148 
CHAPTER IX, 
which were merged in the general revision of 1920. Figures are given 
for each of six railways (A. B. C. D. E. F.) operating in different parts 
of the country and take no account of grain compensation or other 
allowances :— 
Pre-war 
monthly rates 
of pay. 
Ra. 
] 
oF 
20 
25 
IN 
= 
er —— EE ES i —— AAA i —— 4A ————,. Sh —— 
Percentage increase on railways with headquarters in 
Madras 
Puniab 
Bombay 
| Bengal 
a 
Rr 
3 
hn 
70 55 60 50 35 
nq 53 53 67 47 
65 £0 | 50 { £5 40 
52 52 £2 44 48 
on 50 Fr) | 27 40 
i110 51 51 37 | 34 
Bn 50 50 Qs 37 
In the case of some railways, where workers were receiving 
Rs. 6 and under, wages were raised to Rs. 12 in 1920. 
In view of the fall in the cost of living in recent years, 
there was, in the opinion of the Board, no occasion to undertake a further 
revision of a general character, although pay meantime has been im- 
proved in individual grades and classes, the resulting cost in the aggre- 
gate being considerable. We are also informed that an officer placed 
on special duty with the Railway Board reported, after an enquiry, that 
in the revisions of scales of pay immediately following the war, railway 
employees had fared appreciably better than local Government 
employees on corresponding rates of pay. The numbers of grades and 
varying scales of pay rising on an incremental basis, as well as promo- 
tions from one grade to ancther, make it difficult to give a detailed com- 
parison of increases in wages. We have been furnished by the Railway 
Board with statements showing scales of pay of important classes. From 
these we have selected gangmen, pointsmen, ticket collectors and signal- 
lers as representative of workers whose wages are not materially affected 
by overtime, mileage or other allowances. In the Appendix to this 
chapter we give a comparison of the minimum scales of pay of these selected 
grades on the six railways included in the above table. This statement 
shows the minimum rates ruling in 1914, 1921 and 1929 ; but, as these 
rates in some cases apply only to certain sections of the lines, we have given 
both the minimum and the maximum scales in force in 1929 before the 
recent revisions sanctioned by the Railway Board came into effect. 
Figures have been supplied to indicate the improvements in 
wage earnings since 1914. Taking lahour alone, 4.c., all employees 
except supervisory and clerical staff, the Railway Board estimate the rise 
in the average wage in 1928-29 over that in 1913-14 as approximately 
12497, after taking into account a rise of 26%, in the number of employees