Through the 20th Century with The Gleaner - The Lord Moyne Commission (Part 6) By C. Roy Reynolds,
Contributor
THE MEMBERS of the commission could never have been prepared for the degree of squalor and hopelessness in which much of the masses of the Jamaican people existed in 1938. In area after area, including housing, health care, diet and education the situation was dire, and underlying it all was the abysmal state of employment. Following the disturbances earlier in that year, an agency called the Board of Conciliation had been established, commissioned, among other things, to collect statistics on the labour situation. A memorandum from this body was submitted to the commission purporting to give information, according to The Gleaner of November 14, 1938, on the following subjects: Unemployment, wages, relief, land settlement, agricultural credit, marketing and industry, and the chairman A.H. Hodges who was Island Treasurer as well, was before the commission to amplify that document. Hodges and his memorandum identified unemployment as "the biggest labour problem confronting the island." But how big was this biggest of problems? That was a question to which there was no answer available. "The Board believes that it is this large-scale lack of employment more than anything else that is responsible for the unrest among the labouring classes, which has existed for some time and still continues." But the board went on to admit: "Unfortunately there are no statistics available to indicate the extent of this unemployment. The Unemployment Commission of 1936 endeavoured to obtain reliable information on this subject, with a view to preparing a census of unemployed persons but their efforts failed." No clue If Treasurer and board chairman Hodges had no clue as to the proportions of the problem, he was more sure of the causes. He told Lord Moyne and his group that large and steady increase in the population was at the top of the list. In the decade between 1926 and 1936 the figure had moved from just under 970,000 to 1,138,558, nearly 22 per cent increase. Hodges explained that immigration which had drawn off substantial numbers from the workforce had dried up and large numbers of former immigrants were being repatriated, many destitute. So while hitherto remittances from those abroad had been substantial, with the new reversal in both the outward flow of workers and the inward flow of money had intensified the problems of employment and living conditions. Another factor identified was the low demand and depressed prices for Jamaican agricultural products. This had led many small producers to seek to supplement their income by invading the for-hire labour pool. Wages was another category with which Hodges and his memo dealt. His board, he told the commission, "has come to the conclusion that in many instances the wages paid to workers were unsatisfactory and in some cases less than the industry could reasonably afford to pay." According to him strong efforts had been made recently to upgrade the wages of labourers, but this had been less of an impact on the lives of the workers because of a practice of trying to reach more workers by limiting the number of days each could work. In deep rural districts without large farms or other industries Hodges saw little hope of improving the lot of the people. In these districts there were few wage-earners, so even if wages rose the population would not benefit. Earnings Hodges as well had a word of concern for middle class workers. "From information which has come before the Board, we are of the opinion that the earnings of the middle class workers are in many cases quite inadequate for the work they do and the standard of life which they have to maintain." Not only were workers unable to provide adequate food for themselves and their families, it was beyond their capacity to make provision for sickness. Not only could they not afford proper treatment, but the situation was worsened by the fact that employers did not give them sick leave. In old age many had to resort to "an unhappy existence of begging or receiving poor relief." Hodges and his board, in addressing possible relief measures, advocated that public works projects be initiated but that these should not be allowed to look like dole as that would damage the moral fibre of the society and play into the growing belief among some people that it was the responsibility of the Government to provide them with employment. Suggesting an example of how this approach could work Hodges said the land settlement programme which he and his board endorsed would need to be provided with certain infrastructural facilities such as roads and the workers of each area could be employed in their construction. To bolster the land-settlement programme he suggested organised marketing; expansion of agricultural credit; a comprehensive plant disease eradication effort and intensive agricultural extension service. How many of these suggestions were to be followed up? How many more might have been, but for the fact that ten months later World War Two erupted, can only be conjectured.
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