The amelioration of social services in British Guiana was achieved in two phases. The introductory phase began in 1940 with the passing of the Colonial Development and Welfare Act allowing colonial administrations to apply for funding for selected projects during a ten-year period. When Government Lethem arrived in 1941, he immediately sought increases in the British Guiana allocations and authorized the use of local finance to begin projects until the Comptroller of Development and Welfare approved grants for schemes submitted. He was responsible for the implementation of these schemes subject to the guidance of the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Comptroller of Development and Welfare. He was also responsible for appointing committees to design a ten-year development plan required by these two officials. This comprehensive and impressive plan proposed developmental schemes for social services, agriculture and fisheries, forestry, town planning and urban housing for the period 1947 to 1956. It was comprehensive and impressive. Lethem’s regime initiated many long-term projects, which were completed by succeeding governors. The second phase of amelioration of social services occurred from 1947 to 1956.
Influenced by Lord Hailey’s research publications, Lethem, in an address to the Legislative Council, observed that colonial policy had changed. In the past, governments were only responsible for ‘public order’ and ‘administration of the law’ but not for social services. He added that modern government was expected to provide for the social services and to raise ‘the general standard of living.” This he set out to achieve. It would appear that he laid a solid foundation on which succeeding administrations could build. His administration was marked by three features: founding under the Colonial Development and Welfare Acts of 1940 and 1945, lack of materials, and training of personnel.
Funding under the colonial Development and Welfare Acts was a major facilitation of the effort to ameliorate social services. It is noteworthy that Frank Stockdale, Comptroller for Development and Welfare, and his advisers, visited British Guiana in 1941 and in January 1945 to discuss with Lethem and the colonial government the development projects requiring funding in the colony. By 31 December 1946, the Social Welfare Department had spent 31,250 pounds of the 65,642 pounds, which had been granted for the development of social welfare projects in the colony. In order to assist public health, a malariologist, a Sister-Tutor and a Schools’ Medical Officer were appointed with funding under the Acts. Funding was also provided for equipment for clinics and medical care for Amerindians in the interior, and the Mahaica Leper Settlement. The Anna Regina Land Settlement Scheme in Essequibo, the construction of schools and teachers’ houses and the appointment of an Education Development Officer received funding also.
Between 1940 and 31 December 1946 British Guiana received funding for the following: 61,578 pounds for education, 34,056 pounds for housing and planning, 100,454 pounds for medical care, public health and sanitation, and 57,792 pounds for the social services. In addition, 2,000 pounds were received for research in public health and sanitation.
Subsidiary local funding was also provided. For example, the Development Trust Fund provided $6,000 for the Anna Regina Housing Project, which was to be repaid from rentals. In 1944, the Legislative Council voted the sum of $1,000 to be used to assist Social Welfare Projects. The Sugar Producers Association’ and the colonial government equally shared with the Rockfeller Foundation (an external agency) the funding of the Malaria Research unit.
Another feature of the attempt to ameliorate the social services was the lack of materials and the shortage of trained personnel. This constituted a problem particularly in the early stages and retarded the progress of the programme; Lethem cited the “impossibility of obtaining equipment, staff and transport during wartime conditions” as the reason for the failure to centralize medical services in the colony. He started the war conditions had led to a shortage of building materials, which had affected urban and rural housing. The Moyne Commission had earlier made an almost similar observation:
The war has, however, made it impossible yet to carry out many major works, such as large housing or hospital rebuilding programmes; indeed, progress on the programme as a whole has been grievously hampered at every turn by the inability of the government to spare from urgent war work the skilled men and to find the materials needed for large scale development programmes…
Training of local personnel was another feature of the social services development programme. It is evident that Lethem thought it important to train Guianese health workers to improve medical care in the colony. Sanitary inspectors and nurses were trained locally and overseas. Laboratory and x-ray techniques received training also. A Schools’ Medical Officer was sent to pursue post-graduate studies in public health and school medical work at the University of Toronto. Social Welfare Officers were sent to Jamaica for training. Some of the internal training was done by expatriate staff.
Training of local personnel was another feature of the social services development programme. It is evident that Lethem thought it important to train Guianese health workers to improve medical care in the colony. Sanitary inspectors and nurses were trained locally and overseas. Laboratory and x-ray techniques received training also. A Schools’ Medical Officer was sent to pursue post-graduate studies in public health and school medical work at the University of Toronto. Social Welfare Officers were sent to Jamaica for training. School of the internal training was done by expatriate staff.
As a consequence of the attempt to improve and develop social services in the colony there was an appreciable increase in medical facilities, and an improvement in education facilities. There was also the passing of legislation for the improvement of housing conditions, the establishment of a Social Welfare Department, and the introduction of a national pension scheme.
Improvement in the system of education was one very important consequence of the new policy. Various projects were implemented in response to the Moyne Commission recommendations and, by February 1945, ten additional teachers were graduating from the Teachers’ Training College increasing the total to forty. This graduation was a biennial exercise. Efforts were also made to provide better furniture for some schools and to make the curriculum ‘simple and practical’. The school meal service, which had been in existence for years was expanded to include Kitty, New Amsterdam, and Berbice River schools. Writing to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1945, Lethem stated:
The centre in Georgetown has also been expanded to double its size. The diet in all these centres has been improved and all are now in charge of a Supervising Dietitian (sic). Government expenditure on the school meal service amounted to $83,000 by 1945.
By February 1945, applications had been submitted to the Comptroller of Development and Welfare for funding to provide skimmed milk, free books, stationery, and new schools. On the other hand, by 1945, British Guiana had received funding for the reconstruction of the Bishop’s High School (10,450 pounds), the maintenance of Carnegie Trade School for Women, the organization of a Children’s Library, and the provision of motion picture equipment. Similar grants were being allocated to other British colonies as other governors sought to implement the Moyne Commission recommendations. However, requests for free grants to raise teachers’ salaries at Queen’s College were granted because Sir Frank Stockdale, Comptroller of Colonial Development and Welfare, advised that the colonial government continue to finance increases in salaries.
The
building of new schools in British Guiana stimulated a controversial debate over denominational control of schools and, in 1946, a committee decided that when church schools were reconstructed from funds, they would become public property. As a result of the building project, 1,550 school places ere created between 1940 and 1945 but these were inadequate because the school population rose by 6,000. Salary scales were also revised for teachers.
Another consequence of the policy of amelioration was the improvement in public health. By 1945, there was collaboration among the Medical Department, Social Welfare Officers, Agriculture and local Government Departments to develop certain public health programmes. Steps had been taken to recruit more sanitary inspectors, health visitors, district nurses and dispensers. Technicians, on the other hand, were trained locally and sent to District Hospitals. Attempts were made to improve satiation in urban and rural areas. Rural Health centres were constructed for maternity and child welfare work. A Schools’ Medical Service comprising a trained School Medical Officer and nurses was established. Pamphlets, lectures, demonstrations and health tours were used to inform the public about health issues. A Nutrition Committee was appointed which undertook dietary and clinical surveys. It used the wireless/radio to educate the public about food and nutrition. A Sister-Tutor was appointed to train nurses. The overall result was that, as the volume of trained medical workers and public health centres increased the quality of medical care and education improved. In the next article, I will continue to examine the consequences of the government policy of amelioration of social services during the Second World War.