tion of kr. 5.40 is also made to this Fund by employers for every workman employed who is insured against accidents.

Members of Sick Benefit Clubs thus insured against invalidity, whose working capacity is reduced to one-third or less, are entitled to an annual invalidity pension of 800 kroner, for a married couple 1,200 kroner. Persons who receive a pension from the Government or a municipality, or have received legal compensation for an accident, receive a somewhat reduced pension. The part of the expense of these invalidity pensions which cannot be met out of the contributions to the Fund referred to above, is divided between the Government and the municipality, and, in the same proportions, the Government and the municipality must take over the payment of invalidity pensions to annuitants who reach the age of 62, as the obligation of the Insurance Fund then ceases.

In 1922 about 1.2 million Sick Benefit Club members were insured against invalidity. So far no information is available as to the extent of the participation of the State and the municipalities in the expenditure.

Accident Insurance. An Act of 1898 prescribes regulations as to the obligation of employers to pay compensation for working accidents. This Act did not, however, include all working places, and there was no obligation on the part of the employers to insure themselves against their risk. Subsequent Acts have considerably extended the scope of this Act, and the one now in force, promulgated on June 28th, 1920, which applies to practically all employers, places the obligation to insure with the employer. The insurance is to be effected with an insurance company approved by the Ministry for Home Affairs, which may be either an ordinary private insurance company or a mutual company established especially for the purpose.

Daily allowances and invalidity compensation are paid in case of accident and, in the event of the death of the injured person, burial assistance and compensation to the surviving members of the family. The Sick Benefit Clubs, however, pay the daily allowance for the first thirteen weeks after the accident, it being presumed that the person is insured against sickness. Compensation for invalidity is given in the form of a capital sum, fixed according to the percentage of invalidity and the wages of the injured person (the maximum compensation being

24,000 kroner). In the event of death a capital sum of five times the annual wage (maximum 12,000 kroner), and burial assistance to the amount of 200 kroner, are paid to the widow and children of the deceased.

The settlement of the question of liability for compensation and the amount of the compensation is made by a Government institution, the Labour Insurance Council, whose decisions are final. Where there are special circumstances the Council may decide that the full amount of the compensation is not to be paid out in full at once, but at certain periods, while in other cases the amount may be utilised for the purchase of an annuity.

Unemployed Insurance. At an early date a number of trades unions took up the question of assistance to the unemployed, partly by means of insurance through special unemployment funds, but the realisation that a general solution of the question could not be carried through by the workers themselves led, in 1907, to the passing of an Act providing for public support of approved unemployment funds. The principle was the same as with the Sick Benefit Clubs, i. e. the establishment and membership of such funds was quite voluntary. As a matter of fact, however, the development of the funds has been subject to the interest of the trades unions, they having made it compulsory for their members to become members of the unemployment fund established for their particular trade. Thus the funds have secured a number of »good risks< which otherwise, if left to themselves, would have remained outside the scheme. The funds are subject to Government supervision, but otherwise they are independent and are managed in conjunction with the trades unions, a fact which makes for lower costs of administration. At the end of 1922 there were 66 funds, of which 65 were limited to certain trades though covering the whole country, while one was of a merely local character. The membership was 262,000.

According to the Act of March 4th, 1924, the Government gives a grant corresponding to 35 per cent. of the contributions of the members, and the municipalities a grant corresponding to 30 per cent. of the contributions of those members who live in the municipal area. In the ordinary course the public subsidies thus amount to about 40 per cent. of the income of the funds. In

the financial year of 1922-23 the Government subsidy was about 9 million kroner and the municipal grants about 6 millions.

