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CHAPTER XVI. 
(a) poisoning by benzene and its homologues or sequelae, and (6) chrome 
ulceration or its sequelae. For the purposes of the Schedule, the descrip- 
tions of the processes in which these conditions might occur may be taken 
as (¢) handling benzene or any of its homologues, or any process in the 
manufacture or involving the use thereof ; and (b) any process involving 
the use of chromic acid or bichromate of ammonium potassium or sodium 
or their preparations. 
With the exception of Sir Victor Sassoon and Sir Alexander 
Murray, we desire to point out that Section 3 {4} of the Act which limits 
liability for non-scheduled diseases to those ““ solely and directly attribut- 
able to a specific injury ” is unduly stringent in its wording and we 
recommend the excision of the words in italics. 
Commissioners. 
We turn now to questions relating to administration and pro- 
cedure. As we have already stated, the administration of the Act and 
the settlement of disputes under it devolves on Commissioners specially 
appointed by the local Governments. The type of officer selected for 
these appointments differs from province to province. In Bengal 
workmen’s compensation work for the whole Presidency has been en- 
trusted to a judicial officer who received a special training for the purpose, 
and who, although he has still some other judicial work, is mainly occupied 
with workmen’s compensation. In Bombay the Director of the Labour 
Office acts as Workmen's Compensation Commissioner for Bombay 
City and Island and for the leading industrial centres elsewhere, while 
certain judges act as Commissioners in the non-industrial districts. 
The effect of this arrangement is that the great bulk of the work is done by 
an officer who is an expert in labour matters and whois able to bring special 
knowledge to the subject and to devote special study to it. In Madras 
the position is somewhat similar, as the Commissioner of Labour acts as 
Workmen's Compensation Commissioner for the whole Presidency. 
In other provinces the work is generally done by selected judges or 
magistrates, some Governments showing a preference for judges and some 
for magistrates. If a magistrate is entrusted with the work, it is the 
District Magistrate who is appointed, except in rare cases (e.g., in Jamshed- 
pur, where no such officer is stationed). Thus the present position is 
that, while there is no whole-time Workmen's Compensation Commis- 
sioner in any province, nearly all the work in each of the three Presi- 
dencies of Bengal, Bombay and Madras is entrusted to a single officer 
with special qualifications; elsewhere the responsibility rests on judicial 
and executive officers whose jurisdiction extends. as a rule, to a single 
district. 
Specialist Officers. 
The administration of the Act by specialist officers has given 
general satisfaction, and we haveno doubt that generally it is by far the 
best method. The evidence indicates that the district officers’ courts are 
inadequately equipped for dealing with Workmen’s Compensation claims, 
that their procedure is too often dilatory and that in some cases they are