14. When the total annual income of the fund exceeds the amount necessary for payment of pensions and grants, the surplus shall be retained as a reserve, for the purpose of covering, until a condition of stability has been reached, any deficits which may subsequently occur and for the repayment of the State of such advances as may be made by it.

If, by a gradual growth of the Reserve Fund, the economic situation and the established prosperity of the Insurance Fund will safely permit, the subscriptions of members and the taxes corresponding thereto may be reduced, in the manner laid down in §16 below.

15. If the total income annually drawn from the sources enumerated in the paragraphs numbered (1) and (2), §13, do not suffice to balance the annual expenses, thus obliging the State to make good the deficit by means of advances, these advances must be repaid to the State as soon as the receipts shall exceed the payments.

16. The rate of the reductions contemplated in §14, and likewise the total of the repayments to the State, shall be fixed by a decree issued at the instance of the Minister of Marine and the Finance Minister, conformably with the advice of the Council of Administration instituted under §18. Modifications of the rate shall come into force from the 1st of January of the year following that in which such a decree has been issued.

PART II.

ADMINISTRATION OF THE FUND. SUNDRY REGULATIONS.

17. The Minister of Marine is responsible for the management of the Insurance Fund. He shall have the assistance of the staff entrusted with the administration and management of the Naval Disablement Fund.

The financial control of the Institution shall be vested in the Chief Commissioners of the Naval Disablement Institution.

18. There shall be established, at the Ministry of Marine, a special Administrative Council for the Insurance Fund.

This Council shall be composed of:

(1) Two senators and two Deputies, nominated by the Minister of Marine, of whom one shall act as President;

(2) two representatives of the Higher Council of the Naval Disablement Institution, nominated by the said Council;

(3) A Councillor of State and a Treasury official, nominated by the Ministry of Marine;

(4) the Director of the Mercantile Marine and the Administrator of the Disablement Institution, sitting as ex officio members;

(5) five representatives of owners and five representatives of members nominated by their respective committees or unions, in the proportion of one seagoing captain, one representative of the engineering officers, one registered deck or engine-room hand, one ordinary seaman and one fisherman.

The members named in paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and (5) shall be nominated for three years.

The committee shall be consulted, particularly, in respect of the use and the investment of capital belonging to the Insurance Fund, and shall give its

advice touching questions and proposals relating to the organisation and management of the Institution.

19. The taxes and subscriptions to be collected conformably with §§3 and 4 shall be calculated by reference to the paying-off sheets of ships and vessels as drawn up by the Marine Office.

The regulations for recovery of claims due to the Naval Disablement Fund shall be applicable, in the present case, to collection of taxes and subscriptions.

20. In order to make good his rights to any one of the allowances contemplated in §5, the member must, under pain of forfeiture, address to the administrator of the Seamen's Registry Office, within six months after his landing or his return to France, if he has landed in a foreign country or the Colonies, either a verbal or written formal demand for which a receipt will be given him.

A similar demand, for which also a receipt will be given, must, under penalty of forfeiture of rights, be addressed within a year from the death of the member, or within two years from the day of receipt of latest news of him if he has been lost at sea, by wives, orphans, ascendants or guardians claiming benefits under §§6-10.

In the case of loss at sea, cognisance is taken of the demand as soon as the Minister of Marine shall have issued his decision establishing the disappearance of the sailor or the total loss of the vessel in which he sailed.

A public administrative regulation will set forth the proofs, which must be produced in order to establish a claim, and the periods within which these proofs must be presented. In the matter of the invalid pension and its revision, as contemplated in §5, the proceedings will include a visit by the Special Commission established by §1 of the Act of April 11th, 1881, and the establishment, to the Commission's satisfaction, of the fact that the condition of the grantee proceeds from the causes, and has produced the consequences specified in $5.

21. Invalid pensions, the pensions of widows and grants to orphans or ascendants arising from such pensions, are granted in accordance with the procedure in force for the grant of so-called half-pay pensions.

Daily compensation shall be granted without delay on the decision of the local administrator, with the sanction of the Minister of Marine, after an official emergency enquiry, and for a period not exceeding four months.

