8 
particular occupation at one centre are higher or lower than the averages 
for the same occupation at another centre, nor is this Report concerned 
with the various factors that industrial employers have to contend with 
in wage fixation. The object of a wage census report is primarily to 
present the statistical results of the tabulations of various sets of figures, 
obtained in a particular manner and dealt with in a particular way. But 
when figures are given for three centres it is inevitable that comparisons 
will be made and it is therefore desirable to make a few observations on 
this point. With regard to the figures for Sholapur, it may be said at 
once that there is no basis of comparison whatsoever between Bombay 
and Sholapur or as between Ahmedabad and Sholapur. Wages in 
Sholapur are on an all-round definitely lower level in comparison with 
Bombay and Ahmedabad ; and quite apart from any questions of the 
limitations of the 1921 and 1923 enquiries, the Reports of both those 
enquiries bring out this fact in an unmistakable manner. 
92. The figures for Bombay and Ahmedabad approximate more closely 
in some occupations and the following facts need to be borne in mind. In 
she Ahmedabad Cotton Mills work in several departments is given out 
on contract. - Thus, out of the sixteen mills covered by the Enquiry at 
bhat centre, work in the Mixing Department was given out on contract 
in four mills, that in the Yarn Bundling Department in eight mills and in 
the Baling Section of this Departraent in seven mills. In the Drawing-In 
Department work was given out on contract in seven mills. In three 
dther mills men for this Department are engaged by the contractors and 
boys by the mills. Beam carrying was done by contract in nine mills, 
For the results of the average earnings of the workers in the various 
occupations in these departments to be absolutely representative, the 
figures for the workers engaged by the contractors should also be included. 
This could not be obtained. The personal enquiries of the Investigators 
of the Labour Office go to show that, speaking generally, workers engaged 
directly by the mills receive higher rates of wages than those who are 
engaged by the contractors. Efforts to secure figures for the numbers 
and earnings of workers engaged by the contractors proved nugatory 
because the mills concerned had no information or knowledge either as 
to the number of men engaged by the contractors or the rates of wages 
paid by them. As the contractors are frequently changed from time to 
time and as they maintain no proper records no information could be 
procured from them. As far as the actual averages of the workers in 
bhe occupations in those Departments where the work ig given out on 
contract by some mills are concerned, the results of the Census may be 
considered as representative of the earnings of those operatives in such 
Departments as are engaged by the mills, because the distribution of this 
work between the mills and by contract will have a ratio for the whole 
industry similar to the ratio in the mills covered by the Enquiry. But 
as the operatives for work in all these Departments in the Bombay Mills 
are engaged and paid by the mills themselves without the intervention 
of contractors, the fact that the contractors’ men were not included 
in Ahmedabad must be borne in mind when a comparison is made for the