§ Mr. Russellasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the average number of workers employed in growing tobacco and manufacturing cigars, respectively, in Jamaica in 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1953.
§ Mr. Lyttelton, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 12th February, 1954; Vol. 523, c. 171–2], supplied the following further information.
The best available estimates are:
Year Field workers Factory workers 1949 4,800 1,850 1950 4,000 1,750 1951 2,250 1,600 1952 2,000 1,450 1953 1,400 1,300 The estimates of factory workers are reasonably reliable, but those of field workers are less so since they include peasant cultivators working with their families on smallholdings.