LABOUR AND LABOURERS. 



47 



indifferent when obtained. What " famine prices'* 

 mean to these poor people will readily be under- 

 stood from the following table taken from " The 

 Hindoo Patriot: " 



It will be seen that common rice, which sold 

 in 1 86 1 at 21 seers and in 1870 at 17 seers, sells at 

 about 12 seers to the rupee during scarcity. This 

 rice is of a quality chiefly consumed by the poorer 

 classes at the rate of one seer daily on an average 

 per head. The rice alone thus costs him every day 

 about i anna and 4 pie. Add to this amount the 

 price of firewood, vegetables, fish, oil, &c., and 

 his two meals cost him 2 annas daily, or Rs. 3-12 

 a-month at the least. It will be perceived at the 





