1D)

CHAPTER II.
centres with a definite concentration of industries, the more important
are Madras, Cawnpore, J amshedpur and Rangoon. Many of the remain-
ing factories are concentrated in capitals where the factory population is a
small part of the total population, such as Delhi, Lahore, Lucknow and
Nagpur. Centres of this type have generally a few larger factories, and a
considerable number of small ones which serve the miscellaneous needs
of the city and its vicinity. Apart from such centres, the only approach
bo a concentration of factories is in the main coalfields and in a few
cotton mill towns such as Sholapur.
(2) SOURCES OF LABOUR.
Centres Recruiting from Short Distances.
The smaller centres everywhere draw on the surrounding rural
areas for all the workers they require, except labour demanding special
skill. © As industry expands in a centre, the area of recruitment has to be
snlarged. If the centre is situated in a region where population is dense
and pressure on the land is great, a large addition to the labour force
may be obtained without going far afield ; this is illustrated by Ahmed-
abad and Cawnpore. The cotton mills of Ahmedabad draw 659, of their
labour from Ahmedabad district and the adjacent State of Baroda,
while most of the remainder come from areas not far distant, .e., other
Gujerat districts and the adjoining parts of Rajputana and Kathiawar.
Cawnpore has close to it areas where the pressure of population is severe,
and the bulk of its labour comes from the adjoining districts and those
mmediately beyond them. Railway workshops frequently show a greater
variety of labour and may include substantial numbers from more dis-
tant areas ; the grant to employees of travelling concessions increases the
attraction of the work for labour from a distance, and the type of work
does not appeal to the people resident in some areas. In every centre of
importance a certain number of the factory workers come from long
listances ; men from Madras and the United Provinces may be found in
factories all over India
Centres Recruiting from Long Distances.
The only centres which have reached the stage of being compelled
to go far afield for the bulk of their labour are Rangoon, Jamshedpur and
the two big centres, Bombay and the Hooghly area. Rangoon, like Burma,
generally, has to look mainly to Indian labour for the maintenance of its
industries as the Burman shows little desire to enter the lower ranks
of factory employment. The factories of Rangoon therefore rely on
the great stream of migration from across the Bay of Bengal ; the
workers come chiefly from the Telugu speaking tracts adjoining the
aorthern Madras ports. Jamshedpur was established in an area that
was practically virgin forest and required a large number of workers
from the start ; there was a big expansion of work during and after the
war, which demanded a further rapid increase in numbers. It is not
Surprising, therefore, that the labour force here should include sections
from nearly every province of India: in particular, Bengal, Bihar and