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