Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XIII. - Indebtedness

Collection:: Economics Books

238 CHAPTER XIII, has an effect on the indebtedness of the worker which is at all compar- able with the effect of paying wages monthly. Provided that the delay in payment is of uniform length (and this is usually the case) the only effect of the waiting period is to increase the time which elapses before the first wage is paid. For example, to take a frequent case, if monthly wages are paid about a fortnight after the end of the month, the effect of the waiting period is to increase from a month to about six weeks, the initial period of service without wages. The mere reduction of this period to, say, five weeks would be of some assistance; but it would seldom place the worker in a position to dispense with fresh borrowing. Short Wage Periods and Debt. The reduction of the wage period itself, on the other hand, would have important effects. Long intervals between wage payments invariably add to the embarrassments of the poor, and have an appreciable influence in binding the worker to the money-lender. The mere purchase of goods on credit is not necessarily equivalent to running into debt and the shopkeeper (who is often the money-lender) frequently does not charge interest on the current account for provisions. But he gets the equiva- lent of interest in an enhanced price and where the worker has already other debts, a month’s credit is a distinct and insidious addition to his burden. It strengthens the chain which holds him to his creditor, and it acts as an additional obstacle to the habit of saving.” Some workers spoke to us of the advantage they would secure from weekly wages in being able to do more purchasing in cash, and we believe that the general adoption of weekly payments would have important effects in this direction. A shorter period of payment should also improve the workers’ financial position in other ways. The illiterate worker tends to take a short view; the longer view of life is largely a matter of education. Itis, therefore, of particular importance in his case that the connection between cause and effect should be as short and obvious as possible. Where payment is on piece rates, there is a dis- tinct tendency for the standard of work to improve as pay-day approaches, We believe that a reduction in the period would have a definite effect on efficiency. It would also assist the worker to more judicious expenditure. -It is unfortunately impossible to produce conclusive proof of our view by a comparison of the position of those workers who are paid weekly or fortnightly with that of the monthly-paid workers. Accurate statistics of indebtedness are not available and, even if they were, the differences of race and training between workers in different centres and different industries would make it difficult to base conclusions upon them. We believe it to bea fact that the coal miner, who is paid weekly or daily, is much less in debt, in proportion to his income, than the railway worker, who is paid monthly; but the differences between the two cases in respect of the other factors which can affect indebtedness is so great that no deduction can safely be-drawn from the fact. It should be added, however, that a number of employers who pay monthly make advances against wages to their workers during the

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