Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

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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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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XXI. - Wages on planatations

Collection:: Economics Books

HEALTH AND WELFARE IN PLANTATIONS. 409 These need not be confined to one-roomed dwellings. In labouring class houses of the kind required some form of ¢ ridge ’ roof ventilation should be more generally adopted. This adds little to the cost, and the ventilation openings are at such a height that they cannot easily be interfered with by the occupants. Experiments and Improvements. A few experiments have recently been made with iron-framed houses, the wall spaces between the frames being filled with bamboos nd mud plaster, and the roofs made of corrugated iron or asbestos. This is more stable than the usual type of house and thus requires less oxpenditure on annual repairs, but the average labourer is probably right in preferring the thatched house, which is cooler in the hot weather and warmer in the cold season. He also considers it healthier, although there is nothing to prove that the corrugated iron or asbestos roofs have any deleterious effect on health. We think that the workers might be encouraged, under supervision, to build their own houses on approved sites, where a definite sanitary lay-out had been prepared and where proper plinths had been provided. Wherever possible, a number of lights should be provided in and around the housing areas. Electricity is now available on many plantations and a few standard lamps, while costing comparatively little, would add greatly to the amenities of life. Considerable improvements in the housing of labourers have been effected during the past few years, but more requires to be done, especially on the more backward plantations and generally in levelling up standards. We believe that these further advances will be more easily attained when the authorities we propose commence to function. Bathing and Washing Places. Few plantations have made any serious attempt to provide bathing and washing places for their labourers. The use of the'ordinary surface tank or pond may lead to outbreaks of dysentery and other dis- eases ; whilst bathing and washing in a stream, where the water lower down is in all probability used for drinking, may readily produce the same antoward results. Bathing and washing places of simple type are all that are necessary, and these should be constructed in the vicinity of the house lines. Public health departments should be prepared with type plans so that the planter may readily obtain information as to recognised standards on which to base his proposed expenditure. Sanitation. We have ev dence to show that a large proportion of tea garden labourers are infecte(l with hookworm, the percentage of infection being highest amongst those coming from web districts, like Malabar, although the Assam Government memorandum definitely asserts that hookworm. nfection is generally contracted on the gardens. Under certain con- litions infection may be rapidly followed by hookworm disease. A number of managers, on the recommendation of their medical officers, have carried out annual mass treatment of their labour forces, and we

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