§ 72. Mr. Awberyasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he is aware that nearly 500 men have been dismissed from the Bata Arang Colliery, Malaya; that this will cause hardship to a township which depends entirely upon this pit for a living, and that hardship is already being experienced; and if he will take steps to provide these men with alternative employment and with unemployment pay during their enforced idleness.
§ Mr. HopkinsonOf 500 employees paid off by the Malayan Colliery at Batu Arang, 40 have been re-engaged, 110 have found full or part-time work elsewhere, 90 are wives of workers still employed on the mine, and 105 are eligible for gratuity, of whom some are meanwhile receiving monthly payments by the company and some may be re-engaged. The remaining 155 have left the district.
No serious distress or unemployment exists as a number of those left without work have since found employment on estates and tin mines through the Kuala Lumpur employment exchange. Others continue to live on the mine and are rearing poultry or cultivating vegetables on land made available by the company, which has been practically doubled in area since the reduction in the labour force took place.