Mr. Creech Jonesasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether any legal provision is made in any African dependency for the payment of workmen's compensation to Native labourers injured in mining or other industrial activity; and, if not, whether he will take steps to secure the enactment of the necessary legislation at an early date?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreProvision is contained in the Mining legislation of most of the East and West African Dependencies for the payment of compensation to workmen. The legislation is of a simple kind and in some cases is of a limited scope, i.e., the compensation payable is limited to injuries arising out of defects in machinery or plant, etc., or negligence on the part of the employer or his agents.
Recently consideration has been given to the question of the application to Colonial Dependencies generally of the 614W broad principles which in the United Kingdom govern the provision made for the payment of compensation to workmen injured in the course of their employment, and in 1935 a draft model Workmen's Compensation Ordinance was prepared and circulated to the Governments of all the Dependencies in East and West Africa for their preliminary consideration, and also to various bodies in this country, which are closely acquainted with African conditions. The comments of those bodies on the model Ordinance are now being examined. Considerable progress has been made with the revision of the model Ordinance and I hope to be in a position in the near future to forward the revised version to the Governments of the East and West African Dependencies for their consideration and action.