The history of social legislation in the twentieth century is the expression not merely of democratic pressure, but of the increased social sensitiveness to the national conscience, awakened by individuals of outstanding merit protesting that certain evils should no longer exist. As the industrial revolution worked itself out, it was possible to ascertain, by patient investigation, its weaknesses and evils, and to provide certain remedies. Based on a steadily growing prosperity, its record is worth reciting; a wide extension of education providing in increasing degree an opportunity to the able men and women in all ranks of society to develop their individuality; a general standard of education which proved its value in increasing temperance, diminished crime, and growing sense of public spirit, culminating in attention to the physical condition of school-children, that in normal times would have given every child a happy healthy childhood. In public health, the elimination of the most dangerous infectious diseases, a steady improvement of sanitary conditions, and an education in preventive medicine, that can be proved by statistics to have been directly remunerative. On the positive side, an extension of infant welfare work, which, relying on the natural affection of mothers, and calling upon them to develop their own individuality, has for a small expenditure reduced the infant death rate by half. Health Insurance on a contributory basis has lessened the sham of sickness in the wage-earner’s family, and as the results of the quinquennial valuations of Approved Societies are more widely known and understood, will overcome any remaining adverse criticism. Old age pensions have removed the fear of an old age spent in dependence on grudging relatives, or on the Poor Law, with its deterrent associations. The treatment of unemployment has gained in efficiency and thoroughness by the steady gaining of experience—the Labour Bureaux, Unemployment Insurance, the use of State credits to finance international trade and guarantee extensions of industry at home are laying foundations of a new order—the irregular activities of voluntary organizations and local authorities in emigration have developed into an Imperial Scheme for Overseas Settlement. Under the existing conditions of financial stringency, we have to consider how this burden can, in the future, be borne. How much of the national income can, in the years immediately to come, be devoted to services admittedly admirable in their objects? One fact becomes clear: at all costs we must hold on to the main essentials in the public services and keep the machinery in working order so that it will be ready for expansion when financial conditions make it possible. The fall in prices, resulting in a reduced cost of living, lower war bonuses, lower cost of materials, is bringing, and will bring, even further relief to the taxpayer and ratepayer. The adjustment, however,