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slaves, Dr. Buchanan remarks, these wages are very high 

 and may enable the hired servants to keep the family in the 

 greatest abundance." In Tanjore the pannial, who is the 

 descendant of the old hereditary slave, was paid, according 

 to the account given by Mr. Ramaiyangar in 1872 (see ap- 

 pendix IV.-F)j one Madras measure of paddy per diem. The 

 present rate, from recent reports, appears to be 1| Madras 

 measures per diem and in the Kumbakdnam taluk it is even 

 If Madras measures. Mr. Pennington, in 1885, estimated 

 the whole earnings of a pannial at about 30 to 36 kalams of 

 paddy per annum, worth as many rupees; and stated that 

 the earnings of the whole family did not exceed Rs. 50, of 

 which Rs. 7-8-0 must be spent on drink or the enormous 

 toddy revenue of the Tanjore district (6^ lakhs of rupees) 

 could not be accounted for. In many of the taluks of the 

 district, they are allowed 40 gulis (*132 acre) for house- 

 site and 60 gulis ('198 acre) more, as yermanium or plough 

 allotment, for cultivation, the produce of which they enjoy 

 rent free. Mr. Pennington adds, " The comparative poverty 

 of the pannial class is attributed to their fondness for drink 

 and a want of prudence and forethought in storing up paddy 

 to provide against a rainy day. They are in fact the most 

 barbarous part of the community, and live precisely like 

 animals, being to all intents and purposes serfs attached to 

 the soil and generally of the Pariah caste, few being Sudras." 

 These remarks are, to a great extent, true, though their 

 condition, so far as mere physical subsistence is concerned, 

 has somewhat improved in recent years. Mr. Clerk, 

 who has made special inquiries into the condition of this 

 class of labourers, writes, '* In former times, the pannials 

 were the slaves of the mirasidars, on whom they depended 

 solely for livelihood. They were paid then as now in paddy 

 and, during the cultivation season, were well fed, but they 

 suffered considerably in the off-season from insufficiency of 

 food. Their position has greatly improved during the last 

 forty years, and, at the present time, they are as independent 

 of the mirasidars as the porakudis. It is beyond doubt that 

 wages have considerably risen during recent years. For 

 transplanting and harvesting, wages are double what they 

 were twenty years ago, and there has been an increase in the 

 price paid for cooly labour of every description. . . . Many 

 causes have tended to improve the condition of both tenants 

 and labourers within the last forty years, but the facilities 

 placed within their reach for emigrating have done more for 

 them th^n anything else. Both classes emigrate, though 

 chiefly the .labourers, and all return with considerable 



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