WORKMEN’3 COMPENSATION.

303

in the case of sums due to women and persons under a legal dis-
ability, the Commissioner can invest the sums deposited with him or deal
with them otherwise for the advantage of the recipients. Recurring
payments are made only for temporary disablement ; and these can be
commuted at any time to a single payment by agreement between the
parties, while either party has a right to commutation after payments
have been made for six months. The continuance of this system is
favoured by employers generally, and workmen also appear to prefer
lump-sum payments. The opinion of the trade unions is divided, and
it is possible that some of those who advocate a greater use of recurring
payments do so in the hope that larger amounts would thereby be pay-
able. The opinion of those who are concerned with the administration
of the Act is, on the whole, strongly opposed to any substantial change of
the present system, though some would give power to the Commissioners
to disburse compensation by instalments, without altering the character
of the emplovers’ liability.
Expenditure of Lump Sums.

The two main considerations are the use which is likely to be
made of the money and the question of administration. Ixperience
in other countries generally tends to the conclusion that recurring pay-
ments are more beneficial to workmen and their dependants, as a large
sum disbursed to them is apt to be squandered. And some of the witness-
es who appeared before us (including some employers) thought that the
lump sums now paid were generally squandered. But we received on
the whole more evidence to the contrary effect. That the sums are
dissipated in a number of cases is probable; but the ordinary Indian
workman and his dependants in the village have a very acute realisation
of the value of money, and are in most cases in a position to derive sub-
stantial advantage from a capital sum. Many are enabled to liquidate
debts on which they are paying, as interest, charges far exceeding any
recurring payments that could be regarded as equivalent to the capital
sum involved. The purchase of a plot of land is a method commonly
adopted in other cases, with beneficial results, and we have come across
other sound methods of investment. And while substantial sums are
doubtless spent on marriages, expenditure of this kind is usually under-
taken out of no love of extravagance, but because of the pressure of social
customs ; some such expenditure is obligatory even upon the man who has
no capital, and the possession of ready money saves ruinous charges on
account of interest. While the evidence is hardly sufficient to justify
an emphatic view, we are inclined to the conclusion that the benefit
generally derived from the sums received is greater than that which
would accrue from recurring payments on an equivalent scale.

Lump Sums and Administration.

From the administrative point of view, any large extension
of a system of recurring payments would introduce serious complica-
tions. In most cases long distances separate the recipients irom
the source of the monev. and there is no doubt that hitherto the