At the end of this period, such compensation may be, on recommendation of the Visiting Committee established under §1 of the Act of 11th April, 1881, changed by the Minister's decision into a compensation grant renewable every six months, an enquiry being necessary before each renewal. At the end of three years from the issue of the Ministerial decision specified in the preceding paragraph, this renewable compensation shall cease to be paid or shall be changed, after a fresh visit, into an invalid pension, conformably with the preceding Section.

The sanction of the Minister alluded to in paragraph 2 of this Section must be obtained within a week of the notification of the decision taken by the local administrator.

22. The capital of the National Insurance Fund shall be invested in State Rentes, in Treasury bonds, and in stocks guaranteed by the State. The moneys constituting, at the moment of the publication of this Act, the guaranteed capital created under the Act of 21st April, 1898, shall be paid over as they

then stand; that is to say, in State Rentes, Treasury Bonds or stocks guaranteed by the State, to the Reserve Fund established under §14 foregoing.

23. There shall be kept, at the Central Office of the Naval Disablement Institution, a grand register in which shall be recorded all pensions and annual grants in the order of their granting.

To each claimant there shall be delivered a certificate of registration establishing his claim.

24. Instalments of life pensions and of annual grants from the National Insurance Fund shall be payable quarterly on the production of the life certificate.

25. Pensions and annual grants, of which no instalment has been claimed for three years shall be struck off the grand register. Their replacement on the register shall give no claim to any instalments due before the date of the renewal of claim.

The same forfeiture of rights shall take place in the case of heirs or dependants of pensioners who have failed to produce the proofs establishing their rights within the three years following the date of the decease of their principals.

Instalments of pensions not paid, but claimed within the three years next following the decease of the pensioner, are not liable in law except for purposes of the quinquennial levy.

26. Certificates of civil rights, certificates of identity and all other documents necessary for the administration of this Act may be obtained free from the Mayors of Communes or from the Seamen's Unions. They are exempted from stamp and registration duty.

27. The regulations in force relating to the settlement and payment of so-called half-pay pensions shall apply to pensions and annual grants payable by the National Insurance Fund, in respect of all matters not otherwise

ordered in this Act.

28. The National Insurance Fund shall defray the special administrative expenses proper to its work. Notwithstanding, the salaries of staff and other expenses connected with the Central Office at Paris shall not exceed one per cent. of the total income of the fund during the three preceding years of its working.

All pensions and additions to pensions, together with annual grants made before the publication of this Act, shall be brought into conformity with the new tariff subjoined.

Pensions and allowances which have been reduced by half, in pursuance of §10 of the Act of April 21st, 1898, shall be raised to their original figure and brought into conformity with the new tariff subjoined.

30. This Act shall be of force in Algeria, in Martinique, in Guadeloupe, in Réunion, in Guiana, in the Iles St. Pierre and Miquelon, and in all other Colonies where seamen can be legally registered. It shall become operative from the 1st of January following its publication.

All previous provisions contrary to this Act are hereby repealed. Paragraph I of §81 of the Finance Act of 30th March, 1902, is likewise hereby repealed.

This Act having been debated and passed by the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies shall have the force of Statute Law.

Tariff of Invalid Pensions and Annual Grants to be allowed in pursuance of the Act of 29th December, 1905.

Sea-going Captains holding higher cer-
tificate.-Engineers of the 1st Class in
control, during their last voyage, of
engines of 4,000 h.-p. and upwards ..
Sea-going Captains not holding the higher
certificate.-Engineers of the 1st Class
controlling, during their last voyage,
engines of less than 4,000 h.-p.-Doc-
tors.
Skippers of coasting vessels, officers of
the Mercantile Marine.-Engineers of
the 1st Class.-Engineers of the 2nd
Class controlling engines during their
last voyage.-Commissaries.-Officers
of Health

..

