i60 



leases are rapidly superseding cultivation on tlie sharing 

 system, and this proves that the porakudis are becoming 

 substantial farmers able to carry on cultivation without much 

 help from the landlords and to pay the stipulated rent in all 

 seasons. They are also enabled to enjoy the fruits of 

 additional labour bestowed on the cultivation of the lands 

 without having to share them with the landlords as under 

 the porakudi system. The same improvement, it will be seen 

 from the note of the District Registrar of Tinnevelly on the 

 agricultural classes, printed in the appendix, V.-F. (1 6), is 

 observable in the condition of the corresponding cultivating 

 class in that district also, many of whom have saved money 

 and bought landed properties; the general result being that, 

 while the rent receiving class is somewhat going down, the 

 cultivating class is rising gradually in importance. In the 

 Coimbatore district, where the sharing system obtains to a 

 considerable extent, the share of the landlord on dry lands is 

 now one-half the gross produce instead of as in 1839 one-half 

 of the net produce after deducting the expenses of cultiva- 

 tion. In the South Canara and Malabar districts, the varum 

 system does not obtain, lands being leased out to tenants on 

 fixed money and produce rents. 



60. Labourers, other than agricultural, are chiefly em- 

 ployed in towns, and their condition has 

 II. Labourers other (Jigtinctlv improved. The ratcs of waffes 



than agricultural. t *^ n ^ i -n j i i t . 



per diem lor unskilled labour, according to 

 the official returns, vary from 1 anna 9 pies in Vizagapatam 

 to 7 annas 4 pies in Kurnool. The average rate in towns for 

 the whole Presidency is 3 annas 9 pies, while that in rural 

 tracts is 2 annas 9 pies. The rate for Madras town is, 

 however, only 4 annas, and the high rate in Kurnool is 

 evidently due to the recent opening of the Bellary-Kistna 

 railway. Employment is fairly constant and an unskilled 

 labourer in towns may be taken on an average to earn 3 annas 

 per diem throughout the year, while the labourer in rural 

 tracts earns about 2 annas. The establishment of mills, the 

 extension of railways, the increase of trade and the large 

 expenditure, by Government on roads and irrigation works, 

 and by private individuals on buildings, have forced up 

 wages both in inland and sea-port towns, as labour is much in 

 demand at these places. Among the higher classes, it is a 

 well-known fact that domestic servants, especially cooks and 

 water-carriers, are hard to get, and their wages, in addition 

 to food, have increased to three times of what tiiey were 

 thirty or forty years ago. 



