The affairs of the local society are managed by a board of directors consisting of nine members chosen for three years. Five of the directors are chosen by and from among the voting members of the society, two by and from among the voting employers, and two by the communal authorities. With the exception, in some cases, of the president of the board of directors, the officers of the society receive no compensation. The board of directors meet at least once a year. The duties of the board of directors are to propose by-laws and amendments thereto, to forward the accounts to the communal authorities, to arrange salaries for all paid officials, to make contracts with physicians, hospitals, apothecaries, etc., and hear complaints, and, in general, to conduct the affairs of the society and administer its funds, and, through the president, to represent the society in all legal proceedings. The voting members of the society and the voting employers are summoned to a general meeting at least once a year; but it may be provided in the by-laws that a committee be elected by and from among the voting members and the voting employers to take the place of the general meeting. Two-thirds of the committee shall represent the former and one-third the latter. The general meeting (or the committee) shall have submitted for its approval the proposals of the board of directors concerning by-laws and amendments thereto, shall decide questions as to the responsibility of officials or directors of the society, take action concerning the affairs of the society, approve contracts made by the board of directors, and advise the board of directors when occasion demands. The communal authorities appoint the business manager, on proposal of the local sickness society's directors, and two auditors, to audit the accounts of the society. The commune is responsible for the accounts collected by the business manager. Private or communal sickness societies may take the place of public local sickness societies, if they are recognized by the Royal Institution of Insurance. In order that recognition may be obtained, the bylaws of the society shall provide that the funds of the society may be used only to provide the aid indicated in the by-laws and shall be administered in a way acceptable to the Royal Institution of Insurance; that the accounts shall be kept separate from those of other activities of the association; that the grants made by the society shall not be less than those of the local public societies; that the conditions for retaining membership and obtaining sickness aid shall not be more severe than those imposed on persons subject to insurance; that the society shall discharge the same obligations to persons insured against accident in the Royal Institution of Insurance as do the public sickness societies; that the members are not responsible for the society's 67725°-VOL 2-11-37 obligations beyond the amount of their premiums; that the society shall give the members the right to retain their membership after leaving the undertaking or association with which the society is connected or shall pledge itself to give to members who are transferred to a public society definite aid in sickness, confinement, or death occurring during the first twelve weeks after the transfer; and that members over 40 years of age shall have the right to retain their membership according to the rules laid down by public societies. In order to gain recognition the society must have at least 200 members; but communal and trade sickness societies may be approved if they have at least 100 members, and the Royal Institution of Insurance may recognize societies established before this law goes into effect, even if they have fewer members, but not less than 50, provided that the reserve fund is sufficient. Recognized sickness societies shall, like the public societies, be reimbursed for expenses of sickness aid to persons injured in industrial accidents and shall receive annually from the State two-tenths and from the commune one-tenth of the average premium from each member, and from the employer one-tenth of the average premium for each of his employees subject to insurance, but not more than 3 crowns (80.4 cents) from the State, 1 crowns (40.2 cents) from the commune, and 1 crowns (40.2 cents) from the employer for each member. Each recognized society must report annually to the Royal Institution of Insurance and in general must submit to the same regulations and control as public societies. Disputes as to whether a person is subject to insurance at a certain time, the beginning or cessation of insurance, the rejection by a local sickness society of a petition for voluntary insurance, whether an insured person has been assigned to the right income or risk class, a contested claim from a local society for a premium, an employer's deduction from the wages on account of premiums paid, or of pecuniary aid received, right to vote and election to office, claims to grants from sickness societies, or an employer's claim to reimbursement for aid to an employee in a foreign country, are submitted to a jury of three members chosen for three years by the communal authorities. Of these members at least one shall be a member of the committee, one an employer, and one a member of a local sickness society. If the parties so arrange beforehand, the jury's decision is final; otherwise it may be appealed to the Royal Institution of Insurance, the decision of which is final unless the dispute involves a question of law. If the commune is a party in the case, the dispute is submitted directly to the Royal Institution of Insurance, the decision of which may be appealed to the appeal commission of royal insurance. Disputes which arise between local sickness societies concerning claims and obligations under this law, or between a local sickness society and the commune concerned, concerning the obligations of the latter to the former may be submitted to the Royal Institution of Insurance for settlement. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. No employer can, by agreement or regulation, illegally set aside or limit the provisions of this law. If anyone is under obligation, according to the provisions of the accident insurance law, to render compensation for injury occasioned by an accident, the sickness society concerned has preferential right to reimbursement, from the amount of this compensation, of its own expenditures in connection with the injury. Employers who fail to send in promptly the notices, reports, and information required or who send in incorrect information are fined. Witness fees are paid from the public treasury. The necessary arrangement for carrying out the provisions of this law are to be made by the governmental department concerned. Those provisions of the law which have to do with these preparations go into effect at once, while the rest of the provisions go into effect July 1, 1911. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE. During the closing years of the last century the problem of unemployment and how best to solve it received much attention in Norway. As in Denmark, there was much agitation in favor of the carrying on of government enterprises during periods of depression and of the initiation by the communes of public work at such times. For the purpose of restricting, as far as possible, that unemployment which is due to the failure of employer and workmen to find each other, employment offices were maintained by trade-unions and also by the four largest cities. In 1901 a departmental committee was appointed to consider the question of what could be done by the public to relieve unemployment through a more thorough system of employment offices. This committee proposed that the whole country be covered with a network of communal employment offices, with central offices for the various regions; and in accordance with this report there was passed on June 12, 1906, a law concerning public employment offices. As a result of this law the number of communal employment offices has already materially increased. The table following gives the chief statistics of the work of the municipal employment offices for the years in question: NUMBER OF MALE WORKERS WHO APPLIED FOR WORK AT THE MUNICIPAL EMPLOYMENT OFFICES IN SPECIFIED MONTHS, JULY, 1906, TO OCTOBER, 1907. [Source: Statistisk Aarbog for Kongeriget Norge, 1907.] NUMBER OF PERSONS APPLYING TO THE MUNICIPAL EMPLOYMENT OFFICES FOR WORK, VACANT PLACES, AND PLACES FILLED, 1903 TO 1906. [Source: Statistisk Aarbog for Kongeriget Norge, 1907.] The workmen of Norway are among the best organized in the world, and the unions have given much attention to finding work for their unemployed members and have expended large sums in unemployment aid. |