§ Mr. McEnteeasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he still has reason to believe that there are no unemployed persons in the West Indian islands; and if he can state what is the 2924W present situation of those Natives whose employment has ceased as a result of the outbreak of Panama disease amongst the banana crops?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreThe only one of the British West Indian Islands in respect of which I have now received any detailed information regarding unemployment is Jamaica, and even for that Colony I have no very full statistics. It appears, however, that about a year ago there were some 5,000 unemployed in the Kingston area out of a population of about 90,000, and that of these about 3,000 properly belonged to the area, while the remaining 2,000 had come in from rural districts in the hope of obtaining employment.
In general, it is probably true to say that there is an unemployment problem in the towns in the West Indian islands, but up-to-date particulars are not available, and so far as I am aware the position is not generally serious. I have asked the Governors of the various islands for the latest information. In the purely agricultural districts the question does not arise to any great extent, since the population consists largely of peasant smallholders or labourers on estates who generally have plots of land for their own cultivation; and "employment" does not play the same part in the West Indian social structure that it plays in the industrial countries.
As regards the areas in Jamaica which have suffered most from Panama disease, namely the parishes of St. Mary and Portland, it would not be correct to measure prosperity of the island solely in terms of banana production. Alternative crops can be, and are being grown in these areas, and a number of other steps are being taken, or are contemplated, to ease the position of the peasants, e.g., by land settlement schemes and other measures of relief.