require the sickness society to continue the same service after the expiration of the four weeks and until the medical aid ceases; and the insurance institution shall reimburse the society for the expenses of this service.

Every proprietor of an establishment subject to insurance shall, within eight days after his establishment is opened, make to the local inspector a declaration of the object and the nature of the establishment, the number of persons therein engaged, the total amount of their annual wages, and the date on which the establishment was opened. If the declaration is not made, the inspector shall himself obtain the necessary information. Every tardy or false declaration is punished by a fine unless the offense involves, by its nature, more severe punishment under the penal law. If, on account of failure to make the declaration or of its inexactitude, a sufficient premium has not been paid, the fine may be made three times the unpaid deficiency. Forms for such declarations are furnished by the insurance institution. According to ministerial order of February 5, 1895, the declarations shall be made in duplicate; after verification by the inspector they are sent to the insurance institution, which gives the establishment a membership number and returns to the inspector one of the copies bearing this number. Every establishment subject to insurance must post a placard to this effect.

A list of establishments subject to insurance shall, according to ministerial instructions, be kept by each of the inspectors for the district of which he has charge. All changes in the object or nature of the establishment which may influence its obligation of insurance are to be reported by the employer to the local authorities within eight days.

By means of the facts stated in the declaration, the board of directors of the insurance institution decides the question of the obligation of insurance for each establishment; the decision of the board may be appealed to the commission of appeals.

The administration of the institution is intrusted to a board of directors assisted by inspectors and special agents. The organization of the board of directors is left to the King, the law merely providing that all expenses connected with its work shall be borne by the State.

On September 21, 1894, the Government appointed a committee to make a study of measures necessary to put the new law into force. Apart from the classification of risks and the calculation of the scale of premiums, these measures had to do with the organization of the insurance institution. The committee made its suggestions December 24, 1894, and the Government presented them to the Storting on January 30, 1895. On March 2, 1895, the by-laws of the insurance institution were approved by the Storting.

According to its by-laws this institution is managed by a board of directors composed of three members, a director called the managing director and two associate directors appointed by the King. The two associate directors are appointed for a period of six years and are replaced, one at a time, at the end of each period of three years. The retiring member may be reappointed. They are assisted by a secretary, an accountant, a treasurer, and office employees. The latter are appointed by the insurance institution, the other agents by the ministerial department concerned.

The board meets regularly once a week, but other meetings may be called by the director. No decision may be made unless two members are present. Minutes of the meetings are kept. The law intrusts the entire management to the board of directors. The board decides for each establishment the question of the obligation of insurance and that of its assignment to one of the risk classes; it determines the indemnities to be paid for accidents, with the cooperation of the inspectors for insurance and the factory inspectors, and, if necessary, of the judicial authorities. According to the by-laws the board of directors collects and compiles the statistics of accidents; it supplements the result with the information furnished by the factory inspectors, in order to determine the scale of risks and when necessary to prepare new legal provisions. It renders an annual account and publishes, under the title "Communications from the Institution of Insurance" (Meddellelser fra Rigsforsikringsanstalten) a nonperiodic bulletin intended to furnish necessary information to the public and to the organs intrusted with the realization of insurance.

The law provides that in each commune the authorities shall appoint one, or, if the board of directors of the insurance institution deems it necessary, several inspectors. These inspectors were to be appointed within four months after the law went into effect. Their names and addresses are to be published. They have direct control over the making of declarations, assist in the determination and collection of the indemnities due from undertakers, assist in the payment of indemnities, and are charged with the duty of inquiring into the cause and the prevention of accidents.

According to ministerial instructions the inspector shall, in his district, attend to the enforcement of obligatory insurance and perform such duties as may be assigned to him by the insurance institution or the ministerial department concerned. In case the inspector of insurance is not the factory inspector he is to cooperate with him. According to ministerial instructions the inspector keeps a list of establishments subject to insurance in his district; he is to keep a daybook of the information he receives, and is to keep a copy of all letters and an account of the collections and payments which he makes for the insurance institution. The same rule concerning

secrecy which applies to factory inspectors applies also to inspectors of insurance. The pay of inspectors is fixed by the communal authorities; half of it is paid by the commune concerned and half by the insurance institution. Special agents, as occasion demands, may be appointed by the insurance institution.

The funds required for the insurance shall be raised by means `of premiums calculated according to the amount of wages and the class of risks. To this end all industries to which the law applies shall be classified according to the nature of their risks; and to each class is assigned a coefficient of risk which gives the required premium in percentage of the wages.

The law gives the King the right to determine the distribution of the industries among the classes of risks and the series of coefficients applicable to each class; this assignment and these coefficients are subject to revision three years from the time the law goes into effect and every five years thereafter.

The committee appointed September 21, 1894, had recommended the adoption of the scale and classification contained in the act. The Government submitted these proposals to the Storting January 20, 1895. The social committee of the Storting examined an independent project, presented April 6 of the same year, which distributed the industries among 6 groups and 10 classes of risks.

