from the interior of the country. Under a law promulgated on December the 4th 1947, a housing finance section was established in the Mortgage Bank of Uruguay. Authorized to act independently of the other economic and financial divisions of the Bank, the new section was intended “to aid in the solution of Uruguay’s critical housing problem by loaning money for the acquisition, construction, and improvement of living quarters.” This new section also had the right to acquire land "by mutual agreement or by expropriation, to subdivide it, and to build dwellings for sale or for rent.” Also in regards to housing, a 1949 law was approved "granting special facilities to employees of the BHU." A Decree concerning Measures for the Prevention of Accidents to Workers Engaged in the Unloading of Coal and Salt dated 28 July 1949 "provides for the use of hooks with safety catches for all lifting equipment used in the unloading of coal and salt and for the blocking of trucks while salt is being unloaded. It also requires workers to use safety belts when they are at the top of hoppers." A law of December the 5th 1949 authorized compensation for farmers damaged by hail. Law No. 11,617 of October the 20th 1950 created the Retirement and Pension Fund for Rural Workers, Domestic Workers and Old Age Pensions. Under Law 10960 the Bank of the Republic “is empowered to grant the dependent workers of the National Cooperative of Milk Producers, bank loans on their salaries and wages, in accordance with the provisions established in the law of November 21, 1941, extended by that of May 24, 1946.” Under Law 10999 of December 1947, a law on retirement benefits, “The benefit agreed by article 3 of Law number 10,014 is extended to the teaching staff of Physical Education throughout the country.” Law 10,997 of December 1947 amended a previous law (Law 10,436 of July 1943) in various ways, with 30% for the Ministry of Public Instruction and Social Welfare “so that through the National Food Institute it provides means of subsistence in appropriate premises to every inhabitant of the country who lacks them, under the control of Departmental Commissions designated by the Executive Power and that will be integrated by proportional representation, according to the result of the last elections of departmental authorities, and the candidates must be proposed by the political parties that have the right