cent. of the total number of textile employees in Ahmedabad should be 
selected. The Labour Investigator at Ahmedabad was instructed to 
make a provisional selection on the basis of adequate representation of 
different mills paying different rates of wages and from different 
territorial groups. Sixteen mills were finally selected in consultation 
with the Ahmedabad Millowners’ Association and the Ahmedabad Textile 
Labour Union. 
11. With regard to the month to be selected for the Enquiry, the 
Committee of the Ahmedabad Millowners’ Association objected to July 
because absenteeism in the Ahmedabad mills during that month is higher 
than normal on account of the beginning of the monsoon when cotton 
mill operatives have a tendency to remain absent for work on the fields. 
It was eventually decided, therefore, to take the month of May 1926 
as the Census month for the Ahmedabad mills. 
SHOLAPUR 
12. On the 19th August 1926, the Director of the Labour Office 
discussed the question of the best method of conducting the Cotton 
Mill Wage Census for Sholapur with the late Mr. Narottam Morarjee of 
Messrs. Morarjee Goculdas & Co., the Agents of the Sholapur Spinning and 
Weaving Co., Ltd., and with Mr. J. F. McDonnell of the Bombay Co., 
Ltd., the Agents of the Laxmi and the Vishnu Mills. Both Mr. Narottam 
Morarjee and Mr. McDonnell expressed general agreement with the 
proposals for the Enquiry. The main difficulty in connexion with the 
holding of a Wage Census for cotton mills in Sholapur Citys the manner 
in which the grain allowance granted to the workers should be dealt 
with. All operatives in the Sholapur cotton mills who do not lose more 
than four days in the month get a grain allowance which takes the form 
of a right ordinarily to purchase 20 seers of grain— 18 seers of jowari and 2 
seers of dal—for a sum of Rs. 2, irrespective of the retail selling prices of 
these food-grains in the City. In the case of one mill, jobbers are allowed 
to purchase 31 seers of grain for a sum of Rs. 3-8-0. Half-timers have 
the right to purchase 10 seers of grain for one rupee. In the case of 
another mill, only two-loom weavers have the right to purchase 20 seers 
and one-loom weavers and half-timers can only purchase 10 seers. The 
value of the grain given differs from month to month according to the 
variation in prices. No option of a cash equivalent is given and the 
workers sell the grain if it is not required for their own consumption 
although such instances are very rare. The net gain to a worker who 
gets 18 seers of jowari and 2 seers of dal works out at about Rs. 1-8-0 but 
this is, of course, subject to variation according to the retail prices 
in the City. Although, technically, the grain allowance is dependent on 
good attendance, the Millowners at Sholapur consider it as a part of the 
dearness allowance. No account was taken in the Wage Censuses of 
1921 and 1923 of the additional gain to those workers who secured 
the grain allowance: 
13. The Director of the Labour Office had a meeting at Sholapur on 
the 17th November 1926 with Mr. Grier, representing the Laxmi and the