§ Mr. Ammonasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the number and situation of the gold-mining concessions in Nigeria; the average output for the 2664W year; the number of workers employed and the rates of wages paid; and what are the obligations as to housing and recruitment of workers?
Mr. M. MacDonaldAs regards the first part of the question I am sending the hon. Member a copy of the latest available report of the Mines Department of Nigeria, on pages 3 and 4 of which will be found the particulars which he desires for 1937, the latest date for which I have full information.
For the number of workers employed, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to his question on 10th May. Mines labour in the goldfields is generally paid on the "tribute" system: and over most of the northern provinces where the mines are situated, wages paid to unskilled labourers varied in 1938 from 4d. to 9d. a day.
As regards the question of recruitment, I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to his question on 20th July. As regards housing obligations, I am asking the Governor for up-to-date information, and I will communicate with the hon. Member when I receive his reply.
§ Mr. Ammonasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the number of workers, European and African, respectively, employed in the Public Works Department and the State Railway of Nigeria?
Mr. MacDonaldThe numbers as given in the latest available reports are as follow:
Public Works Department. European Staff 225 African Staff— (a)Permanent Establishment 464 (b) Engaged persons on daily rates of pay 604 Government Railway. European Staff 309 African and West Indian salaried Staff 1,919 African Employés,including daily paid Clerk 6,690 Labourers and Porters 10,235 In addition, 19 Europeans and 2,025 Africans were employed over a period of three years n bridge construction and railway capital works.