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CHAPTER XIV,

advance must depend to a considerable extent on the co-operation of
employers with other sections of the community. It is precisely the
fact that the workers have been brought together in an industrial area
which creates many of the problems of health, housing, recreation, etc.,
with which they are faced. For this reason, we are strongly in favour,
at the present juncture, of a more general extension on the part of the
employer of welfare work in its broader sense. It is advisable to remember
that there is a danger in giving to welfare what should go in wages and
so depriving the worker of independence and of the educative experi-
ence which comes from having a margin after necessities have been met.
But ordinarily there is no question of choosing between raising wages
and developing welfare activities. Employers who have done most in
the way of welfare work do not usually pay lower wages than their
neighbours. Indeed, welfare work is generally associated with wages
higher than are paid in corresponding establishments where no such
work is attempted. Extensive welfare schemes may be regarded as a
wise investment which should, and usually does, bring in a profitable
return in the form of greater efficiency.
Welfare Schemes.

In recent years the development of welfare schemes in some of the
larger industrial centres has received considerable attention from a num-
ber of employers. Although some of these schemes are still at an element-
ary stage, many have made considerable advance and a few are models
of their kind. In this field as in others, the Buckingham and Carnatic
Mills in. Madras have given a lead to the rest of industrial India. Their
manifold welfare activities include schools, meal-sheds, a co-operative
society, workmen’s stores, an ambulance corps, athletic associations, a
work-people’s institute and club, a dramatic society, a literary and de-
bating society and village committees or panchayats. We were particu-
larly impressed with the educational facilities provided by this company,
which included a sound elementary course, some technical classes and
training in hygiene. These welfare activities demand the full-time ser-
vices of a secretary, assistant secretary and games superintendent in
addition to a highly-qualified teaching staff, but the management is of
opinion that the results obtained have justified the expenditure involved.
The British India Corporation in Cawnpore has also devoted much
time and thought to the welfare of its workers. In its housing settlement
at McRobertganj it has provided boys’ and girls’ schools, play grounds,
dispensaries, maternity and child welfare centres, club-rooms, wrestling
pits, a community hall, a segregation hospital, a home for widows, a central
office, woodyards and shops, whilst local self-government is effected by a
sadar panchayat. The Empress Mills in Nagpur employ a full-time
welfare officer who has successfully developed a number of activities.
These include refreshment shops in the mills, meal-sheds, co-operative
stores, a co-operative credit society, maternity benefits, creches, a boy
scouts organisation, recreations and amusements of different kinds and an
extensive educational scheme. This last commences with nursery and
kindergarten classes for infants up to 6 years of age, and provides primary