Ixxxi 



Mr. Venhatesiah, Deputy Collector, Chingleput District. — The wages 

 or earnings of tlie labouring classes were then nearly double of what 

 they were some fifteen years before, owing partly to the rise in the 

 price of grain and partly to the liberal rates at which they were paid 

 by the Railway Company and the Public Works Department. A 

 common labourer working at the roads got as much as three annas a 

 day, while his wife got an anna and-a-half. Thus a family consisting 

 of a wife and a husband made up about Rs. 80 a year exclusive of 

 non-working days ; whereas their annual income in former days had 

 not exceeded half the latter sum. 



Mr. Chase, Gollector of Kurnool. — Agricultural labourers were 

 generally paid in grain and as the rates of payments seldom changed, 

 their condition had been stationary and had made no perceptible 

 improvement. The wages of non-agricultural labourers, however, had 

 considerably increased, owing to the operations of the Irrigation 

 Company and the general rise of prices ; but after the completion of 

 these works in 1870 and the fall in prices, especially in that of cotton, 

 the rates of wages had a downward course, and the condition of the 

 labourers at that time was not much better than what it was 15 years 

 before ; and any increase in the rate of wages was nearly counter- 

 balanced by the enhancement of prices, so much so that when coolies 

 were wanted for road work at a time when field work was available, 

 they invariably preferred the latter, which was paid for in grain, to 

 the former, which was paid for in money. Their food and clothing 

 were of the same kind as what they were before. They ate the same 

 coarse grain and used as condiments the same chatney composed of 

 hemp-leaves or tamarind fruit. They wore the same coarse clothes- 

 and slept on the same rope cots. The women put on no more jewels 

 than they did in former days ; he mentioned this because it was a well 

 known fact that when a native was improved in condition, the first 

 thing he did was to purchase jewels for his wife and children. 



Mr. Sribaliah, Deputy Collector, South Arcot. — The position of the 

 labouring classes had improved. In the South Arcot district indigo 

 cultivation had increased enormously. Indigo vats were found every- 

 where. The rate of daily wages to labourers in fields had almost 

 doubled in the past years when there had been a rise in prices. 

 There was a demand for labourers in every direction. A labourer in 

 the field got his wages in kind at the time of harvest and in money at 

 other times. In cash it was two annas and in grain a little more 

 than three Madras measures. Labourers working in the indigo vats 

 obtained three annas a day ; but they were not employed all the year 

 round. He estimated their monthly income at Rs. 3| or Rs. 42 per 

 annum. There was another class of labourers who worked for 

 monthly wages in kiud. Their monthly wages were 27 Madras 

 measures of paddy or ragi, besides one meal every day. They also 

 got about 7 or 8 per cent, of the outturn at the time of harvest called 

 calavassam and also a rupee in cash. If the approximate outturn of a 

 field managed by one servant were 100 kalams, the labourer's income 

 would be — monthly wages =^ 324 Madras measures, calavassam = 252 

 Madras measures, and this at a rupee for 30 measures would be 

 Rs. 20 ; adding to this one rupee in cash and also the money value 

 of one meal every day, which at 6 or 8 pies a day amounted to one 



