the implements and seeds necessary for the cultivation of their holdings, and to take over stocks of sheep and other livestock. Wherever the rents of the holdings were considered to be too high they were reduced, a valuation having been undertaken by the Land Court in each case. Several hundreds of additional applicants were settled on the land, with the assistance of the funds of the Scottish Board. Structural additions were carried out at several agricultural colleges, and scholarships enabling them to receive instruction were granted to the sons and daughters of agricultural workers and others. The Scottish Board of Health also withdrew the restrictions imposed under the previous Conservative government upon the expenditure to be incurred in the public health services, and consequently there were developments affecting port sanitation, Tuberculosis, the welfare of the blind, and maternity and child welfare. The Board also extended grants to local authorities for the purpose of slum clearance, while a limit was placed upon the number of two-apartment houses to be erected as a means of improving housing standards. The provisions under which Poor Law Relief was accorded to able-bodied unemployed and their dependents were extended for a further year, and were improved to permit of parish councils making grants in aid of emigration. A number of schemes for the extension of school premises were put into operation. Entitlement to sickness allowances to war widows and orphans were extended, a national electrical policy and a national road policy was launched, and two additional treatment centres for those afflicted by venereal diseases were constructed. Various measures were also introduced to improve mine safety, as characterised by the application of new rules, attempts to enforce safety regulations, and the appointment of additional inspectors. The old regulations for working in Quarries and Metalliferous Mines were improved, while a medical man was appointed to inspect the First Aid equipment kept at mines. Higher spending on education and health was carried out, while sickness grants (which had been abolished under a previous administration) were restored. According to the Labour Party historian G.D.H. Cole, in summing up the record of the First Labour Government, What it could do and did achieve was to undo a good many of the administrative effects of the "Geddes Axe," to pass several valuable measures of social reform, and to make a somewhat faint-hearted attempt at coping with the unemployment problem by the institution