§ 108. Mr. Rees-Williamsasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether in view of the desirability of employing Asiatic staff, so far as possible, in positions of responsibility in the labour departments of the Malayan Union and Singapore, he will ensure that in addition to the Indians 381W now employed, Malays and Chinese are appointed and used in responsible posts after a short training.
Mr. Creech JonesThe policy of employing suitably qualified local officers in the labour departments of the Malayan Governments was adopted before the war and is now being pressed forward. The Malayan Union Government have plans for an increase of the establishment of inspectors of labour which will include Malays and Chinese, as well as Indians. These plans offer prospects of promotion for suitable inspectors to such higher posts as labour officer and assistant commissioner of labour.
Similar arrangements are in train for Singapore but, as the great preponderance of workers in that Colony speak only Chinese or Indian dialects, a knowledge of one of those dialects is for the present a necessary qualification for all local appointments to the Labour Department in Singapore.