WEST INDIANS IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27212, 2 December 1953, Page 9

WEST INDIANS IN BRITAIN

BIG INFLUX OF ? ” MIGRANTS 10,000 ARRIVALS SINCE END OF WAR (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON. November 29 Since the war, 10.000 coloured natives from the West Indies have come to Britain in search of work, says the “Daily Telegraph” discussing the growing influx of West Indians to Britain, seeking better wages and living conditions than are obtainable at home. “French and Dutch ships leave the West Indies Islands at intervals ot two or three weeks and everyone of them has a long list of coloured passengers bound for Britain in search of work as clerks, dressmakers, domestic workers, and labourers. “More than 100 Jamaica and Trinidad natives every few weeks pay their own passages to Britain on the strength of accounts that wages and free social services here offer an El Dorado beyond their wildest ambitions at home. “Last year. 13 French ships bronght an average of 90 emigrant passengers. So far this year each liner, at intervals of three to four weeks, has brought an average of 72. "To these figures must be add£d coloured emigrants brought by Dutch and other steamers. Many of them land with nothing apart from worn tropidal clothing. The National Assistance Board provides them with clothing suitable to the British climate. In some cases they are housed for a short while in hostels and given 5s weekly for extra expenses. Allowances Paid “When they leave the hostels, if they are not found work they qualify immediately for 35s weekly subsistence for single men, plus, a lodging allowance. Free medical attention is available to them from the moment they land. “Those who go to work and pay 26s weekly National Insurance contributions can then claim sickness benefit* on an increasing scale until they qualify for a full benefit after on» year. As British subjects they cannoA be sent back home, whether they are stowaways or fare-paying passengers. “About 40 West Indians and West Africans pxe sent to gaol for a month every month for stowing away to reach Britain. They think a month in an English gaol, where the food and accommodation are likely to be better than anything they are used to at home, is much cheaper than paying the fare.”