§ THE DUKE OF MONTROSE rose to call attention to the serious situation in the oilfields in Trinidad; and to move for Papers. The noble Duke said: My Lords, I appreciate the opportunity that has been afforded me this afternoon of drawing your Lordships' attention to the serious state of affairs in the island of Trinidad. I feel that if I did not do so, I should be lacking in my duty, because as Chairman of one of the oil companies in whose area most of the trouble began, I realise the great danger of this strike and trouble spreading, not only in Trinidad but throughout the whole of the West Indian Islands. In fact, this morning I had a message saying that the trouble had already spread to Barbados, that it was likely to spread to Grenada, 1060 and it might easily go on to Jamaica. Therefore, it seems to me essential that we should have some assurance that the Government realise the seriousness of this position, and will do what they can as quickly as possible to bring the trouble to an end before it spreads.
§ This so-called strike has been reported in the Press very often as a question about wages—wages to meet the increased cost of living. But I can assure your Lordships that it has nothing to do with wages, nor really with the cost of living. It is purely the result of propaganda by recognised Communists. There is one particular Communist called Butler who has been touring the island with half a dozen accomplices, and the Governor himself, in the Legislature, stated that these half dozen Communists have been guilty of 169 criminal offences in disturbing the peace. It is not surprising that all the respectable labouring men—and most of them in the island are respectable working men—repudiate the idea that these Communists really represent them. These Communists, going about the island, have been stirring up the idea that it is a racial conflict, black versus white, and that they should grab all the wealth. They have made the most of the Italo-Abyssinian question as showing what the white people do to the black, and they have made the most of affairs in Spain, where the Moors are used and are supposed to have defeated the whites. They have made the most of the American strike of the sit-down variety accompanied by sabotage. All these things have been grossly exaggerated in the Press, in the cinema, and on the platform, and the native mind being unsophisticated this sort of propaganda has a very serious effect.
§ This serious interference with industry has had no industrial side. In not one single instance have the working men, especially in the oilfields, ever approached the employers and raised the question of the cost of living and a rise in wages—not once. How could they? The average cost of living for a coloured man and his wife and two children living in a wooden house is about three dollars a week. The wage of the lowest trade worker is five dollars a week. The average wage spread over all the labour of the island is seven dollars a week—that is, twice the cost of living. There is really no question of the cost of living in this matter. It is simply 1061 the result of insidious Communistic propaganda on racial lines and, unless it is dealt with at once, it will spread. People say: "But you in the oilfields have granted an increase in wages of two cents an hour. Why did you do that if there is no question of the cost of living?" The oil industry is only one industry in the island, and it pays the highest wages of any industry. On the principle that the broadest back should stand the whack, the agitators went to the oil industry. We in the oil industry are not satisfied that the cost of living has risen, but His Excellency the Governor came to the oil industry and pressed it, for the sake of peace, to grant an increase in wages. The oil industry said: "If we are pressed to do so, and we can afford to do so, we will do so. We will give an advance of two cents per hour on pressure by the Governor, but we are not satisfied that it is a question of the cost of living."
§ One cent would have covered any possible rise in the cost of living. The Governor said that the cost of living had gone up 17 per cent. One cent, therefore, I say, would have covered that, but the oil industry gave two cents. We are not satisfied that a good case has been made out that the cost of living has increased, and we said further, that before this increase of two cents per hour was actually paid we wanted to consult the other industries—the agricultural industry, the sugar industry and the cocoa industry—because we felt that if we in the oil industry increased cur wages it might adversely affect labour all over the island. Here in this country the difference between skilled labour and unskilled labour in the matter of wages is about 33 per cent. In Trinidad the difference between skilled labour, which is mostly the labour employed by the oil industry, and the unskilled labour employed on the land is 160 per cent.—that is to say, the gap between skilled labour and unskilled labour is enormously wider in Trinidad than in this country. The oil industry felt that if they were to widen that gap by increasing their wages, whilst perhaps the agricultural industry could not increase its wages, it would be injurious to the whole enterprise of industry and labour in the island. Therefore we decided to have a conference with the agricultural interests, bit before that conference was held the strike, in response to 1062 the propaganda of the Communists, started and, unfortunately, shooting took place.
