§ 29. Mr. Rileyasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what measures, if any, have been adopted during the past seven years to ameliorate the low wages and bad social conditions in His Majesty's West Indian possessions, as revealed in the Olivier Report to the Colonial Office in 1930?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreIt is clearly impossible within the limits of question and answer to review the whole question of wages and social conditions in the many islands in the West Indies over a period of seven years; but if there are particular points on which the hon. Member desires specific information, I will do my best to obtain it from the local Governments.
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreI have been answering a large number of questions upon these various matters and, in every case have given the answers to the specific questions. 338 If the hon. Member requires any further information than has been given in my answers, he should put down a question.
§ 30. Mr. Rileyasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is taking any steps, other than the appointment of an industrial adviser, to find a remedy for the low wages paid to the workers in the sugar and oil industries of Trinidad?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreNo, Sir. The whole question of wages and working conditions will be examined within the industries concerned, with the advice and assistance of the new Industrial Adviser, and no other action by myself in this matter would appear to be desirable at present.
§ Mr. RileyCan any explanation be given as to why the rates of wages in Trinidad for workers on sugar estates average about 1s. 6d. a day against 3s. for workers in the oil industry?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreCertainly, Sir. The oil industry provides a very different kind of work. As is almost universally the case, lower wages are paid in the agricultural industry, and it is a question, particularly in the sugar industry, whether the industry will close down or not, or whether there will be any employment of any kind. The wages in every industry, as in this country, must be a matter of collective bargaining and be fixed according to the capacity of the industry to pay. The oil industry is profitable, and the sugar industry is barely profitable.