§ 44. Mr. Mainwaringasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what Colonies, respectively, have adopted or failed to adopt workmen's compensation laws; whether a model scheme submitted by the Colonial Office includes a schedule of industrial diseases; and whether natives engaged in mining are at present protected against such diseases in any Colony?
Mr. M. MacDonaldAs the answer is necessarily of some length, I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the answer:
§ The Dependencies falling within the purview of the Colonial Office in which comprehensive workmen's compensation legislation has been enacted are Aden, British Guiana, Ceylon, the Falkland Islands, the Federated Malay States, Grenada, Jamaica, the Leeward Islands, 411 Malta, Mauritius, Northern Rhodesia, Palestine, St. Helena, the Straits Settlements, Trinidad and the Unfederated Malay States of Johore, Kedah and Trengganu. In the case of Northern Rhodesia, the Workmen's Compensation Ordinance applies only to non-natives, but provision for the payment of compensation to native workers for injuries sustained in the course of their employment is made in the Employment of Natives Ordinance, 1930. Provision of a similar nature is made in the Labour Regulations of Nigeria. The enactment of comprehensive workmen's compensation legislation is under consideration at the present time in Cyprus, Seychelles, Hong Kong, Fiji and certain of the Western Pacific High Commission Territories, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, West Africa (Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia) and East Africa (Kenya Uganda, Tanganyika Territory, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland and Zanzibar). In the case of the East and West African Dependencies, the Governments have been asked to consider framing the proposed legislation on the lines of a draft ordinance prepared in the Colonial Office, which I assume is the model scheme referred to by the hon. Member in the second part of his question. A number of Colonial Dependencies, including Barbados, Gibraltar, Jamaica, the Somaliland Protectorate and Tanganyika Territory, have enacted employer's liability or other legislation, which provides for the payment of compensation for injuries arising out of defects in machinery or plant, etc., or negligence on the part of the employer or his agents. In the mining legislation in force in Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika Territory, Nyasaland, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Cyprus, provision is made for the payment of compensation for injuries arising from work in mines, and in certain other Dependencies legislative provision is made for compensation for injuries arising out of boiler explosions.
§ With regard to the second part of the question, the draft ordinance communicated to the East and West African Governments does not include a schedule of industrial diseases such as that annexed to the United Kingdom Workmen's Compensation Acts. Full consideration was given to the question whether the International Labour Convention concerning 412 Workmen's Compensation for Occupational Diseases should be applied to the Colonial Dependencies after its ratification by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom; but it was pointed out that considerable difficulties were likely to be experienced in diagnosing the diseases specified in the Convention, and in determining whether, in any particular case, the disease was in fact directly and specifically attributable to the workman's employment. It had been found by experience in the United Kingdom that, even when the case had been dealt with by a medical practitioner familiar with the particular employment, and practising in a district where the particular occupational disease was most usually found, it was frequently necessary for the case to be referred to a specially qualified medical referee, appointed by the Secretary of State for the Home Department to deal with such cases. These difficulties would be intensified in the Colonial Dependencies, owing to the paucity of medical practitioners with the necessary specialised knowledge and experience. There was also reason to believe that, if such provisions were included, the cost of insurance cover would be substantially higher. It was therefore considered that in Colonial Dependencies where there were industries in which occupational diseases might be contracted, the preparation of appropriate regulations would require special care, and that, in the meantime, it would be inadvisable and inequitable to place employers under statutory liability to pay compensation in respect of such diseases. A certain number of Colonial Dependencies, including the Straits Settlements, the Federated Malay States, the Unfederated Malay States of Johore, Kedah and Regan, Malta, Ceylon, Mauritius and Northern Rhodesia, have scheduled to their workmen's compensation legislation a certain number of occupational diseases which include one or more of those specified in the International Convention.
§ With regard to the last part of the question, all the Colonial Dependencies in which mining operations are conducted, namely, British Guiana, Ceylon, Cyprus, the Federated and Unfederated Malay States, Fiji, Gold Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Northern Rhodesia, Sierra Leone, Tanganyika Territory, Trinidad and Uganda, have either special Mines Departments or 413 inspectors of mines whose responsibility it is to see that mining workers are adequately protected.