we have given nearly 700 certificates to enable inmates of our infirmary and lying-in wards to draw their benefits under this Act. In very few cases, certainly less than a dozen, have the Guardians recovered anything towards their maintenance. Married
