TRANSPORT SERVICES. -183 
certificates of competency, which are granted by the local Government 
bo persons qualifying by examination. The lower ratings are supplied 
by the serang or driver, who is responsible for their recruitment, and 
through whom wages are paid. The companies thus have no direct 
dealings with members of the crew. Unlike seamen on ocean-going 
ships, the crews are not supplied with rations, the normal practice being 
for the serang to provide a joint mess for which a fixed amount is subse- 
quently deducted from each man’s monthly wages. Where men who are 
comparatively low-paid, such as serangs and drivers, are given full 
responsibility for both the engagement and payment of workers, there is 
always a danger of abuse, even though there is the safeguard that the 
smploying agent comes from the same village as his men, many of whom 
may be relations or friends. It was stated in evidence by the Irrawaddy 
Flotilla Company in Burma that the indirect system of engagement 1s 
unavoidable by reason of the indiscriminate changes among the lascars who 
form the crew. Men may leave the vessels overnight, leaving substitutes 
in their place and, though a register is kept by the commander to show 
the names of all the crew, the names are not always those of the men 
actually serving at the time. The Indian Seamen’s Union and the Bengal 
Mariners’ Union have been insistent in demanding direct engagement. 
Complaints have also been made by these two unions of abuses in recruit- 
ment and the lack of security of service. In Burma, the wages of lascars 
are Rs. 25-8-0 a month, paid through the serang. In India, it was 
alleged by a union that men sometimes get only Rs. 8 or Rs. 10 a 
month from the serang who may provide the messing, while statements 
furnished to us by a union and by one of the principal companies 
show that, generally speaking, for the lowest ratings the minimum pay 
is Rs. 20 a month. The hours of work are necessarily irregular, as they 
depend on various factors such as tides, fogs, the length of trips and the 
time taken to turn the vessel round at the end of the trip. In Burma, 
she Irrawaddy Flotilla Company in evidence gave the average hours 
worked per day as nine. In India, according to the statement furnished 
bo us by the Rivers Steam Navigation Company, Limited, the men work 
on an average 7 hours a day and 49 hours a week. We regret that the 
evidence which we have obtained is insufficient to justify our reaching 
any definite conclusions regarding the conditions of employment in this 
industry, which require a more detailed investigation than we were able 
to give. We recommend that such an investigation should now be under- 
taken by the Governments of Bengal and Burma. Among the questions 
to which attention should be directed are the working of the present 
system of recruitment and discharge, the possibility of direct employ- 
ment and direct payment in the case of lower ratings, wages, hours, con- 
ditions on board and the arrangements made by the steamer companies 
for members of the crew who have been put ashore owing to sickness while 
away from the place of engagement. 
Docks. 
The important docks of India lie within the ports of Calcutta, 
Bombay. Rancoon. Karachi and Madras. The control of these ports