§ The trouble spread, and the Governor appointed a Mediation Committee. Unfortunately, some members of that Committee are gentlemen holding responsible posts in the Colonial Service, and they made speeches which were, I should say, exceedingly unwise and a long way beyond the powers which usually belong to civil servants. They were partisan, they were political, and they were, I might say, almost agitators. As a result of these speeches the Governor's Mediation Committee has lost the confidence of the oil industry. But I am very glad to hear that a Commission has been appointed, and I hope it will take the place of the Governor's Mediation Committee. I know from the names, with which I became familiar this morning, that the Commission will receive the wholehearted support of all employers in Trinidad. The Commission has representatives from the island itself, it has representatives accustomed to labour in this country, and it has representatives accustomed to Colonial life where there are black employees. It has the confidence of all industrialists in Trinidad as it stands to-day. I hope it will take the place of the Mediation Committee, and I hope it will start work at once before the trouble spreads.
§ There is another point. This strike has brought home one thing very clearly, and that is the inadequate protection of our oilfields in the event of industrial emergency or in the event of war. Trinidad is by a long way the largest supplier of oil in the British Empire. The other day, in your Lordships' House, I drew attention to the fact that our oil supplies from overseas might be interrupted by international relations or circumstances with which the Navy would be powerless to deal; but here in Trinidad is an oil supply on which we can depend. When this strike took place the police, a very small body of men, were moved into the towns for the protection of the whites. The white women and white children had to leave their homes and go into the downs for safety, and practically the whole police force was required to ensure the safety of the whites in the towns. Meanwhile the whole of the oil wells were left to the protection of a few whites, 1063 most of them young and almost all of them men who had never shot at a human being in their lives. Yet these young whites were left to protect the whole of the oilfields. And under what arms? We had a muster of arms in the oilfield controlled by the company of which I am Chairman of half-a-dozen pistols, half-a-dozen shot guns, and a couple of rifles. just think—the largest oil supply area in the British Empire being defended by half-a-dozen shot guns and pistols!
§ The whole thing seems ridiculous, and I feel that if this strike has emphasised anything it has emphasised the absolute necessity of organising some kind of Defence Force trained in the use of arms and under discipline for the protection of the oilfields in the event of war or industrial emergency. There used to be a West Indian Regiment. Why should that Regiment not be resuscitated? There are a lot of loyal men who served in that West Indian Regiment. Is it not possible to revive that corps for embodiment in time of trouble? The big harbour of the Port of Spain is nearing completion. Why should not a ship of the Navy be permanently stationed there? It would have a most beneficial effect on the whole island if a naval vessel were permanently stationed at the Port of Spain. Above all, why should they not have the Fleet Air Arm based on the Port of Spain? These points are serious, and I think they emphasise the necessity of doing something better than is done to-day. I should not close without saying, on behalf of all our oilfields, that we do appreciate that the Governor has done his level best to remove this serious trouble with the small forces at his disposal, and so far as the oil interests are concerned they intend to do all they can to support the Governor in any way possible.
§ I have no doubt some kind of grievances may be brought forward, and some may be proved by evidence before the Commission. If any genuine grievances are brought forward and are properly established, then I can assure your Lordships that the oil interests will do their best to meet those grievances. But they want to see them properly established. They feel, too, that if social reforms are going to be recommended and to be carried out, those reforms should not apply only to the oil industry but should apply to all the industries in the island. 1064 For instance, one demand is for pay on holidays. If the principle of that is right, then, surely, no matter what industry a man works in, he should have pay for the holiday. I repeat that, whatever social reforms are recommended, they should apply to all industries. Industry is one for the whole island. Therefore it is not only a question of the oil interests, which can bear these reforms, but we have also to consider the interests of the poorest industry, sugar. Sugar is subsidised by the Government. Cocoa, which is emerging from one of the gravest slumps of modern times, employs many thousands of labourers; in fact it employs more labour than the oilfields. In considering whether these social reforms can be carried out regard must be had to the interests of the poorest industry. Therefore I ask, in bringing forward my Motion, for some assurance that these serious matters are going to receive prompt consideration. I would like to add that as far as the oil interests are concerned we shall support any genuine grievances that are brought forward. I beg to move.
