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CHAPTER XXI.
hope that our efforts will be of some assistance both in dispell-
ing prejudice and in removing the grounds for complaint which
at present exist. We have tried to show, especially in the preced-
ing and following chapters, that in some directions the industry
has gone to commendable lengths in the attempt to secure a contented
labour force. By improving existing conditions it should be possible
for the planters in Assam to offer intending recruits conditions
greatly superior to those prevailing in the recruiting areas. At the
same time, nothing would do more to restore confidence in such areas than
the knowledge that the recruit was assured of the form of protection ob-
tainable through statutory wage-fixing machinery. The existence of
gardens where the wage rates can be cut reacts unfavourably on the
whole industry ; and unsatisfactory conditions, even on a few gardens,
keep alive all the old prejudices against Assam and make it more diffi-
cult for even the best gardens to secure recruits. Moreover, the potential
recruit is more likely to understand the position and to appreciate the
advantage held out to him, if he knows precisely what pecuniary return is
obtainable for his labour. The inauguration of wage-fixing machinery,
therefore, should be as much to the benefit of the industry as to that
of the workers employed in it. If the industry were in a position to
give an assurance in the recruiting districts that on no garden could the
rates fall below specified limits, a continuous source of danger should
be eliminated; and the mere establishment of the rates at present
prevailing in the better gardens should in itself constitute an important
aid to recruiting. The establishment of minimum rates in Ceylon and
Malaya has come mainly from the desire of India to ensure that its
nationals who emigrate receive fair treatment. The establishment of
wage-fixing machinery in the Assam tea industry should give the same
assurance in respect of the emigrant to Assam and thus go far in
placing that province and its main industry in a position where they
would receive the sympathy and co-operation of all fair-minded men in
the recruiting provinces.
Basic Rate and Wage Level.

Tu suggesting the establishment of statutory wage-fixing ma-
chinery we must not be understood to suggest, in an industry largely
worked on a piece-rate basis, that the actual piece rates should be fixed
by statute. In our view a careful investigation of the rates at present ob-
baining is necessary for the purpose, not only of determining the basic rates
to be fixed, but of ensuring the establishment of the type of machinery
best suited to the industry. We go on to indicate the general lines on
which such an investigation should be conducted. It is not necessary to
assume that the basic rate ultimately fixed would exceed that at present
paid in the better gardens. The case for the operation of such a rate in
Assam does not rest on the supposition that wages are exceptionally low.
As a matter of fact, annual earnings in the Assam plantations are
higher than those of agricultural workers in most parts of India, and in
considerable areas of Assam they appear to be higher than in other
planiations. Qu the other hand, we believe that in some gardens