PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.885
21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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but Dr. Iman Welsh, who was in charge of the immigrants who arrived by the Indus" in January last, has demonstrated that it is quite possible. The following extract from his journal will, I think, prove this :-
The thymol and B-naphthol are finished. 180 have been treated for ankylostoma with these drugs, and the worm has been found in the stools of 122, and in many cases thread and round worms were also abundant. 13 had tape worm in addition. In the case of those showing no ankylostoma many worms of the other descriptions were discovered. regret that the thymol has run out, as a second or more dosing would be advantageous. Some wére-treated a second time successfully, and others without success."
As the majority of the Surgeons Superintendent will not undertake this treat- ment on board ship, the immigrants have to be treated for a period of about two weeks in the depôt immediately after arrival, at great expense to the Department. They are also sent to their estates suffering from the temporarily debilitating effects of the general treatment, which would have been quite otherwise had they been treated on board, when they would have been quite physically fit, if, of course, otherwise all right. Further, their period of indenture starts only from the date on which they are allotted, so that, because of the delay in starting the treatment, they lose about two weeks.
This treatment ought to be followed up by the Medical Officers after the immi- grants are sent to their estates, but under the present system, where very few of them are paid fees, they cannot afford to devote the time necessary, and they naturally do not take as much interest as they would if it paid them to do so.
(3) I think it would be an excellent plan to have estates hospitals, if the matter of cost can be arranged. The plan might at first be tried on the larger estates in those districts where the hospitals are more or less always overcrowded, and on those estates employing a large number of indentured immigrants, and which are a long distance from the public hospital.
The immigrants would receive much more thorough treatment than is possible now in the public hospitals, where, as soon as they become at all convalescent, they have to be turned out to make room for other coolies or creoles. Under the present system, when an emigrant is ill he has, in many cases, to be sent a long distance in a cart or by rail to hospital, and very often he has to return to the estate on foot. Such diseases as ankylostomiasis could also be treated much more systematically than is the case at present.
(4) It is the practice for the Inspecting Officers occasionally to go into the fields and check the tasks, and always when there is any complaint about the task being excessive. The earnings are also invariably checked from the pay book.
(5) Recently when I visited a certain estate the indentured women complained to me that it was impossible for them to do a good day's work if they had to take their children to the fields and look after them there.
On my speaking to the Manager he readily consented to pay for the employment of a nurse.
On another estate the Manager has erected a building and provided a nurse to look after the children of indentured women. All employers of a large number
of indentured immigrants ought to be willing to do something of the kind, as a great deal more of the time of the women who have children would be available for work.
(6) Immigrant. I suppose the Commissioners wish this definition to come in line with those in Trinidad and Demerara, the latter of which reads:-
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Immigrant means any person introduced into the Colony either wholly
or in part of the expense of the Immigration Fund, and includes the children of an indentured immigrant."
Non-adult. If considered advisable the definition might be amended by adding the words "or the child of an indentured immigrant born during the period of indenture of its parents."
If it is decided that all children of indentured immigrants shall be treated alike, then Section 71 of Law 23 of 1879 will also have to be amended to include the children born during their parents' indentured service. On some of the larger estates there are a good many children born during their parents' indenture. If employers are to pay them 1s. 3d. per week for rations, besides paying for the upkeep in part at least of estates' hospitals, the establishment of crêches, &c., in addition to the large sum being paid at present-possibly £24 per statute adult-
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the price may soon become prohibitive, especially as so many thoroughly useless individuals have been sent out lately, who have to be released from indenture, but for whom the employer has to pay nevertheless.
Commutation. It is more often than not the practice of employers to allow indentured immigrants to commute the unexpired periods of their indenture, but there is no provision of law which can compel them to accept payment, and occa- sionally they refuse. I agree that indentured immigrants should be allowed to commute at any time they are able to pay.
Sections 41 to 43 of Law 23 of 1879 may well be repealed.
Section 48 of Law 23 of 1879. In practice, as soon as an indentured immi- grant has finished his task for the day he is at liberty to go to his barracks, except sometimes during the sugar crop, or when it is necessary to have bananas cut against time. Generally they are allowed an hour each day for eating, and on all estates they are given the half day on Saturday.
Mr. McNeill's proposal is that the working hours should be eight instead of nine, but I doubt whether this reduction would improve conditions for the indentured immigrants. If an employer has some important work, cutting and loading bananas, for instance, and only a límited time in which to get it done, he may be inclined to unduly push the immigrants.
If an immigrant on arrival in the island is found by the Medical Board which examines them not to be sufficiently strong to do a good day's agricultural work, although not bad enough to be rejected right off, he is deferred for three months, and during this time is treated like all the other indentured immigrants, receiving 1s. per day. At the end of this period he is again examined by a District Medical Officer, and if still found not to be up to the mark as an agricultural labourer he is rejected and paid 2s. 6d. a week by the Department.
Section 50. Law 23, of 1912 amends this section so that no rate of task is to be approved unless it is such that an able-bodied trained male can earn at least 1s. 6d. per day of nine hours. In view of this, and of the temptation that there would be for employers to push the immigrants much more if the suggested amend- ment were adopted than is now done, I do not think it would be wise to reduce the working hours to seven. for the day in a good deal less than nine hours, and he is then at liberty to look after In most cases an immigrant is able to get through his task his own affairs. I would call attention to paragraphs 304 and 305 in the report of Lord Sanderson's Committee, where Dr. Comins's suggestion to reduce nine hours to seven and a half is dealt with.
Section 54. Law 29 of 1906 practically repeals this section so far as the immi- grants who came to the island in 1906 and after are concerned. Sanderson's Committee and Mr. McNeill insist that suitable land should be available Both Lord for allotment, but at present there is none.
Sections 58 and 59. If these are repealed and an immigrant is unable to pay for the expense of surveying, &c., then the Government will be unable to put him in possession, although he may be entitled to a grant of land. If an immigrant agrees to take land, think he should be required to deposit part of the cost of the survey, which would be forfeited if he afterwards refused to take the land after inspecting and agreeing to take it. The money could, however, be returned to him if he obtained a title for the land.
Dwellings. I think the suggestion that a type design should be prescribed an excellent one. When the style of building has been decided on copies could be printed, and on new barracks being erected the owner could be required to build according to plan supplied to him.
Section 70. So far I have always found that employers are quite ready to adopt any reasonable suggestions, but, of course, it is quite possible that a case may occur where one may refuse to do more than he can be compelled to do by law.
The morning ration given before work in Demerara is 5 ozs. bread or biscuits, oz. sugar, pint milk. This recommendation is, I think, a very good one, and would tend to make the new immigrants much stronger, and therefore better pre- pared to resist disease. If the mother of an infant is to receive Is. per week, and children born in Jamaica are to be put on the same footing as those who come from India, this will mean 2s. 3d. a week extra to be paid by employers to each indentured woman who becomes a mother.
Desertions.-Section 89 could, I think, be modified, but I do not consider that it would be wise under present conditions to take away from the police the power
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