dent, but no definite time limit is laid down, and want of notice is freely excused. In practice in a very large proportion of cases the accident is of such a nature that it cannot well have escaped the employer's notice at the time, or an informal notice is given by the workman's application for half wages at the end of the first fortnight; or in other cases half wages are paid for some time on the basis of an informal notice, and then some dispute arises and the workman is driven to take proceedings to assert his rights; in these and other circumstances of a similar nature a formal notice has no particular utility. If, however, there is a genuine dispute as to the occurrence of the accident in question, or the accident has occurred but there is ground for believing that it did not arise out of and in the course of the employment, then in either case it may be most material for the employer to have definite and formal particulars of the claim. The Act provides for these widely divergent circumstances by the following requirements:

Proceedings for the recovery under the Act of compensation for an injury are not to be maintainable unless notice of the accident has been given as soon as practicable after its happening, and before the workman has voluntarily left the employment in which he was injured [Section 2 (1)].

The notice must give the name and address of the person injured, and must state in ordinary language the cause of the injury and the date at which the accident happened, and must be served on the employer [Section 2 (2)].

The want of, or any defect or inaccuracy in, such notice is not to be a bar to the maintenance of such proceedings if it is found in the proceedings for settling the claim that the employer is not prejudiced in his defence by the want, defect, or inaccuracy, or that the want, defect, or inaccuracy was occasioned by mistake, absence from the United Kingdom, or other reasonable cause; or if any prejudice to the employer can be removed by postponing the hearing, and serving a notice or an amended notice [Section 2 (1) (a)].

The actual claim for compensation with respect to such accident must be made within six months from the occurrence of the accident, or in case of death within six months from

the time of death. But the failure to make a claim within this period is not to be a bar to the maintenance of such proceedings if it is found that the failure was occasioned by mistake, absence from the United Kingdom, or other reasonable cause [Section 2 (1)].

Proceedings.-The 2nd Schedule to the Act deals with the form of proceedings, etc. Disputes arising under the Act are not settled by legal proceedings of the ordinary kind, but by a form of arbitration. Apparently it was at one time contemplated that committees would be appointed, representative of an employer and his workmen, with power to settle matters under the Act, and provision is accordingly made for disputes to be referred to the arbitration of such committees. There is a reference in the report of the Truck Committee (see p. 67) to Works Committees, but the writer has never come across such a Committee. In default of action by a Works Committee, the matter is to be settled by a single arbitrator agreed on by the parties, or in the absence of agreement by the judge of the County Court. Provision is made for the judge delegating his powers to a single arbitrator appointed by himself; but in practice disputes are commonly settled by the County Court judge himself, and the only material difference between an arbitration before him and an ordinary hearing is that there is no provision for a jury, and the judge may, and in suitable cases usually does, summon a medical referee to sit with him as an assessor. There are no Court fees, and rules of Court prescribe a limit to the costs.

Compensation.-The scale and conditions of compensation are set out in the 1st Schedule to the Act. The main classification of accidents for this purpose is into fatal and nonfatal accidents. As not quite I per cent of accidents are fatal, non-fatal accidents will be dealt with first.

Total or partial incapacity for work is provided for by Par. 1 (b), and in these cases compensation takes the form of a weekly payment during the incapacity not exceeding fifty per cent of the workman's average weekly earnings during the previous twelve months, such weekly payment not to exceed £1. The loss of wage-earning power is the sole basis,

and no allowance is made for suffering, disfigurement as such, expense of treatment, etc. If the workman has not been in the employment for twelve months, then the average for the period of service is taken. If the incapacity lasts less than two weeks, no compensation is to be payable in respect of the first week. For this reason it is very usual to make no payment until a fortnight has elapsed.

Where the workman is under 21 years of age he is entitled during total incapacity, if his average weekly earnings are IOS. a week or less, then to the whole of such earnings; if his average weekly earnings are more than 10s. but not more than £1, then to 10s. a week; and if his average weekly earnings exceed £1, then to half his earnings (but not exceeding £1 per week).

