Board. The periods covered by the various statements should also be shown. In cases where this statement is sent only the total payments in Section B. of the Form need be filled in.

I am further to refer to the circular letter issued by the Local Government Board on the 13th August, 1917, approving the drug Neokharsivan as a substitute for salvarsan, and I am to state that Messrs. Burroughs Wellcome and Company are now prepared to supply this drug in the following doses :-

in addition to the doses of 0.6 gramme and 0.9 gramme referred to in the above-mentioned circular letter.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

A. K. MACLACHLAN,
Assistant Secretary.

The Clerk of the Council, or

The Town Clerk.

Sir, I am directed by the Minister of Health to state that he has received a communication from the Army Council, informing him that the attention of the Council has been called to the valuable assistance afforded to the War Office by the Local Pension Committees and Sub-Committees in connection with the administration of the scheme of dependants' allowances, and particularly in connection with the work of the War Office Appeals Committee, who have found that the decision of appeals has been greatly facilitated by the ready response of the Committees to requests for the supply of additional information on the reconsideration of individual cases.

The Army Council deeply appreciate the services so willingly rendered, and Dr. Addison has been requested to convey to the Local Pension Committees and Sub-Committees the cordial thanks of the Army Council for the generous co-operation of the members of the Committees and Sub-Committees during a period of great strain and difficulty.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

ROBERT L. MORANT,

Secretary.

To the Clerk to the Local Pension Committee

or

Sub-Committee.

CIRCULAR OF MINISTRY OF HEALTH.

THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH ACT, 1919.

Ministry of Health,

Whitehall, S.W.1.

18th July, 1919.

Section 3 of the Ministry of Health Act, 1919, provides for the transfer to the Minister of Health of all the powers and duties of the Local Government Board, and an Order in Council, made on the 25th ultimo under Section 11 (1) of the Act, fixed the 1st instant, as the day on which the powers and duties of the Board should be transferred to the Minister.

The Minister of Health has therefore now become the Central Pension Authority for England and Wales for the purposes of the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 and 1911, and references in the Old Age Pensions Regulations, 1911, to the Local Government Board must, as regards England and Wales, be construed as references to the Minister of Health. It will consequently be necessary that such of the forms of notice set out in the first schedule to the Old Age Pensions Regulations, 1911, as contain references to the Local Government Board, should be altered accordingly.

The numbers of the notices in question and an indication of the adaptations to be made in each notice are given overleaf.

Pending a reprint of the forms of notice referred to, the Superintendents of H.M. Stationery Office at Underwood Street, Shepherdess Walk, London, N.1; at Peter Street, Manchester; or at No. 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff, will, on receiving a requisition from the Pension Committee or Sub-Committee, be prepared to supply copies of the altered notices, but it is suggested that application should be limited to a number sufficient to meet the estimated requirements of the Pension Committee or Sub-Committee for a period not exceeding three months. Any copies of the forms in the possession of the Pension Committee or Sub-Committee might be transmitted to the Stationery Office with the requisition, a sufficient number being retained, however, to meet the Committee's or Sub-Committee's requirements for the ensuing four weeks.

To the Clerk of the Pension Committee or

Sub-Committee.

LIST OF THE FORMS TO BE ADAPTED.

Form O.A.P. No. 4A.-Substitute "Minister of Health " for Local Government Board" in each of the last two paragraphs.

*

Form O.A.P. No. 4B.-Substitute "Minister of Health " for "Local Government Board" in each of the first two lines of the last paragraph.

Form O.A.P. No. 5A.-Substitute "Minister of Health " for "Local Government Board" in each of the first two lines of the last paragraph.

Form O.A.P. No. 8C.-Substitute "Minister of Health for "Local Government Board" in each of the first two lines of the last paragraph.

Form O.A.P. No. 8D.-Substitute "Minister of Health" for "Local Government Board" in each of the first two lines of the last paragraph.

Form O.A.P. No. 9.-Substitute "Minister of Health" for "Local Government Board" in title and notice, and Ministry of Health" for "Local Government Board" in address on back of form.

Form O.A.P. No. 10. Substitute "Minister of Health" for 'Local Government Board" in note below title and in notification.

Form O.A.P. No. 11A.-Substitute "Minister of Health" for "Local Government Board" at end of first paragraph and in second paragraph.

Form O.A.P. No. 13.-Substitute "Minister of Health" for "Local Government Board" in title, heading and notification. Delete the words "to the Board" in fourth line of notification.

CIRCULAR OF MINISTRY OF HEALTH.

HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES.
CONVERSION OF HOUSES INTO FLATS.

Ministry of Health,

Whitehall, S.W.1,
29th July, 1919.

Sir, I am directed by the Minister of Health to state that, with a view to obtaining an immediate increase in the amount of accommodation available to relieve the present overcrowding, he is anxious that local authorities should at once consider the question of utilising the powers to be conferred on them under Clause 12 of the Housing Bill in regard to the conversion of existing houses into flats or tenement dwellings. As you are no doubt aware, under this clause the powers of a local authority to acquire land for the purposes of housing are to be deemed to include power to acquire any estate or interest in any houses which might be made suitable as houses for the working classes together with any lands occupied with such houses, and the local authority are to be empowered to alter, enlarge, repair and improve any such houses or buildings so as to render them in all respects fit for habitation as houses for the working classes.

In view of the present needs the Minister is anxious to facilitate schemes of conversion under this clause, and he desires me to state that such a scheme, when approved by him, will rank for financial assistance as part of the housing scheme of the local authority. With a view to assisting local authorities in the preparation of such schemes should the circumstances of their district render them practicable or desirable) a Manual with regard to schemes of conversion is being prepared and will be issued at a very early date.

To secure one of the main objects of these schemes it is essential that they should be put in hand at once, and, pending the issue of the Manual, the Minister thinks it desirable that your authority should undertake a survey of their district with a view to ascertaining what property suitable for conversion is available. The Minister will be glad therefore if you will complete the enclosed forms so far as practicable and return them to the Housing Commissioner for your district (in London to the London Housing Board) within the next fourteen days. Information with regard to unoccupied houses (which it is suggested should be those to which the local authority should usually direct their first efforts) will no doubt be readily available. If the local authority have information with