PANAMA CANAL ZONE.

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17839, 11 October 1929, Page 11

PANAMA CANAL ZONE.

INCREASE IN POPULATION. DISTRIBUTION OF WORKERS. The 'civilian population of the Panama Canal Zone totals 30,300, according to the annual count made by the 'police division at the close of the fiscal year on June 30. This is an increase of 2298 over the total shown by the census a year ago. The number engaged in the operation of the Panama Canal and the Panama Railroad, including the auxiliaries such as civil administration, health department, commissary stores and similar activities, totals 5854, of whom 4975 are men and 579 are women. There were 2598 American citizens employed on what is known locally as the “gold roll,” engaged largely in clerical work, the skilled trades, hospital and sanitary operations, civil and general administration. Of this number, 2219 were men and 389 were women. The number of employees on the “silver roll," which includes labourers and workers as helpers in, the skilled trades, amounted to 5854, of whom 5664 were men and 190 were women. The majority of the labourers on the “silver roll” are the West Indian negroes, many of whom were employed on the construction of tne Canal. The designation of the “gold and "silver” rolls originated during construction daiys, when American employees were paid in United States gold coin and aliens in Panama silver coin. The census of 1929 showed an increase of 1260 employees residing in the Canal Zone, which 'reflects an increase of force over 1928 due lacgelv to Ihe construction work already" begun on the Madden Dam at Alha'juela. The increase in the 'population of non-employee residents resulted from settlers taking up leases ■for small plots of land for agricultural purposes, principally in the Gatun Lake area. - In the total population, there are 2485 American men, 2562 women and 2642 children, and the rest, consisting of labourers and their families, comprises 8229 men, 4670 women and 9712 children.