295 CHAPTER XVI.—WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION. The Existing Law. Proposals for a Workmen’s Compensation Act were first pub- lished by the Government of India in 1921 and met with general support. A committee which included persons representing the views of employers and workers met in Simla in 1922 and, with the assistance of the replies received to the Government of India’s circular letter on the subject, prepared the main framework of a measure. With minor modifications, their conclusions were embodied in a bill introduced in the Legislative Assembly inthat year. The bill, after being circulated for opinions, was considered and modified by a Joint Seleet Committee of both houses of the Indian Legislature, and was subsequently passed, with a number of minor amendments in the spring of 1923. It came into effect on lst July 1924. Excluding verbal corrections, the Act has been twice amended. In 1926 an unimportant modification was made in order to render possible the ratification of an International Labour Conven- tion, and in 1929 several amendments were made. These were designed to remedy admitted defects or to embody improvements of a non-con- troversial character. They did not involve any change in the main principles of the Act or in its more important features. Proposals for General Revision. At the time when these amendments were mooted, the Govern- ment of India also raised, in a circular letter, the question of a more general revision of the Act. They observed that the Act was admittedly an experimental measure, and that many of its features owed their origin more to a desire to minimise the difficulties attendant on the intro- duction of an entirely new measure than to any belief in their permanent value. And, in inviting suggestions for the improvement of the Act, they formulated a number of proposals and questions covering the more important peints which arose in this connection. Copies of the circular and of the numerous replies which the Government of India received to it were supplied to us and have been of great assistance. Character of the Act. While the Act follows the British model in its main principle and a number of its provisions are directly borrowed from British legislation, it possesses important distinctive features. The main difference lies in the extreme rigidity of the Indian law. The attempt to leave as few openings for disputes as possible has resulted in a code which is necessarily arbitrary in its operation in particular cases, but we are satisfied that, so far as workmen are concerned, the advantages gained greatly outweigh the disadvantages. The inelastic character of the Indian Act is specially marked in respect of the scales of compensation, and while we consider that these scales should now be modified, we regard it as important that the existing precision of the scales should be conserved. Another feature of great importance is the reservation of the settlement of disputes to specially appointed commissioners, who are entrust- ed with wider powers than those granted to civil courts, and