HEALTH AND WELFARE.

267

can be secured from any given contributions. The collection of the
necessary material for the framing of an estimate, therefore, is the first
task which should be undertaken. The amount of material already
available is extremely scanty. In response to a suggestion from us,
the Director of the Labour Office at Bombay kindly made an endeavour
to conduct an investigation into the matter; but, having regard to the
very short period of about three months over which the enquiry was made
and a number of other special factors mentioned in his report, the result
can hardly be taken as giving much guidance, even for the class of
workers to which the enquiry related. What are required are figures
showing the incidence of sickness for definite groups of workers over a
comparatively long period, and it is unlikely that such figures will be easy
to obtain. The railways and Government factories, most of which have
schemes for the grant of leave on account of sickness, may be able to
give some assistance ; but in both cases workers are generally engaged
after medical examination and thus represent a selected class. A
number of employers have sickness benefit schemes, and their co-opera-
tion might be secured. It would be of special assistance if a few employers
would agree to make experiments in the grant of sickness benefits either
on a contributory or on a non-contributory basis, and to maintain re-
cords of their experience. But assistance secured from these sources
will almost certainly require to be supplemented by special statistical
enquiries in selected centres, and we recommend that these be instituted
as soon as possible. The collection of the statistics should be made with
expert medical and actuarial advice and with the co-operation of persons
qualified either as employers or as representatives of labour. The
preliminary enquiries might be conducted by the Government of India
who might secure for the purpose from the Central Legislature a small
informal committee, including representatives of capital and labour.
These, with medical, actuarial and statistical assistance, should be able to
advise regarding the nature of the statistics required, the centres in which
they might be collected, the sources from which they should be obtained,
and the means of obtaining them.
A Method of Attack.
We recommend that, thereafter, the question of framing schemes
be referred to a carefully selected formal committee who might be in
structed to examine the material and to make recommendations for the
institution, if and where possible, of definite schemes. In the first
Instance, it may prove advisable to start on a small scale with a view
bo gaining experience. In instituting measures of this kind, there
is a greater possibility of achieving success by building on an existing
foundation than by introducing methods which are entirely foreign
to the country. The British sickness insurance scheme, for example,
was built on the broad foundation of the Friendly Societies with
their years of accumulated experience. Nothing of the kind is in
existence in India. On the other hand, there is, in certain directions, the
nucleus of a different form of provision for medical and financial relief
in cases of sickness. Covernment and many private employers already