Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XI. - Transport services and public works

Collection:: Economics Books

TRANSPORT SERVICES, - 177 Improvements Effected. Although the licensed brokers and other intermediaries have not been abolished, as recommended by the Seamen’s Recruitment Committee, their powers, have been curtailed. They are no longer given any voice in the selection of the higher ratings, and it is no longer customary for them to supply the lower ratings, except where vacancies occur immediately prior to a vessel's departure. But in Calcutta the greatest improvement has been in connection with the system of advances to seamen at the time of recruitment. Formerly, a seaman recruited through a broker received from him a hand-note, usually for one month’s pay, of which half was not payable until some time after the ship sailed. The seaman who needed the money in cash had to pay a substantial rate of discount to money-lenders or others to secure this. Advance notes have now been abolished, and the broker is required to pay to the seaman, when signing on, the full advance in cash of a month’s wages. For this he receives a fixed commission from the shipping com- panies. Extent of Bribery. The evidence we received on the question of the prevalence of bribery was conflicting. The seamen’s representatives were unani- mous in the view that there had been no improvement since 1922 ; on she other hand, the Slupping Masters and the shipping companies were of opinion that, whilst bribery in recruitment had not altoge- ther disappeared, it was by no means serious. It was even mains sained by the companies that the picture drawn by the Seamen’s Recruite ment Committee was exaggerated. It was not possible for us to sift the truth from these conflicting statements, particularly as we had been supplied with no figures that could be compared with those collected by the 1922 Committee. But the present system represents an improve- ment in method on the old one, in that, if properly worked, it will ring the employer and the employed a stage closer together than was the case when the brokers were responsible for engagement. But it does not seem to us to be designed to remove one of the basic causes of bribery, namely, the large volume of unemployment amongst seamen. So long as this remains, the temptation to offer a bribe is not likely to be diminished, and, quite apart from its connection with bribery, the teduction of unemployment appears to be essential if labour in this in- dustry is to be placed on a satisfactory footing. Unemployment, The present conditions are in large measure the result of the war which, by increasing the demand for seamen’s labour, led to a large in- crease in the supply. After the termination of the war, the demand fell rapidly, with the result that the number of seamen was far in excess of the openings available. The Committee of 1922 drew attention to the serious unemployment then prevailing, and, as we have stated, its recom- mendations were so framed as to encourage practically continuous em- ployment to a limited number of men. We do .not think that these

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