139 



that the information furnished to him was exaggerated. 

 Moreover, large portions of the country had been almost 

 entirely depopulated by the Mysore wars, shortly before 

 Buchanan visited the tracts which he has described, and 

 consequently, there was great scarcity of labour in these 

 places at the time. Further, agricultural labourers had to 

 pay in those days the moturpha tax, which was practically 

 levied from their masters. For later years we have abso- 

 lutely no information beyond vague statements in the settle- 

 ment reports which are worse than useless, no systematic 

 enquiry having ever been made on the subject ; and it is a 

 matter for regret that the services of the settlement- officers 

 who have for years been working in the rural tracts and who 

 have had exceptionally favorable opportunities for enquiries 

 of this kind should not have been utilized for the purpose 

 of collecting information regarding matters connected with 

 agricultural economy. The Board of Revenue sometime ago, 

 at the instance of Government, called for reports from Col- 

 lectors regarding agricultural wages in considerable detail; 

 the results have not yet been published, but I have had the 

 advantage of reading the reports received. I have also 

 obtained some information from the officers of the Registration 

 department regarding the wages now prevailing in some of 

 the places visited by Buchanan in 1800. The following 

 imperfect account is based on the information obtained from 

 the sources above indicated : 



Agricultural labourers are of all grades from the casual 

 daily labourer to the metayer tenant who divides the produce 

 of the land he cultivates with the landlord in defined propor- 

 tions. This class of labourers, however, may be divided into 

 three main divisions, viz., first, farm-servants more or less 

 permanently employed and remunerated by payments in money 

 or grain ; secondly, casual labourers employed on agricultural 

 work at the time of the harvest or as occasion arises and not 

 permanently attached to the farm ; and, thirdly, labourers on 

 the varum or sharing system. 



Of the permanent farm-servants, those who live in the 

 master's house and partake of the meals cooked for him are 

 the most efficient and the best remunerated. They are, 

 comparatively speaking, generally well off, being well fed 

 and clothed and receiving, at the end of the year, as much 

 as their feeding and clothing would cost or a little more. 

 The servants employed are of the same or corresponding 

 castes as the masters and sometimes their relations. It is 

 stated in a report on cotton cultiyation in the Tinnevelly 



