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CHAPTER XIV, 
advance must depend to a considerable extent on the co-operation of 
employers with other sections of the community. It is precisely the 
fact that the workers have been brought together in an industrial area 
which creates many of the problems of health, housing, recreation, etc., 
with which they are faced. For this reason, we are strongly in favour, 
at the present juncture, of a more general extension on the part of the 
employer of welfare work in its broader sense. It is advisable to remember 
that there is a danger in giving to welfare what should go in wages and 
so depriving the worker of independence and of the educative experi- 
ence which comes from having a margin after necessities have been met. 
But ordinarily there is no question of choosing between raising wages 
and developing welfare activities. Employers who have done most in 
the way of welfare work do not usually pay lower wages than their 
neighbours. Indeed, welfare work is generally associated with wages 
higher than are paid in corresponding establishments where no such 
work is attempted. Extensive welfare schemes may be regarded as a 
wise investment which should, and usually does, bring in a profitable 
return in the form of greater efficiency. 
Welfare Schemes. 
In recent years the development of welfare schemes in some of the 
larger industrial centres has received considerable attention from a num- 
ber of employers. Although some of these schemes are still at an element- 
ary stage, many have made considerable advance and a few are models 
of their kind. In this field as in others, the Buckingham and Carnatic 
Mills in. Madras have given a lead to the rest of industrial India. Their 
manifold welfare activities include schools, meal-sheds, a co-operative 
society, workmen’s stores, an ambulance corps, athletic associations, a 
work-people’s institute and club, a dramatic society, a literary and de- 
bating society and village committees or panchayats. We were particu- 
larly impressed with the educational facilities provided by this company, 
which included a sound elementary course, some technical classes and 
training in hygiene. These welfare activities demand the full-time ser- 
vices of a secretary, assistant secretary and games superintendent in 
addition to a highly-qualified teaching staff, but the management is of 
opinion that the results obtained have justified the expenditure involved. 
The British India Corporation in Cawnpore has also devoted much 
time and thought to the welfare of its workers. In its housing settlement 
at McRobertganj it has provided boys’ and girls’ schools, play grounds, 
dispensaries, maternity and child welfare centres, club-rooms, wrestling 
pits, a community hall, a segregation hospital, a home for widows, a central 
office, woodyards and shops, whilst local self-government is effected by a 
sadar panchayat. The Empress Mills in Nagpur employ a full-time 
welfare officer who has successfully developed a number of activities. 
These include refreshment shops in the mills, meal-sheds, co-operative 
stores, a co-operative credit society, maternity benefits, creches, a boy 
scouts organisation, recreations and amusements of different kinds and an 
extensive educational scheme. This last commences with nursery and 
kindergarten classes for infants up to 6 years of age, and provides primary