HOUSING OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKER. 281
that the immediate cancellation of some of these licences would compel
the more backward ones to take early cognisance of the defective accom-
modation provided for their employees.

Giridih Area.
In the Giridih mines area workers and staff are provided with
rent-free accommodation. Formerly the workers built and repaired their
own houses with materials supplied to them by the management. In
1921, however, this practice was discontinued and repairs to houses
were done departmentally, as this was said to be more efficient and less
wasteful of material. Arrangements were made to improve the housing
accommodation in 1924-25, and so far over two lakhs of rupees have
been spent in demolishing a large number of inferior houses and replac-
ing them by new ones. The number of rooms allotted depends on the
size of the family. Two types of houses have been constructed, one
with a pucca concrete roof and the other with a tiled roof. The miners
prefer houses of the latter type but, though they are cheaper to construct,
the annual cost of repairing them is heavy. We discuss later the advan-
tages of permitting employees to build their own houses, and, while
we appreciate what has been done by the employers in this colliery
area, we are not certain that the change of policy made in 1921 was a
wise one, and we recommend that it be reconsidered. In this area, as
in other mining areas, improvement schemes have been discontinued
temporarily owing to financial stringency, and much remains to be done
before a satisfactory standard of housing will exist over the whole field.

Metalliferous Mining Areas.
Some of the accommodation in a number of the metalliferous
mining areas is stated by the Chief Inspector of Mines to be © deplorable .
This is no doubt partly due to the temporary nature of the work and the
migratory character of the labour. But these are inadequate reasons
for leaving the workers wunhoused or for providing mere temporary
shelters without any of the other amenities associated with decent
accommodation. An important exception is to be found in Namtu
Where the Burma Corporation has provided rent-free houses for all its
employees. The house lines are built of mat and thatch and the rooms,
12" x 10" x 10’, accommodate four men each, whilst married couples are
given special rooms. Adequate water supplies, drainage and sanitation
are also provided by the Corporation. We recommend that other mine-
Owners should build houses of a more suitable character and that
tore attention be given to the provision of water. drainage and latrines.
Yenangyaung.
As an illustration of what might be possible in mining areas,
We would refer to the accommodation provided for its employees by
the Burma Oil Company at Yenangyaung., The Company has laid
out a number of villages with wide roads and open spaces and with a
garden attached to each house, and the likes and dislikes of the different
faces and classes of worker have been taken into account in preparing