MINE ECONOMICS. 6l 



2. — LABOUR. 



The labour employed in the field comprises Europeans (chiefly 

 Cornishmen and Italians), Eurasians and Natives, in the following 

 proportions :— 



Europeans .2-2 per cent. 



Eurasians . ... . , . 1*6 „ 

 Natives q6'2 „ 



The total number of employes is approximately 21,000. The native 

 miners are chiefly drawn from the Madras Presidency, the best of them 

 (MoplahsandTyahs) coming from the Malabar Coast. The Canarese 

 of the Mysore State are also capital miners. 1 Both Hindoos (of the 

 Pariah class) and Mahomedans work underground. They are em- 

 ployed in all the different branches of mining work, such as hand and 

 machine drilling, blasting and pit-work, timbering, shifting stuff, 

 tramming, engine-driving, stoping, drill-sharpening, carpentering and 

 machine-shop work. Their wages range from 4 annas to Ri-8-0 per 

 day, according to skill and individual fitness. The following is a list 

 of the wages paid by the companies to natives. It must, however, be 



1 Mr. R. Bullen, Superintendent of the Ooregum Mine, has given me the 

 following memorandum on the comparative quality of the native labour employed 

 in the mines : — 



Moplahs. — For underground work where there is any difficulty to be en- 

 countered such as hard ground or water, in sinking shafts, 

 Moplahs are far better than any other coolies I have everem- 

 ployed. In underhand stoping, too, they also hold their own 

 with any of the natives. 



Canarese— Coolies are excellent underground men, and are second only to the 

 Moplahs. 



Tamils. — Some of the Tamil coolies are excellent men, but, on the whole, they 

 do not compare favourably for hand labour work with either 

 of the above ; as machinemen they are superior. 



Wudders.— These men seldom go underground, but for surface work (earth 

 excavations to a depth of 20 feet) there are no men to compare 

 with them in this country. 



Telegus. — Some of these are excellent underground men, and they run the 

 Canarese coolies fairly close for second place ; some of them 

 also make good machinemen. 



