§ LORD OLIVIERasked His Majesty's Government:
1. Has it been, ever since the emancipation of slaves in 1839, an established habit among manual labourers in Jamaica to acquire and occupy small holdings of land for the housing and support of their families?
2. Has it been, since 1895, the established policy of the Jamaica Government to encourage and extend this habit by selling Grown land in small lots and by financing the purchase and breaking up of privately owned estates for the same purpose?
3. Did the Jamaica Government, in May, 1938, announce that with a view to relieving distress and abating unemployment among the Island's workers it proposed to spend £500,000 or more in the extension of small land settlement?
4. Did the Government after that announcement continue to sell land for small holdings under the then existing system?
5. Did the Government subsequently establish a new department or Board for small land settlement, and issue a new scheme of regulations and arrangements for such settlement?
6. Since May, 1938, how many new freeholders have been settled on land provided through the agency of the Government?
7. How many such persons have been granted holdings under the regulations at that time in force?
1118WA8. How many new settlers have been granted holdings under the new regulations since published?
9. How many unemployed workers were estimated to be at large in Jamaica in May, 1938?
10. How many then unemployed workers are estimated to have been provided for by the land settlement policy then promised?
THE MARQUESS OF DUFFERIN AND AVAThe following are the answers to the questions asked by the Lord Olivier regarding land settlement and unemployment in Jamaica:
1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. On the 4th of June, 1938, the Acting Governor of Jamaica issued a communiqué to this effect.
4. No. When notice was given early in June of the new scheme with its easier terms, the public ceased to apply for holdings under the old conditions.
5. Yes.
6. Six hundred and sixty-four families comprising 3,320 persons have been settled since May, 1938, on land provided through the agency of the Government. The persons to whom land has been granted will be entitled to freehold possession on completion of payment, which is by instalments.
7. For the reasons explained in the answer to 4, no further land settlement took place after May, 1938, under the regulations then in force.
8. Six hundred and sixty-four families comprising 3,320 persons have been granted holdings under the new regulations since published.
9 and 10. No information is available as to the number of unemployed workers in Jamaica in May, 1938, or as to the number subsequently provided for by land setttlement.
House adjourned at five o'clock.