TERRORS FOR “WONT WORKS”

Evening Star, Issue 22719, 5 August 1937, Page 8

TERRORS FOR “WONT WORKS”

STRICT RULES OF CONDUCT Men in the Transvaal who will not work to support themselves and their families will soon receive an unpleasant surprise They will be committed to the Swartfontein Work Colony in the Eastern Transvaal, where they will be ipaid 3d a day wages, where they will be worked from 50 to 60 hours a week, and -where they will not be allowed to swear or have any beer. Mr S. D. Mentz, organiser of the employment section in the Department oi Labour and Social Welfare, Pretoria, said, recently, that tho Swartfontein Work Colony, to hold 100 European men will shortly bo thrown open to tho “ won’t works.” The new regulations, governing the conduct of the work colony, lay down scales of pay for the inmates. Married European inmates will receive 2s 6d per day. worked, of which 3d will be paid to the inmate and 2s 3d will be sent to his dependents. Unmarried men will receive 3d per day worked. The work to be done by inmates will bo mainly unskilled manual labour, at the discretion of tho superintendent. The hours will not exceed 50 per week except where the inmate does household duties. When inmates do household work the hours may be increased to 60 a week. Fourteen separate sins which inmates might, commit at the risks of punishment are enumerated in the rules and regulations. Tho most heinous of all 14 is to bo “ idle, careless, or negligent at work or to refuse to work or to evade work by feigning sickness." . Candidates for tho work colony will bo committed by magistrates at tho instigation of ttho Labour Department on proof that they have refused jobs they are fitted to take.