CCVl 



wages in all these cases are generally twice as high as it was twenty- 

 five years ago and in some cases the increase is still greater. Prices 

 of all articles of food have risen in about the same ratio. The village 

 sales of paddy, the staple produce of the district, on which the 

 original commutation rate for the assessment of irrigated land was 

 calculated, show that the average price of the Tanjore kalam equal to 

 12 merkals or 62 lb. has varied from Annas 7 in 1850-51 to Rs. 1-7-0 

 in 1875-76. Landless labourers constitute about one-half the adult 

 male population of the district and of these nearly two-thirds are 

 engaged in agriculture. They are chiefly Pullers and Pariahs who are 

 permanently attached to the farms. The remainder are low-caste 

 Sudras, who have immigrated from time to time from the Marava 

 country lying between the Cauvery delta and Cape Comorin. 



Coimbatore. — Agricultural day-labourers or coolies earn 3 annas 

 per diem, women 2 annas and children 1 anna. Blacksmiths, brick- 

 layers, carpenters receive from Annas 6 to Annas 14 per diem. Since 

 1850 the rate of wages for skilled labour has risen from 25 to 80 per 

 cent, and prices of food have doubled. Rice which in 1850 was selling 

 at Rs. 1-8-0 per maund (80 lb.) now sells at Rs. 3 ; cholum formerly 

 Annas 10-8 per maund now costs Rs. 1-6-0 ; wheat once Rs. 1-8-0 

 per maund now sells at Rs. 3-4-0 ; salt has risen from Rs. 2-1-8 per 

 maund to Rs. 2-15-3; and country liquor (arrack) now sells from 

 Rs. 3-4-0 to Rs. 4-4-0 per gallon. 



Kurnool. — The ryots, as a rule, cultivate their own lands. Owners 

 of very large holdings sublet some of their lands and employ labourers 

 on others. The wages of day labourers and artisans are usually paid 

 in kind. When paid in cash, coolies receive from Annas 2-6 to Annas 

 3 a day; blacksmiths, bricklayers, carpenters Annas 4 to Annas 12. 

 The average price of best rice in 1883-84 was Rs. 3-3-8 and of cholum 

 Rs. 1-4-1 per maund of 80 lb. 



Nellore — The average prices of produce per maund (80 lb.) were 

 rice Rs. 3, inferior food-grains Re. 1, indigo Rs. 149, cotton Rs. 15. 

 The daily rates of wages are, skilled labour 12 annas at Ongole and 

 Kanigiri, 6 annas in most places, and 4 annas in some ; for unskilled, 

 Annas 6 at Atmakur, Annas 2-6 in most places and Annas 1-6 in 

 some. 



Salem. — On a holding of 2 acres ^vet and 3 acres of dry land the 

 net profit would not probably exceed Rs. 60 per annum or Rs. 5 a 

 month. The mass of the peasantry are in debt. The habit of 

 indebtedness is so ingrained in their nature that if they all started 

 fair tomorrow, 50 per cent, would be in debt again in a year. One 

 man is held to be sufficient for the ordinary daily labour on a farm of 

 3 acres of wet or 6 acres of dry land, if assisted in the heavy work of 

 planting, weeding, reaping and threshing. His wages would be 480 

 measures of grain per annum = Rs. 12-8-0 plus an annual money 

 payment of Rs. 3, the wages in the northern being lower than in the 

 southern taluks. Twenty-seven measures of seed are required for an 

 acre of wet and 6 measures for an acre of dry land. The highest 

 Government wet rate in the district is Rs. 14 per acre and the lowest 

 is Rs. 11-9-0, exclusive of local cesses; the highest for dry lands 

 being Ks. 5 and the lowest Annas 4. The customary rates of wages 

 for unskilled labour are, for men Annas 2 ; for women Annas 1-6 ; for 



