The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-30
Annual Report of comnais- sioners Shows That Fair field County Court Has Had Occasion for Only One Hearing.
R eco mmen n d a tions of Changes Tn Law Are Based Upon Experiences of Com missioners Since Recent Institution of Court.

Hartford, Conn., Dec. SO.-Ihe compensation commissioners of Con- neeticut who took office on October I, 1913, under the compensation law which was effective in it's entirety on January 1 last. today submitted their first report to Gov. Baldwin. the pe- riod of the report being for ten months np to November 1.
 The report shows that Compensation Commissioner Edward T. Buckingham, the former mayor of Bridgeport, who serves in the Fourth district. Fadrdeld county. has been most successful in alis management of the affairs of the court
 There has been only one hearing in his court Hundreds sof cases have been brought to his attention. but he has succeedede in mediating between the employer and employe so well that with but single exception he has ef- fected an amicabie adjustment of the differences
 This has been a saving of much Nnoney to the parties to compensation court adjustment, for the expenses of witnesses. such as physicians and the like, fall upon the party sa1mnaolling the witnesses.
 The scope of the law is indicated by the fact that 1 18s059 accidents were reported to the commissioners in the ten months period distributed as fol lows: First district, 4.691: second, 2,25e; third. 2. 3.920: fourth, S,23s; fifth 3,964s.
 or the accidents a very large num- Der did not incapacitate the enp1oye from labor at all. or if at all, for pe- riods less than two weeks
 The munger of agreements enter ed into Voluntarily and approved to- tailed s.444s distributed as follows: First district, l, ,647; second. 543; third Ll 599; fourth 6e5: fifth, 560.
 The number of agreements enter where parties appeared personally or by counsel with witnesses and where formal finding and award was made, totalledl 1O6, distributed as fol- lows: First district, 39; second, Is; third. 32: fourth. |; fifth, 1S
 In completing the report all the decisions made up to the time the manuscript goes into the printers hand will be included. These total 1s in addition to the number already !. given, in the first district none in the second. 6 in the third, in the fourth and in the fifth. Referring to it's organization the commissioners point out that it felt embarrassnaent fin relation to personnel interview public addresses and publication of articles in the press Thes situation was, In part solved by issuance of four general bulletins during the year, which were generally distributed among employers and employees, and thirty blanks to meet esee requfre- ments of the law and to facilitate it's operation.
 The comnaissd say their work was increased by reason of uncer- tainty felt as to whether the law ap- piled to employers of less than five persons. This uncertainty led at the outset to a request made upon the attorney general for an interpreta- ton, and his opinion was contained in Bulletin Mo- 1. The commfssio on ers sought to have wide publicity, Doth by interviews addresses and newspaper articles, of the fact that it was safer for aIIa persons d1sfr1ng to be effected by the law (Part B) to so state in writing This resulted in hun dreds of refusa1g on the part of per sons employing less than five and add ed to the work in detail
 The report briefly refers to the work of organization of the commits sion. Then 1t takes up the opera lion Of the law The number Of accid ents reported throws comparatively little light on conditions in any one dis tr1ct for this reason" say the com 1ntssionera that section 20 provides that employers who have accepted Part B shall keep a record of such injuries sustained by their employees in the course of their occupation as result in tncapacfty foc one day or more. Some employe<.s have reported a large number of vial injuries For example. one employer in the fifth district reported probably loo casual ties of which only one was of s11ffi- cient magnitude to result in claim for co1npensation- Another empIoyefe reported 69 and only five were seri- ous enoubl1 to claim compensation; anotter in the third district reported sxO4 injuries and only four were en- titled to compensation.''
 The report says that commissioners adopted different methods in actual disposition of claims, the variation be- dng due to the character of the injury
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