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CHAPTER XVIII. 
when the tactful and experienced official can assist by bringing the parties 
together, or by putting before either party aspects of the other’s case 
which may have been overlooked, or even by suggesting possible lines 
of compromise. India has tried to copy the less valuable part of the 
machinery employed in Great Britain whilst ignoring the most valuable 
part. There, less reliance is placed on ad hoc public enquiries of the kind 
contemplated by the Indian Trade Disputes Act than in the efforts of 
conciliation officers and others to bring the parties privately to agreement. 
The need of qualified officers to undertake coneiliation is greatest in Bengal 
and in Bombay ; but elsewhere also the heads of the labour departments 
or other qualified officers should undertake the work of conciliation. 
Government’s Contact with Disputes. 
The existence of such officers should give an additional advant- 
age, in that they will be able to keep Government in close touch with 
disputes in their earlier stages. Too often when the crisis comes, Govern- 
ment is inadequately informed regarding the antecedents and the merits 
of a dispute ; indeed, in many cases it has received little information 
of it except that which comes at a late stage from those responsible for 
law and order. At present, even some officers dealing with labour in the 
provinces, lacking encouragement (and even permission) to interest 
themselves directly in disputes, tend to depend on police reports for their 
information. The attention of the authorities is thus apt to be con- 
centrated too exclusively on the effects which a dispute is likely to have 
on the public peace and officers whose duties qualify them to act as 
conciliators sometimes receive no information of a dispute or are informed 
at a very late stage. An expert officer who had followed a dispute 
im its earlier stages would be able to take a wider view of the whole 
sifuation than those whose interest is rightly concentrated on a special 
aspect of it, namely, its relation to public security. Even when the expert 
officer’s efforts to secure a settlement were unsuccessful, he should be 
in a position to give wise advice to Government as to the stage at which 
it could bring its influence to bear, either privately or by the appointment 
of a statutory Board or Court. We consider that every (Government 
should have an officer or officers for this Purpose.