had either exhausted their unemployment insurance benefits or did not qualify for them) rose from 120,000 in 1929 to more than 500,000 in 1931. The National Health Insurance (Prolongation of Insurance) Act of 1930 extended provision of health insurance to unemployed males whose entitlement had run out, while the Poor Prisoners Defence Act of 1930 introduced criminal legal aid for appearances in magistrates' courts. The Housing (Scotland) Act and Housing Act of 1930 provided local authorities with additional central government subsidies to construct new homes for people who had been moved out of slum clearance areas. The Housing Act of 1930 provided for rehousing in advance of demolition, and also for the charging of low rents. The Act also made State aid available for the first time for building attractive little houses for older people without families. An obligation was put onto County Councils to contribute towards houses built for farm workers, while provisions in the Act for improving bad housing and clearing slums were applied to the country districts as well as to urban areas. A number of measures were also introduced to improve standards of health and safety in the workplace. As a means of improving industrial hygiene, regulations were introduced on 1 June 1931 that prescribed measures of hygiene for establishments engaged in electrolytic chromium plating, while regulations introduced on 28 April 1931 dealt with conditions in the refractory materials industries. On 24 February 1931, special regulations were issued by the Home Office for the prevention of accidents in the shipbuilding industry. An Act of August 1930 (which came into force in January 1931,) provided for the compulsory closing of hairdressers and barbers shops on Sundays and with certain exceptions provided that "no person may carry on the work of a hairdresser on Sunday." An Order of February 1930 prescribed protective measures for cement workers, while an Order of May 1930 contained provisions concerning the protection of workers in tanneries. The Local Government Act 1929 abolished the workhouse test and replaced the Poor Law with public bodies known as Public Assistance Committees for the relief of the poor and destitute, while Poor Law hospitals came under the control of local authorities. The Poor Law Act of 1930 also encouraged local authorities (in the words of one study) "to work with a local voluntary group to find suitable employment for deaf people." The lid was kept on the