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clothed and receive annually from Rs. 6 to Rs. 24, the food 

 consisting of three meals a day and betel and tobacco. In 

 Vizagapatam, farm-servants are not given meals, except in 

 some places in the northern taluks, where the custom obtains 

 of giving them two or three meals a day : where two meals 

 are given, the annual wages are cut down by one-third, and 

 if three meals are given by one-half. In the first caae one 

 meal consisting of a quarter of a seer of boiled rice and cunji 

 is given in the morning at about 8 or 9 o'clock, and the second 

 meal consisting of a quarter of a seer (^ lb.) of ragi or other 

 flour boiled, at about 4 p.m. In the other case, the servant 

 is fed in the morning, noon and evening, the meals given 

 being the same as those of a member of the employer's 

 family. In Cuddapah the servant gets one local seer of food 

 daily (1*7 Madras seers) worth Rs. 14 annually, clothes worth 

 Rs. 4-8-0 and cash Rs. 3. Higher money wages are paid if 

 the ryot is a woman who cannot herself superintend the 

 cultivation. In a few cases, presents amounting to Rs. 4 or 

 Rs. 5 are allowed on occasions of marriages, &c. ; sometimes 

 the servant is allowed loans, without interest, amounting to 

 Rs. 50 or Rs. 60. But these do not form part of the service 

 contract. If the servant has a child above five and below 

 twelve years of age, the latter is given wages from Rs. 3 to 

 Rs. 4-8-0 with three meals a day and clothes. No deduction 

 is made in the wages for the temporary absence of labourers 

 on account of illness and other unavoidable reasons. In 

 North Arcot, servants in the Chittoor taluk are given three 

 meals estimated to cost Rs. 36 a year, Rs. 6 in cash and cloth 

 worth 1 rupee. Their presents and perquisites may amount to 

 about Rs. 5 or Rs. 6. The examples given above will suffi- 

 ciently show how difficult it is, amidst the wide variety of 

 form, which the remuneration assumes in different parts of 

 the country, to state in money values the earnings of the 

 labourers. The following general deductions may, however, 

 I think, be drawn from the facts stated ; viz., (1) perma- 

 nent servants are employed only by the well-to-do ryots 

 and, when they are fed at the master's house, get as much 

 food as they can possibly take ; (2) the quantity of food is 

 variously given from 3 lb. in Bellary to 1^ lb. in Vizagapatam, 

 and 2 lb. of dry grain per diem and 1| lb. of rice may, on an 

 average, be taken as ample allowance for an adult doing full 

 work; (3) the value of the meal is estimated at from Rs. 14 

 to Rs. 36, per annum, the differences being due to the variation 

 in the prices of grain in the several districts and to the money 

 value of 'the grain consumed being calculated with reference 

 to the averaige prices ruling at the cusba stations instead of 