§ LORD STRICKLANDMy Lords, I venture, very respectfully, to congratulate the noble Duke on the speech that he has just delivered. I feel that I may do so because I have had the honour of governing a West Indian island, and of being responsible for the organisation of the sugar industry there and also the starting of the cotton industry. There is one point of detail on which I may perhaps be allowed to offer a remark—that is, the ratio between the cost of skilled labour and that of non-skilled labour. The non-skilled labourer in the West Indies lives a very primitive form of life. Life may be lived there very cheaply. Skilled labour is mostly educated and, to a great extent, white labour; so much so that any ratio that may be struck is vitiated by these factors and does not bear the consequences that have been suggested to-day. I have learned with great satisfaction that there is an atmosphere of supporting His Excellency the Governor on the part of the oil industry, and I would only express a hope that that same atmosphere of support also extends to the Governor from the Colonial Office.
There is one thing that is most important under present psychological conditions in Trinidad that can neither be 1065 done by the Colonial Office nor by the Governor. In present conditions of Trinidad the good or bad influence of the Press is a matter of great importance, even of possible danger. No Government can run a Press, and any Govern-merit that attempts to do so is courting defeat and disaster; but, if I may offer a suggestion to the noble Duke and his friends, it would be that the oil interests should take care to organise their own Press and to guide public opinion among the natives on the right lines for the benefit of peace and prosperity. At one time these psychological services to the country were performed by the missionary authorities; but the influence of those authorities, for lack of funds and other reasons, has in the last generation greatly diminished in the West Indies, and it has to be replaced by something. A Press in the hands of the under-educated and the under-responsible may become a very grave danger. That is the one suggestion of a practical nature which I venture to submit from experience as a Governor in the West Indies.
THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (THE MARQUESS OF DUFFERIN AND AVA)My Lords, I am sure that we are all grateful to my noble friend for having raised this matter, and for the contribution that has come from my noble friend behind me, Lord Strickland; but I do not think that it is really necessary on this occasion to give your Lordships a long summary of distressing events that took place in Trinidad culminating in murder and many disturbances throughout the island. I think that their importance will be sufficiently realised by the fact that my right honourable friend has decided that a Commission is to go out to investigate those disturbances. That Commission has a very strong Personnel. The Chairman will be Mr. John Forster, who is Deputy Umpire unifier the Unemployment Insurance Acts. With him will be Sir Arthur Pugh, formerly General Secretary of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation and of the British Iron, Steel and Kindred Trades Association, who has had a very long and distinguished record; Mr. Thomas Fitzgerald, lately Postmaster-General in Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika; Mr. Kenneth Vincent Brown and 1066 Mr. Gwilym Arthur Jones, who are both resident in Trinidad.
The members of the Commission who are in this country are going to sail for the scene of their investigations as soon as possible, probably on the 21st August, but in any case not later than the early part of September. As the Commissioners are sailing and as the terms of reference, which I will take the opportunity of reading to your Lordships, are so wide, I think it will be very unwise of me to try to say anything that might prejudice their findings. The terms of reference are:
To inquire into and report upon the origin and character of the recent disturbances in the Colony of Trinidad and Tobago and all matters relating thereto, to consider the adequacy of the steps taken to deal with those disturbances, and to make recommendations.Those terms are very wide and clearly cover an investigation into all the causes of these disturbances. I think my noble friend must forgive me, therefore, if I do not follow him into his analysis of what were the reasons for the riots and disturbances.At the same time, I would, if I may, very briefly make certain general points which deal with the matters the noble Duke has raised. In the first place he stressed the fact that it appeared that the internal defence of Trinidad had been somewhat strained during the last few weeks. I do not think that I can say anything more on that beyond the fact that the importance of Trinidad is fully recognised by His Majesty's Government and by their military advisers. The defence of Trinidad is under the active consideration of those advisers. Should it prove that in the view of those advisers the defence of Trinidad is not sufficient, I have no doubt at all that the Secretary of State for the Colonies will bring their recommendations to the Governor's notice and ask the Governor to put the matter before the Legislative Council of the Colony. I do not bind up those findings in any way with the findings of the Commissioners who are just being sent out, because it may be that His Majesty's Government's military advisers will decide to make their recommendations before the Commissioners have had time to report.
