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CHAPTER XXIL—WAGES ON PLANTATIONS. 
We proceed now to the conditions of employment on the planta- 
tions and deal in this chapter with the economic position of the 
plantation worker, ¢.e., with matters connected with wages and the 
system of wage payment, leaving to the subsequent chapter matters con- 
nected with health and welfare, which are also ‘of fundamental import- 
ance. Inregardto wages, there are features which are common to almost 
all plantations, but there are important variations of method, and it is 
convenient to deal with each area separately. We begin with’ Assam, 
which is the most important, and then. deal with the remaining planting 
areas in North India and finally with those in South India. We regret 
that no account is possible of labour conditions in the plantations in Burma, 
which we were unable to visit and in regard to which little information 
was available. We understand that, as a result of the continuing depres- 
sion in rubber, many of these plantations have closed down temporarily, 
and the number of workers has decreased considerably during the last 
year. 
System of Wage Payment in Assam. 
In the Assam tea gardens wages and the system of wage payment 
were considered by the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee of 1921-22, 
which was appointed by the Government of Assam after the general exodus 
of the preceding year. The report of this Committee gives detailed infor- 
mation on the subject, and it is necessary here to refer only to the special 
features of the system of wage payment and to indicate the trend of wages 
since the publication of that report. The wages of the Assam tea garden 
workers are, for the most part, based on piece rates. , The workers are 
employed in gangs under the supervision of sardars who, in addition to 
a fixed monthly wage, receive a commission varying from half an anna 
to two annas in the rupee on the earnings of their gangs. So far as the 
workers are concerned, there are two distinct systems of wage pay- 
ment. The older system, still in, operation on many gardens, is known, 
as the hazira and ticca system under which the worker is required to com- 
plete a standard daily task, namely, the kazira—a term now applied both 
to the task and to the sum payable for its performance. The time which 
an average worker takes to earn the hazira is generally about four to five 
hours, or half a day, and there is thus the opportunity of working 
“ overtime ”’ usually at higher rates, the payment for which is known as 
ticca. The payment for the hazira varies in most districts from 4 to 6 
annas for men and from 3 to 5 annas for women. The ticea is usually 
4 annas for men and 3 annas for women, but the amount varies with the 
extent of overtime. We were given to understand that in Doom-Dooma, 
where conditions are exceptional, the payment for what corresponds 
to the hazira is 8 annas for men and 6 annas for women and that the 
ticca rate is 4 annas. This system has been largely replaced by the 
unit system, the basic principle of which is to give the worker greater 
latitude in the matter of attendance and to leave it to him to earn as 
much or as little as he chooses. Under this system payment is made 
for each unit of work. which in the case of hoeing and pruning is