cov 



canals. A farm, 100 acres in extent, would be considered a large 

 holding for an agriculturist, one of 30 acres a middlesized one, and 

 one of 5 acres a very small one. Government tenants have a permanent 

 right of occupancy so long as they pay the Government assessment. 

 In zeminda;-i estates, on the other hand, the cultivators are mostly 

 yearly tenants. A number of landless labourers are employed in culti- 

 vation, paid sometimes in money and sometimes at a fixed rate in grain, 

 but never by a regular share of the crop. Wages have more than 

 doubled since 1850. A carpenter, smith or bricklayer now earns 

 Annas 8-1 in towns and Annas 7-5 in villages and an agricultural 

 labourer 3 annas. Women employed in weeding and transplanting are 

 paid at from one-half to two-thirds of the rates for men, while the 

 children receive a lower rate. Paddy or unhusked rice, which in 1850 

 was returned at Rs. 24 per garce (9,860 lb.), is now (1884) worth 

 Rs. 68 per garce. 



Kistna. — The people of the district are generally poor, but an 

 exception must be made in the case of the ryots of the delta, who are, 

 as a rule, very well off. Throughout the delta the houses are, as a 

 rule, built with brick-walls and tiled or terraced roofs ; in other parts 

 they are of mud walls with terraced roofs. Rice is the food of all 

 classes in the delta, but only the well-to-do people use it in other parts 

 of the district. The total monthly expenditure of a prosperous shop- 

 keeper's family, consisting of 5 persons, would be about Rs. 14 and 

 that of an ordinary peasant about Rs. 8. The district contains nume- 

 rous wells. The daily wages of coolies and agricultural labourers in 

 1850 were from Anna 1 to Annas 2 ; in 1876 from Annas 1-3 to Annas 

 4 and Annas 1-4 to Annas 3, respectively. Bricklayers and carpenters 

 from Annas 4 to Annas 6 and Annas 5 to Annas 8 a day, respectively, 

 while 16 years ago they earned Annas 2-6 to Annas 4 and Annas 2 to 

 Annas 4, respectively. In 1883-84 skilled labourers — average, Annas 

 7, others, Annas 4. 



Malabar. — The peasantry of Malabar are no exception to the 

 general rule, dividing this class into those who borrow and into those 

 who lend. The borrowers among the actual cultivators are much more 

 numerous than the lenders, and borrowing, owing to certain characteris- 

 tics in the prevailing tenure, is rapidly on the increase. The wages of 

 artisans and labourers have been steadily increasing. Coolies, who in 

 1800 earned 1 anna and in 1850, 2 annas, earned in 1876-77, 5 annas 

 a day, and skilled workmen, whose wages in 1850 vaj'ied from 5 to 6 

 annas earned in 1876-77 from 8 to 10 annas. Agricultural labourers 

 are always paid in kind at the daily rate of 5 lb. of rice for a man and 

 4 lb. for a woman. 



Tanjore- — Wages of agricultural labour are almost invariably paid 

 in grain. The ordinary rates are three-fourths of a merkal or 3 "87 lb. 

 of paddy (giving about 2| lb. of clean rice) per diem for a trained 

 labourer, male or female, and one-half merkal for inferior adult 

 labourers ; boys and girls receive half the rates. In towns, wages are 

 paid in money, the ordinary daily rate for an adult male being Annas 

 *Sic ^"*T^ ^° 1841-42 to Rs. 1-13-0* in 1876-77, for 



children 1 anna each. Skilled labourers, such 

 as bricklayers, stone-masons, carpenters and smiths are paid according 

 to the nature of the work from 5 to 8 annas a day. The money 



