During the 1940s, the Colonial Office, in response to the recommendations of its Labour Advisor, Major Orde Browne, and the Royal West India Commission of 1939, advised that social services in the British Caribbean be ameliorated. Conse-quently, the colonial administration sought to improve health services, the system of education, social welfare and conditions of housing in British Guiana. This amelioration was made possible through funding under the Colonial Development and Welfare Acts of 1940 and 1945.
Amelioration of the social services was urgently needed in British Guiana. Major Orde Browne who visited British Guiana in 1938 to examine labour conditions in the British Caribbean painted a grim picture of life in the colony three years before Governor Lethem’s arrival. He reported that houses were congested in Georgetown and described part-time employment as “outstanding evil.” Social security benefits, which would have helped to remedy part-time unemployment, were non-existent. Further there was neither a Social Welfare Department nor a Labour Exchange Bureau. Wages were low and rents were high devouring most of the family budget. In spite of Orde Browne’s report, housing conditions continued to be deplorable according to a report sent by Governor Lethem to the Secretary of State in 1946.
With regard to health conditions, statistics reveal that the chief causes of death in the colony in 1939 were bronchitis and pneumonia, malaria and other fevers. Although Browne was not critical of the system of education, the Moyne commission of 1939 was. It observed the lack of accommodation, planning and sanitation, inadequate equipment, outdated curricula, and poor health of schoolchildren due to ‘underfeeding.’ Governor Lethem set out to improve conditions and for this he was commended by Guianese who welcomed progress. Several factors contributed to the amelioration of the social services. They included changes in Colonial Office policy, trade union demands, pressure from within the local legislature, the Moyne Commission recommendations, and the availability of funding by the Colonial Development and Welfare Acts of 1940 and 1945.
As a result of studies undertaken by Lord Hailey and R L Buell in the 1920s and 1930s, a paternalistic policy was formulated in the Colonial Office, which had been sensitized to the plight of the colonial peoples through the publications of these two researchers. Lord Hailey’s The Role of Anthropology in Colonial Development advised that the objectives of colonial administration be expanded to include the improvement of social life and standards of living. These publications charged the Colonial Office with the greater responsibility of developing social services. Other publications which had an even more immediate impact on fashioning of Colonail Office Policy towards the British Caribbean were the West India Royal Commission Report of 1939 and Major Orde Browne’s Report of 1938 both of which were critical of conditions there.
The disturbances of the 1930s in the British Caribbean also influenced the Colonial Office and forced it to take action to maintain credibility in the eyes of the Labour Party and the Trades Union Congress. Consequently, in 1937, a Social Services Department was established in the Colonial Office and Major Orde Browne was appointed Labour Advisor in 1938. The report of his 1938 tour of the British Caribbean revealed the appalling state of social services there and the inadequacy of colonial governments’ finances to remedy the situation.
Another significant factor contributing to the upgrading of social services was the recommendations made by the West India Royal Commission of 1939. The West India Royal Commission (Moyne Commission), which toured the British Caribbean to investigate the causes of the disturbances of the 1930s, made the following recommendation:
There is a pressing need for large expenditure on social services and development, which not even the least poor of the West Indian Colonies can hope to undertake from their own resources. We therefore recommend the establishment for this purpose of a West Indian Welfare Fund to be financed by an annual grant of 1,000,000 pounds from the Imperial Exchequer for a period of 20 years, and of a special organization to administer this fund under the charge of a Comptroller.
In addition, the Commission provided detailed recommendations for each of the social services, namely publish health, education, housing and slum clearance, labour, and social welfare. Although the Second World War had started when the report was submitted, the imperial government, in its statement of policy on colonial development and welfare, still deemed it prudent to implement the recommendations of the Commission in spite of the war. The Secretary of State was quoted as stating: “
