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CHAPTER XXII. 
Boards of Health and Welfare. 
Most of what has been said in the preceding paragraphs is already 
accepted by the majority of those engaged in the planting industry, and 
some have given much time and thought to the problems associated 
with the hrealth and welfare of their labour forces. Individual schemes 
brought to our notice have clearly demonstrated the existence of a desire 
to find solutions to these problems ; but so long as reform is left to the 
enterprise of individuals who have no guarantee that neighbours and 
rivals will accept similar standards, a large advance is unlikely. We 
believe that it i8 mainly the lack of this co-ordination that prevents 
advance. What is required in order to obtain closer relationship with the 
Government Public Health Department and to ensure general progress 
is an organisation which is assured of the co-operation of the industry 
and has adequate powers to secure simultaneous improvement. With 
these ends in view, we recommend the establishment under statute of 
Boards of Health and Welfare for convenient areas. Rach Board 
should have a majority of planter representatives who should be 
elected by their associations, but care should be taken to ensure that 
minorities, e.g., unorganised employers, receive adequate representa- 
tion. In addition the Board should include a Collector or Deputy 
Commissioner from the districts covered, the Director of Public 
Health (or one of his assistants as deputy), the district health 
officer, and persons nominated by the local Government, with a 
view to provide adequate representation of the workers. It is desir- 
able that the Board should include at least one woman member. 
In Assam the Protector of Immigrants should have the right to attend 
the meetings of the Boards but should have no vote. Each Board 
should elect its own chairman. Each elected member might be permitted 
to nominate a medical adviser or substitute, who would be able to attend 
and take part in meetings, whilst voting only in the absence of the member 
nominating him. The size of the Board must depend on local circumstan- 
ces, but should be as small as is consistent with securing adequate 
representation of the plantations. All these matters, however, would be 
regulated by the statutes constituting the Boards. 
Principle of the Scheme. 
The important principle underlying our scheme for such Boards 
is that, in the first instance, the industry itself should be entrusted with 
responsibility. We believe that, in respect of plantations, the sense of 
responsibility, combined with the powerful force of enlightened self- 
interest, re-inforced by the knowledge of local conditions and problems 
which only those in control can bring, should produce a much more rapid 
advance in measures for the health of the workers than would be 
achieved by State compulsion. We recognise that the State cannot 
divest itself of the duty of ensuring that certain minimum health require- 
ments are secured, and proposals follow for giving the Government 
adequate powers in this respect. But we hope and believe that the 
work of the Boards will not render the exercise of these powers necessary