A Respectable Occupation: - University of Hertfordshire Research ...

The Privy Council had stated that it did not want to see the standard
of the pharmaceutical qualification lowered, nor did it want a byelaw so
written that it would allow a flood of clearly unqualified people onto the
Pharmaceutical Society‘s register. However, it did want a byelaw framed
that would permit the registration of those who were suitably
experienced. 136 Discussions were held between representatives of the
Pharmaceutical Society, the Association of Certified Dispensers and the
Privy Council, chaired by Sir William Collins, and a byelaw was formulated
and put to the membership of the opposing bodies. It was a solution that
satisfied no one except perhaps the government. 137
Lloyd George had a personal interest in this piece of legislation; from
his earliest days in politics he been passionate about social reform and was
determined to see his National Insurance Bill become law. 138 His
determination was such that it appears he was prepared to act
autocratically to achieve his objective, as the following examples indicate.
He had, from the start, been in constant discussion with the friendly
societies about how the National Insurance Act was going to work. He had
drawn on their experience of running a comparable scheme and led them to
believe that he would operate his scheme through them. Then in October
1911, he refused to accede to the friendly societies‘ request that benefits be
paid from the first day of sickness, as had been their practice, and insisted
that they commence on day four. For the societies, this was their one non-
136 „The Making of Byelaws‟, Pharmaceutical Journal, 90, 2581, (28 Jun. 1913) 895-896.
137 „The Proposed New Byelaw in Relation to Apothecaries‟ Assistants‟, Pharmaceutical Journal, 102,
2901, (24 May 1919) 323-324.
138 Grigg, Lloyd George, p. 313.
335