282 CHAPTER XV.
designs. Before construction begins, all plans are approved in
respect of health requirements by the medical staff, and adequate
water supplies with standpipes, washing places and sanitation are also
provided by the management. As a part of the Company’s general
welfare activities, which are in charge of a full-time welfare officer,
prizes are offered for the best kept quarters and gardens. The Com-
pany believes that the efforts of the occupants in these directions not
only reduce the cost of maintaining the houses but help to raise the
standard of living, and we were impressed with the results which had
been obtained. On the other hand, the principle of housing numbers
of ‘single’ men in long barrack rooms, such as we saw at Yenangyaung,
Is a less happy one, even when the accommodation, as in this ins-
tance, is well built and maintained in an admirable state of cleanliness.
It is probable that the workers themselves would prefer rooms each
capable of accommodating not more than four to six individuals,
as under such an arrangement the men could exercise some selection in
respect of their room companions and would have a greater degree
of privacy than under the barrack scheme. In our opinion future
construction of quarters for ‘single’ labourers should be arranged on
this plan.
Jamshedpur.
The responsibility of employers varies to some extent with
conditions and localities. The foundation of an industry in a new and
hitherto undeveloped area gives rise to circumstances under which this
responsibility must necessarily lie, in the first instance, with the em-
ployers. That position has been largely accepted by such firms as the
Tata Iron and Steel Company and the Tinplate Company in Jamshedpur.
The former has erected nearly 5,000 houses which are rented to its
employees, and the latter has built 326 quarters which accommodate over
41 per cent of its labour force. As it will be some time before housing
accommodation for all the workers can be supplied, other schemes have
been introduced in order to encourage workers to build their own houses.
The Steel Company grants loans at 39, for this purpose, for kachcha
houses three months’ wages being advanced without bond and being
repayable in twelve monthly instalments. For puceca houses, loans are
granted on a mortgage system and are limited to 15 months’ salary and
half the estimated cost of the building, whilst they are recovered in easy
instalments within a maximum period of 5 years. The total loans out-
standing on 31st March 1929, amounted to Rs. 2,02,967 and the number of
houses built under the two classes were 1,570 and 40 respectively. In
addition, 5,660 houses have been built in bustees by the workers
themselves at their own cost, but according to an approved lay-out on
land prepared for building purposes. Many of the streets are lit with
electric light and in a few years the company hopes to have a complete
system of street and road lighting. Piped water is supplied except in some
of the bustees, and a complete underground sewage system has been
provided. The Tinplate Company also advances loans to its workers
to enable them to build houses for themselves. These loans are Limited to