THE INCOME OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKER. 218
particular trades whether or not minimum wages should be fixed. The
decision here must depend on a careful preliminary survey of the ground.
[n the first instance, it is necessary to select the industries in which
“here is a strong presumption that the conditions warrant detailed
Investigation. It is then necessary in each such industry to undertake
A survey with a view to collecting accurate information as to the precise
conditions prevailing. Such information is, of course, more readily
obtained where at least the employers are organised to a greater or less
sxtent, and where it is possible to send out a prescribed form
to a certain percentage of them and subsequently to make a sample
check of the information supplied by means of personal visit and enquiry.
[n India, however, it is well known that, in the bulk of the trades likely
‘0 be selected for consideration, only the loosest organisation exists
among the employers and none whatever among the workers.
Moreover, lack of education and language difficulties would make the
accurate filling in of forms and their subsequent return in sufficient
numbers highly problematical. Such preliminary investigation, if
reliance is to be placed on it, should be undertaken by means of personal
visits by trained investigators, as in the case of budget enquiries. This
would require to be planned and supervised by an official experienced in
ollecting and collating statistical information. The essential material
to be collected during the preliminary enquiry is that bearing on the or-
ganisation of the trade and the wage rates. In the first category come
such questions as the distribution of the trade, the extent to which it is
carried on under factory or workshop conditions or as a home-work
ndustry, the scale of the different establishruents, the extent of co-ordi-
aation or combination among both employers and workers, and
che extent of employment of men, women and children respectively.
So far as wage rates are concerned, it is desirable to have as full informa-
ion as possible regarding both the methods of remuneration and the
actual rates, including the variations in the latter from centre to centre and
from establishment to establishment. When this information is available,
it should be possible to say, not merely whether the fixing of minimum
wages is desirable, but also whether it is practicable, and thereafter to
demarcate the trade, and to decide on the composition and number of the
mmum wage boards. These are not necessarily simple matters ; in
particular the demarcation of a trade may involve careful and prolonged
exammation. The extent of the dependence of the trade on foreign
markets and of the competition it has to face from outside in the home
markets are matters which must be given full weight when wages are
fixed ; and 1t 1s advisable, during the preliminary inquiry, to collect as
much as possible of the information on this and on other subjects that the
Boards, if appointed, are likely to need.
Problem of Enforcement.
When a decision has been reached as to whether the conditions
1 any case are such as to justify the setting up of minimum wage ma-
chinery, particular attention must be given, in the special circumstances
of India, to the cost of enforcing the wage decrees. We here refer to