THE SOCIAL ACTIVITIES OF GOVERNMENT 123

services. There is not, however, any such delegation of work to
localities as appears in the health or housing services; the local
Committees do no more than carry out the instructions of
Parliament and the Ministry.

It is hard to realise now the fierce opposition which National
Health Insurance aroused when it began. There were many
prophecies that the working population would malinger, or even
" deliberately incur accidents in order to draw insurance money,
and it was argued that the worker was getting "ninepence for
fouipence" because his employer and the State contributed to
the fund. This latter provision, however, is reasonable, since
the strain °f woric *s a common cause of ill health; the fears of
malingering have proved baseless. For many years the scheme
has done so much to give people security, that it is difficult to
imagine what life was like without it. Thus public opinion was
prepared for the extension of the principle of insurance to cover
old age and the loss of the family breadwinner.

In 1908 an Act had been passed providing pensions for persons
over seventy. There was no arrangement for contributions, and
the whole cost was borne by the State. The amount of pension
varied according to the means of the applicant, and the maximum
was ten shillings a week. It was pointed out with some truth
that this arrangement discouraged people from saving while
they were still young enough to work. In 1925 Mr. Churchill
introduced a contributory pension scheme similar to that for
Health Insurance. Employers, employees and the State pay into
a fund under the control of the Ministry of Health. Hence, the
insured person at the age of sixty-five, or the widow of an insured
person, receives ten shillings a week; twenty shillings a week is
paid to married couples, and there are further payments in
respect of orphaned children. The pensioners are thus provided
for till they reach the age of seventy; then they receive their ten
shillings a week without any enquiry into their means. To-day,
therefore, a person over seventy receives either, under the 1908-*
1924 Acts, a pension to which he has not contributed, provided.