151 



61. In the preceding paragraphs I have endeavoured to 

 In what directions g^^^ ^uch particulars as I have been able 

 the labouring classes to obtain regarding the wages of agri- 

 have improved. cultural and Other labour;^' It would, of 



course, be hopeless to attempt to state in exact numerical 

 proportions the improvement in wages for the reasons 

 already explained. Money values are fallacious guides in 

 this respect, and it is impossible to assign money values to 

 perquisites which are allowed on special and not regularly 

 recurring occasions, and are regulated by customary usages 

 and the good understanding between the employers and the 

 employed, rather than by contract. If it is necessary to sum 

 up, in a single statement, the remuneration that is allowed 

 in such a wide variety of forms, I should say that 2 annas 



'" Since the memorandum was written, above 7,000 service agreements, both for 

 agricultural and non-agricultural labour, registered in the several registration offices of 

 the Presidency, were examined and enquiries made as to the changes which have occur- 

 red in grain-wages. It was found that there has been nowhere any reduction in the 

 customary wages paid for agricultural labour. The labourers generally receive advances 

 from then- employers varying from Rs. 10 to upwards of Rs. 100, and agi-ee to serve for 

 some definite period or till the loan is re-paid. No interest is charged, except in special 

 cases, on the loans. The loans are to be liquidated either by means of small deductions 

 from the wages, or at the end of the period of service by a lump payment. 



For agricultural labour, the wages are given in money, in kind, or in food and clothing 

 with a small cash payment at the end of the year. The money paj^ment ranges from 

 Rs. 18 to Rs. 60 a year. The average may be taken at from Rs. 30 to Rs. 36. The 

 quantity paid in grain varies from 20 to 60 Madras measures a month, according to the 

 age and efficiency of the labourer, a midday meal being generally provided by the em- 

 ployer ; the average quantity may be taken at about 36 or 37 Madras measures a month, 

 or 1;^ Madras measures a day. When food is given the labourers are paid from Rs. 3 to 

 Rs. 30 at the end of the year. 



For non-agricultural labour, the wages of goldsmiths, blacksmiths and carpenters vary 

 from Rs. 4 to Rs. 30 a month. 



For tanning, which is a large industry in this Presidency, and in which, from religious 

 scruples, none but the Pariahs are engaged, the wages are nowhere less than Rs. 5 per 

 mensem. If paid daily the wages are 3| annas. The maximum wages are Rs. 10 a 

 month. 



Brahmin cooks receive from Rs. 4 to 7 a month in addition to food. 



Shop-boys are paid from Rs. 4 to Rs. 15 a month. 



The tendency everywhere appears to be for an increase in grain wages, and the 

 complaints often made are that it is difficult to obtain labourers for the due customary 

 rates of wages or to make them work with zeal or full time as in the old days for these 

 wages. There is, of course, great reluctance on the part of the employers to alter the 

 customary rates ; but perquisites and presents and the amounts of loans given without 

 interest are generally increased. The grain wages given for casual labourer, e.g., 

 additional labour employed during harvest, appear to have generally increased, and in 

 some cases doubled. The tendency towards increase in the i-ates of daily grain-wages 

 allowed to field hands permanently employed is less marked, though there are a number 

 of instances in which there has been an increase even as regards these. This shows 

 that custom is gradually giving way to competition, and that the tendency on the whole 

 is towards an increase in the earnings of labourers as estimated in food-gi-ains. 



Since the memorandum was written, H. Subbaraya Aiyar, Esq., Deputy Collector, 

 Coimbatore district, has made personal enquiries into the condition of the labouring 

 classes in parts of the Coimbatore district, and the conclusion he has arrived at is, that 

 theii' condition " is not what it was thirty or forty years ago, but has materially 



improved in several respects Those who have once formed 



the landless cJfe-ss, the petty traders, the artizans and the weavers, who have chosen to 

 work in the fields and elsewhere, have now acquired landed property to some extent, 

 " ^'ide appendix V.-F. (1 b). 