The second point I would like to make is with reference to labour organisation in the Colony. It does seem fairly clear that there is a lack of liaison between em- 1067 ployers and employees and the Government, the three parties in the island. No one is more conscious than my right honourable friend of the extreme importance of establishing that liaison in any Colony but particularly in a Colony which lends itself so readily to cases of sabotage and the like. The fact that this liaison does not exist is due in part to the absence of any trade union in the island, and I should like to make it quite clear that the absence of a trade union is not due to any action of the Government but to the refusal of the labour leaders in the island to comply with requirements regarding the auditing of their accounts and the like which were based on the Ordinance of 1935, and were such as no reasonable man could object to. They were based in fact on English legislation with regard to trade unions. I may say that the Governor himself has drawn attention to the fact that his difficulties have been considerably increased within the last few weeks by the absence of any recognised trade union in the island. He has recommended, and my right honourable friend has accepted the recommendation very gladly, that in the interim period before the Commission report the post of Secretary of Labour should be created. The occupant of that post will have a full time job, and it will be his duty to secure full co-operation and full liaison between the Government and employers and employees.
The only other point which I think I should mention is the question of the Mediation Committee and its membership. Objection has been taken by my noble friend to the inclusion on the Mediation Committee of Mr. Nankivell, who is accused of having made a rather unwise speech. I am in difficulty in this matter, because a full report of that speech, although it was expected this morning, has not in fact arrived. I am sure that my noble friend would not expect me either to criticise or defend a speech, a full report of which I have not seen and the contents of which I can only judge by excerpts taken out by interested parties. But I can assure my noble friend that I am confident that both Mr. Nankivell and the Governor himself and all others who have to deal with this unhappy matter are fully aware that, at this moment when everything is sub judice, further utterance is quite unnecessary and could do no good.
1068 If there is any suggestion that the Governor has not the right to appoint Mr. Nankivell or anyone else he chooses to the Mediation Committee, I must join issue with my noble friend. It is not for us sitting on these Benches to try to deal with this dispute. That is for the Governor. He has the right to appoint anyone he chooses to sit on the Committee appointed with a view to putting an end to the dispute as soon as possible. It is the general agreement throughout the island, as far as I know—and I was rather astonished to hear my noble friend suggest that there was any other opinion—that the Mediation Committee, by getting the two disputants together, have performed a very useful function. Although they would not attempt before the Commission have reported to make any permanent settlement with regard to wages or anything else, at the same time their work has greatly facilitated the ending of the disturbances. With the Report of the Commission pending, I do not think there is anything more I can usefully add, and I hope the island may soon be restored to its usual condition of peace and prosperity.
THE MARQUESS OF DUFFERIN AND AVAI am afraid I cannot add anything on the subject of defence to what I said in the earlier part of my speech.
THE DUKE OF MONTROSEMy Lords, I do not think it is necessary for me to press the matter any further to-day. I was very glad to hear the noble Marquess indicate that nothing more will be done until the Commission report. As regards liaison between employers and employees and the Government, the difficulty of course is that there is no such authoritative body as a trade union in the island. We should like to have an authoritative body like a trade union, but of trade unions as they are understood in this country to-day there is no such thing, and therefore it is difficult to negotiate with the working men except through their employers. However, we shall wait for the Report of the Commission, and shall be only too ready to meet the working men in any reasonable suggestions they may make. I beg leave to withdraw the Motion.
§ Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn.
§ House adjourned at twenty minutes before five o'clock.