Whilst under ordinary conditions before the war and the first years of the war the funds were in a position, duly to meet their obligations on the intended insurance basis, unemployment had grown to such dimensions in the years 1917-21 that this was no longer possible, and the Government had therefore to grant very considerable sums towards the relief of unemployment. From January 1st, 1922, a special unemployment fund has been in existence, and this comes into function in the event of extraordinary unemployment by the granting of relief, financing of emergency work, and courses of training for the unemployed. The Government immediately granted a sum of 7 million kroner and, up to the end of 1922-23, a further 10 millions. In the ordinary course the unemployment fund receives a Government grant equivalent to ten per cent. of the total contributions of the ordinary members, plus one-third of the total amount disbursed by the fund. Employers pay 5 kroner per annum for every man employed, and the municipalities pay one-third of the amount paid out in extraordinary unemployment relief. The inspection of the unemployment funds is exercised by a special Government institution collaborating with various committees, in which both employers and workers are represented.

Closely connected with the unemployment insurance is the public Labour Exchange, established by the municipalities and directed by Boards, on which the various parties are equally represented. The Government refunds up to one-third of the expenses of the municipalities towards these Labour Exchanges.

SANITATION, HOUSING, ETC.

For the purpose of maintaining ordinary hygienic standards there is a Sanitary Authority, consisting of a central organ: the National Board of Health, and a number of medical officers, each of whom has his district and exercises ordinary hygienic supervision. There are local organisations in the form of municipal boards of health, which are to be found in every town and a number of rural districts. The work of these boards is governed by sanitary regulations, which contain rules as to general public hygiene and inspection of foodstuffs, as well as hygienic rules

regarding the arrangement of dwelling houses. As regards the constructive side of building activity, public control is exercised on the basis of special building regulations which prescribe certain precautions against fire, collapse of houses, etc.

The public hospital service is highly developed in Denmark, both as far as the Government, and, especially, as far as the municipal hospitals are concerned. There are altogether in the ordinary public hospitals 14,000 beds, and there are also special sanatoria for consumptives with accommodation for about 2,000 patients, lunatic asylums with accommodation for 5,000, and homes for the mentally deficient, etc.

Until the outbreak of the war the supply of dwelling houses had principally been effected through private building enterprise, although from the end of the nineties there had been some cooperative building, especially in the surroundings of the capital. Owing to the rise in prices during the war, and the future risk in the building business, a large number of private builders withdrew. Thus there was a very great scarcity of dwelling houses, especially in the towns and, in order to remedy this, great sacrifices were made by the State and the municipalities in order to get houses built. Under these circumstances the building activities of the municipalities themselves and of the co-operative societies came very much to the fore. In the years 1916 to 1923 a total of 21,000 houses and flats were built in Copenhagen, of which about 6,000 were direct municipal undertakings, while about 8,500 were built by building societies, and about 6,500 by private builders. In the same period about 17,800 houses and flats were constructed in the provincial towns, of which the municipalities were responsible for 3,000, the building societies for about 4,500, and private builders for about 10,000. In the year 1922 there were, in all, about 192,000 houses and flats in the capital (population about 725,000). The average annual rent in 1922 for a flat with 2 rooms and kitchen in the capital was about 380 kroner and 240 kroner in the provinces; 3 rooms and kitchen about 560 and 360 kroner respectively.

In 1916 regulations were introduced by law, governing the increase of house rent. This legislation has since been continued, but now it is in course of winding up. As a consequence of this legislation the rise of house rents has been much less than the general rise of prices; from 1914 to 1923 the average rise in

rents has been about 60 per cent., whereas the general increase in the level of retail prices is something over 100 per cent.

TEMPERANCE LEGISLATION

In Denmark, temperance legislation is mainly limited to regulations regarding the number of places where alcoholic beverages may be consumed and as to trading in spirits. There is no prohibition, but alcohol is very heavily taxed. The voluntary temperance movement has attained considerable proportions, and there is a very large number of societies all over the country whose members (to a number of about 170,000) pledge themselves not to drink spirituous liquors. The per capita consumption of pure alcohol, which in the years immediately prior to the war was 64 litres of 100 per cent., is now about 24 litres. The heavy taxation and the improvement in the sobriety of the population have, in combination, produced this favourable change.