Registered seamen holding a sea pilot's
certificate, a master's certificate for
Iceland fishing, 2nd Class Engineer's
certificate.-Doctors in deep sea fishing
vessels not holding an Officer of Health's
certificate. Stewards. Accountants
and Assistant Commissaries
Registered seamen not holding one of the
foregoing certificates and who have
last sailed as officers in coasting vessels
or in deep sea fishing vessels, or as
masters of vessels engaged in sea-fish-
ing, or coast fishing, or boundary
marking, or pilotage.-Servants of
both sexes drawing a monthly salary
exceeding 75 francs

1st Class 2nd Class.
Francs.

Registered seamen not belonging to any of the foregoing categories.—Servants of both sexes drawing a monthly salary of 75 francs and under

50

2. Décret du 10 novembre 1906 portant promulgation de la convention signée à Paris, le 27 juin 1906, entre la France et le Luxembourg relative à la réparation des dommages résultant des accidents du travail.

(B.d.l'O. d. T. XIV., No. 6, juin 1907, p. 608, J.O. 15 novembre 1906.)

2. Decree of 10th November, 1906, publishing the Convention signed at Paris, 27th June, 1906, between France and Luxembourg, relating to compensation for injuries resulting from industrial accidents.

3. Décret du 10 janvier 1907, portant règlement d'administration publique pour l'organisation et le fonctionnement du conseil supérieur des habitations à

bon marché. (B.d. l'O. d.T. XIV., No. 4, avril 1907, p. 377, J.O., 19 janvier 1907.)

3. Decree of 10th January, 1907, containing public administrative regulations

4.

for the organisation and working of the Central Housing Council.

Décret du 14 janvier 1907 relatif au paiement du salaire de maladie aux ouvriers des arsenaux ne vivant pas en famille. (B.d. l'O. d.T., XIV., No. 4 avril 1907, p. 377, J.O., 16 janvier 1907.)

4. Decree of 14th January, 1907, relating to the issue of sick pay to arsenal workers not residing at home.

5. Décret du 17 janvier 1907 portant règlement d'administration publique relatif à l'application aux inscrits maritimes coloniaux de la loi du 29 decembre 1905 sur la caisse de prévoyance des marins francais. (B. d. l'O. d. T., XIV. No. 4, avril 1907, p. 377, J.O., 22 janvier 1907.)

5. Decree of 17th January, 1907, containing the public administrative regulation relating to the inclusion of registered Colonial seamen within the scope of the Act of 29th December, 1905,* which deals with the Insurance Fund for French Seamen.

6. Décret du 17 janvier 1907 modifiant le décret du 8 decembre 1904 approuvant le nouveau tarif de la Caisse nationale d'assurance en cas d'accidents. (B. d. l'O. d. T., XIV., No. 4, avril 1907, p. 377, J.O., 19 janvier1907.)

6. Decree of 17th January, 1907, amending the Decree of 8th December, 1904, sanctioning the new tariff of the National Accident Insurance Fund.

7. Arrété du ministre du travail en date du 26 janvier 1907, relatif aux comités patronage des habitations à bon marché. (B. d. l'O. d. T., XIV., No. 3, mars 1907, p. 264, J.O., 27 janvier 1907.)

7. Order of the Minister of Labour, dated 26th January, 1907, respecting Patronage Committees of Cheap Dwellings.

IV. Great Britain and Ireland

1. Model Bye-laws issued by the Local Government Board : XVIII. Means of escape in case of fire in certain factories and workshops. June, 1906. 2. The explosives in coal mines Order of the 17th December, 1906. (Stat. Rules and Orders, 1906, No. 918.)

3. Order, dated 22nd December, 1906, made by the Secretary of State under the Notice of Accidents Act, 1906, requiring the reporting of certain classes of dangerous occurrences in Factories and Workshops whether personal injury is caused or not. (Stat. R. & O., 1906, No. 933.)

In pursuance of §5 of the Notice of Accidents Act, 1906, I hereby extend the provisions of the said Act requiring notice of accidents in factories and workshops to be given to an Inspector to the following classes of occurrences in a factory or workshop (including any place which for the purpose of the provisions of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, with respect to accidents is a factory or workshop, or is included in the word factory or workshop, or is part of a factory or workshop) whether personal injury or disablement is caused or not :

*See p. 24.