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the language and who had never before worked with Africans. In these circumstances, it was obvious that the best was not being got from the African. Instructions were issued to ensure that European employees learned Ki-Swahili, the lingua franca, and some improvements in utilisation were achieved. At the end of March, 1949, the Corporation invited an African Labour expert, Colonel C. V. Merritt, of Kenya, to visit the Regions and advise on methods of Labour utilisation. As a result of his report, a Labour Utilisation Department is being established under the control of a trained and experienced man.

African Labour Turnover

286. The African unskilled labour turnover for the year has averaged about 10 per cent. per month, indicating a complete turnover of labour every ten months. This figure appears excessively high, as indeed it is. Against this is the fact that all labour, unless under contract, is entitled to quit at the end of any one month. Many Africans do so in order to go to their homes to cultivate their own holdings, and many of them return. There is a tendency for Africans throughout East Africa constantly to change their employment and few make a career with any one firm.

287. In an attempt to reduce the high wastage an experiment was carried out in Kongwa Region whereby all labour, both skilled and unskilled, was required to sign a contract of nine months duration. Although the men accepted employment under these conditions, the experiment proved a failure. Many, particularly among the unskilled labour, did not honour the contract and deserted when they felt so inclined. The experiment was therefore abandoned.

288. The Corporation believes that one practical way to reduce wastage is to offer to Africans good living and working conditions, both for the men and their families.

Wage Rates

289. There is in Tanganyika Territory no machinery for wage fixing and accordingly wages vary greatly in different parts of the Territory. For instance, a labourer in a town such as Dar-es-Salaam obtains a considerably higher wage than a labourer at remote Nachingwea, 100 miles inland from Lindi. The wages paid by the Corporation are in line with those paid by the Government and leading commercial concerns. Furthermore, the degree of skill of so-called artisans varies greatly. The vast majority of them, judged by British standards, are no more than learners or, at the best, apprentices. In an attempt to standardise wage rates throughout the project, a system of classification of trades into groups, and trade testing within each trade has been devised. Promotion in any group from one class to another entails passing a trade test. As nearly all unskilled labour is obtained locally, it has been found impossible to insist on a standard rate of pay for all Regions and areas. The Provincial Commissioner of the Southern Province has established a Wage Rates and Tasks Board with the object of standardising wages in his Province, and thus preventing labour continually shifting from one employer to another in search of the maximum wage for the minimum of work. The Corporation's Regional Managers have authority to adjust wages for unskilled labour as they consider necessary.

Domestic Councils and Works Committees

290. The East African worker, and particularly the unskilled field worker, likes his grievances to be heard, discussed and settled on the spot, rather than by some distant machinery, of the working of which he is unaware.

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