The social committee believed that experience alone would make it possible to judge the value of the proposals before it, and hence it adopted on May 16, 1895, the proposal which had already received the approval of the Government; that is, the one in the bill of 1894.

The declarations furnished by the owners of establishments subject to insurance afford the board of directors of the insurance institution the means of determining to what class of risks each establishment shall be assigned. The owner of the establishment is informed as soon as possible of the class of risks to which his establishment is assigned and the coefficient of risk according to which the corresponding premiums will be calculated.

In the case of an industry not mentioned in the scale, the provincial department concerned shall assign the establishment to a risk class; in the case of an establishment including several kinds of undertakings belonging to different classes of risks, the insurance institution determines the coefficient of risk for the establishment, with the understanding that appeal may be made to the appeal committee.

The premium is paid exclusively by the employer. The amount of the basic wages used may never exceed 1,200 crowns ($321.60) yearly. In the case of insured persons to whom the law assigns fictitious wages as the basis for the calculation of indemnities this amount shall be taken as the basic wages.

The employer shall send an estimate of his contribution to the board of directors of the insurance institution within two months after the close of the fiscal year, or within one month after the closing up of his establishment. In the case of tardiness or inexactitude in making the declaration or calculations required from the employer, the penalties provided in general for making false or tardy declarations are imposed. A reduction of wages by the employer to offset the payment of his premiums is punished with the same penalties.

The board of directors of the insurance institution has the right to calculate premiums due from an employer who has not discharged his obligations in this respect. Moreover, in order to permit the exercise of this right by the board of directors and at the same time to afford a means of controlling the estimates sent by employers, the law provides that the board of directors may cause examination, either by the inspector of insurance or by a special agent, of the books and documents containing information of the number of persons insured and the amount of their wages.

The contribution due from each establishment shall be paid within the fifteen days following the beginning of the period of four months for which it is due. Contributions not paid are regarded in the light of taxes and forced execution may be resorted to for the purpose of collecting them.

According to the by-laws of the insurance institution the board of directors publishes each year an account of its management of the institution during the preceding year. It was provided that at the end of the first month after the law went into effect and subsequently every five years the board of directors should present a complete review of the accidents which had taken place, of their nature and their seriousness, and of the indemnities granted. These accounts. and reviews are presented to the first session of the Storting after their compilation. By its very nature the insurance institution may not be dissolved.

The law provides that if a person whom it submits to the obligation of insurance is already insured against accidents with a private society by a contract assuring him of indemnity corresponding to that defined by the law, he may transfer to the insurance institution. his obligations and rights under the existing contract; the insurance institution shall then pay the premium and receive the indemnity provided for in the contract.

The decisions of the board of directors of the insurance institution may be appealed to a special commission. This commission, having its headquarters at Christiania, is composed of seven members. Three of them, including the president, who shall be versed in the law, a physician, and an engineer, together with their substitutes, are appointed by the King for a period of five years; the other four,

including two employers and two workmen, as well as one employer and one workman serving as their substitutes, are appointed by the Storting for a period of three years. The members of the commission are paid for attending meetings and are allowed traveling expenses. The commission may consult experts.

All appeals from the decisions of the board of directors of the insurance institution shall be made to the commission within six weeks from the time of the announcement of the decision.

The law confers upon the board of directors of the insurance institution the right to set on foot an examination, either by the inspector of factories or by a special agent, of the premises of a business which seems to involve special dangers, for the purpose of determining to what extent these dangers may be prevented and what means should be used. It provides, moreover, that if the dangers which are proved to exist can not be prevented, or, if the preventive measures prescribed by the board of directors of the insurance institution are not taken, this board may assign the establishment to a higher risk class, or, if it already belongs to the highest class, increase the rate of its premium to three times the original. The decision of the board is subject to appeal in the same manner as the original determination of the amount of the premium.

According to the by-laws of the insurance institution, the board of directors shall, if it considers that the number of accidents in an establishment is unnecessarily high, take, in cooperation with the inspector of factories, the necessary measures to remedy the situation.

Papers made out in connection with the insurance are exempt from stamp duty. No postage is charged the insurance institution. The expenses involved in the calling of witnesses are borne by the public treasury. All fines imposed under this act are to be paid to the insurance institution.

The law went into effect January 1, 1895.

LAW OF AUGUST 6, 1897.

As has been seen, the law of 1894 provided that the first revision should take place three years after the time at which it went into effect. Before the law had been in force a year it became evident that the scale of premiums was too low to meet the obligations of the insurance institution and that a deficit would be the result. While the principal cause of the inability of the institution to meet its obligations was the inadequacy of the premiums, other factors also had an important effect. The law had been put into operation before sufficient time had been given to provide for adequate administration of its provisions; the provision in the law fixing a minimum period of employment below which no premiums were to be paid caused serious