The Act provides specially for the computation in cases of difficulty of average weekly earnings, but the only point that need be noticed here is that where the workman has two or more employments running concurrently, his average weekly earnings are to be computed as if all his earnings were earnings in the employment of the employer for whom he was working at the time of the accident. This is only what is to be expected when it is remembered that the basis of compensation is the loss to the workman of wage-earning power; on the other hand, the employer is protected by the limit of £1 a week as the maximum compensation [Par. 2 (b)].

It sometimes happens that a man recovers partially and goes back to partial work. In the case of partial incapacity the weekly payment can in no case exceed the difference between the amount of his average weekly earnings before the accident and the average weekly amount which he is earning or is able to earn in some suitable employment or business after the accident, but is to bear such relation to the amount of that difference as under the circumstances of the case may appear proper. If there are no special circumstances, it may be taken for granted that the judge would allow half the difference (Par. 3).

Commutation of Weekly Payments.-So long as total incapacity lasts the injured workman can go on drawing

his half wages (a) until he voluntarily commutes them for a lump sum of money by agreement with his employer, or (b) until the employer has continued the weekly payments for not less than six months and has then decided to pay a lump sum instead. This decision can only be arrived at by the employer.

(a) Voluntary Commutation.-Experience has shown that many working-people have no idea of the relative values of a weekly payment during incapacity and a lump sum of money paid down, and that unless some special protection is afforded them, they are very likely to make bad bargains. This protection is afforded (a) by making compulsory the registration with the Registrar of the County Court of a memorandum of the agreement for compensation, and (b) by giving power to the Registrar to refuse to record the memorandum in certain circumstances.

"An agreement as to the redemption of a weekly payment by a lump sum, if not registered in accordance with the Act, shall not, nor shall the payment of the sum payable under the agreement, exempt the person by whom the weekly payment is payable from liability to continue to make that weekly payment, unless he proves that the failure to register was not due to any neglect or default on his part" (2nd Schedule, Par. 10).

"Where it appears to the Registrar of the County Court, on any information which he considers sufficient that an agreement as to the redemption of a weekly payment by a lump sum ought not to be registered by reason of the inadequacy of the sum, or by reason of the agreement having been obtained by fraud or undue influence, or other improper means, he may refuse to record the memorandum of the agreement sent to him for registration and refer the matter to the judge, who shall make such order as under the circumstances he may think just" [2nd Schedule, Par. 9 (d)].

The judge has a similar power, within six months after a memorandum of agreement has been recorded in the register, to order that the record be removed on proof to his satisfaction that the agreement was obtained by fraud or undue influence, or other improper means [2nd Schedule, Par. 9 (e)].

(b) Commutation by the Employer.-If the incapacity of the workman is permanent, so that he is disabled for the rest of his life and is in reality an annuitant, the weekly payment can only be commuted if the employer is willing to pay such a lump sum as would, if invested in the purchase of an immediate life annuity from the National Debt Commissioners through the Post Office Savings Bank, purchase an annuity for the workman equal to 75 per cent of the annual value of the weekly payment.

If the incapacity, although it has lasted six months, is not permanent the amount is settled, like any other matter in dispute, by arbitration under the Act [1st Schedule, Par. I (17)].

Compensation in Case of Death [1st Schedule, Par. I (a)]. The amount awarded as compensation in case of the death of the injured workman varies according as (a) the workman leaves any dependants wholly dependent upon his earnings, or (b) leaves dependants in part dependent upon his earnings, or (c) leaves no dependants.

(a) If the workman leaves any dependants wholly dependent upon his earnings, the compensation is to be a sum equal to his earnings in the employment of the same employer during the three years next preceding the injury (or 156 times the average weekly earnings if the period of employment is less than three years), with a minimum limit of £150 and a maximum limit of £300. The employer may deduct as sums paid on account any weekly payments made or any lump sum paid in redemption of such weekly payment.

(b) If the workman only leaves dependants in part dependent upon his earnings, the compensation is to be such sum not in excess of the above amounts as may be agreed upon or may be determined by arbitration to be reasonable and proportionate to the injury to the dependants.

(c) If the workman leaves no dependants, the compensation is to be the reasonable expenses of his medical attendance and burial, not exceeding £10.

The definition of 'dependants' is given in Section 13 of the Act, and the term means 'such of the members of the workman's family as were wholly or in part dependent