Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XXIV. - Statistics and administration

Collection:: Economics Books

"FO .» ; CHAPTER XXIV. sources. Madras has the nearest approach to such a system in the Com- missioner of Labour, who is, however, responsible for much more than industrial labour. This officer is Commissioner for Workmen’s Com- pensation and Registrar of Trade Unions and is also responsible for the administration of the Factories Act and for other matters connected with labour. He has also acted as conciliator in trade disputes and should 'be in a pesition, after gaining some experience, to view labour Juestions as a whole and give expert advice to Government. Unfor- tunately the value of the department has been greatly diminished by frequent changes of its head. We understand that there has been more than one. such change in a single year, and in recent years no officer seems to have continued in the appointment longer than the time necessary to gain moderate familiarity with the subjects for which he is responsible. The Bombay Labour Office represents the sound nucleus of a labour department. Here some regard has been paid to the principle of continuity in the Director’s appointment, and that officer, in addition to being responsible for both statistics and intelligence, is Commissioner of Workmen's Compensation and Registrar of Trade Unions. He is thus in a position to act as expert adviser to Government: on labour matters. But he is not concerned with the administration of the Factories Act, nor has he (or any other officer) been expected or permitted to act generally as a conciliation officer in trade disputes. On the other hand, he has duties quite unconnected with labour. Bengal has adopted the device of combining in one officer expert knowledge of labour and secretarial duties. The Labour Intelligence Officer acts also as a Deputy Secretary to Government and as Registrar of Trade Unions, and the same officer has held charge of the post more or less continuously for about 10 years, with obvious benefit to Government. There is a separate specialist Commissioner for Workmen’s Compensa- tion ; but this subject, the administration of the Factories Act and other labour subjects are all dealt with in the Secretariat by the Labour Intelligence Officer and co-ordination is thus secured. On the other hand, the Labour Intelligence Officer has no investigating staff, while he has duties outside his labour work. Labour Administration in other Provinces. At the head of the Labour Statistics Bureau, Burma has an officer responsible for labour matters in addition to statistics ; but here also con- tinuity of tenure has not been secured. . Elsewhere thereis not even the nucleus of a labour department. The Chief Inspector of Factories provides expert advice within his own sphere and may be called upon for advice on matters outside that sphere. A large number of non-specialist officers deal with workmen’s compensation and there is no definite responsibility on any officer for trade disputes. The Director of Industries is usually Regis- trar of Trade Unions and has to act as a general adviser on labour matters. He is also normally responsible to Government for the adminis- tration of the Factories Act. He has in some provinces more permanence of tenure than a secretariat officer, but in others he has been changed fairly frequently.

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