1 e
2 . 9 SALT REVENUE DEPARTMENT FOR @HEPOFFICIAL YEAR 1893-94,
3 demand. Ina few cases, when the men refused. to work, their
4 names were struck off the list; but they considered that as no
5 punishment. Not long ago itavas the severest form of punish-
6 ment that could be inflicted; but the present conditions of the
7 labour market and the rates paid now for ordinary work at and
8 in the vicinity of Khewra have changed al} this, and a miner is
9 rather pleased than otherwise to be released from his responsi-
10 bility to work in the mine, for there is plenty of other work,
11 more healthy, less arduous, and as remunerative to be hid in
12 the neighbourhood. The miners do not consider the rate we
13 pay for the excavation of salt to be now fair; and as a matter
14 of fact it is now actually lower than it was half a century ago.
15 Salt mining is skilled work, and as such the rate paid for it up
16 to 1871 was Rs. 4 per 100 maunds of salt passed over the Gov-
17 ernment scales on delivery to purchasers. The wages of an
18 ordinary coolie was then from 1 to 3 annasa day; 2 to 24 annas
19 being the ruling rate.for able-bodied men, and the only work
20 of any magnitude outside agriculture in the district was that
21 at Khewra connected with the mines and the delivery of salt
22 to purchasers. ‘There was no.other market for the labour of
23 the mining community. The rate paid since 1872 is 84 pies
24 per cubic foot, which represented in 1893-94 Rs. 3-2-44 per 100
25 maunds (including, however, Mr. Bolster omits to notice,
26 maunds 72,595 unbooked stock of past years, so. that the rate
27 paid was really the same in 1893-94 as in 1892-93, wiz., about
28 Rs. 3-4-54 per 100 maunds.) It is not necessary to enter in
29 this report into the causes which have led to the difference bé-
30 tween the cost per 100 maunds now and many years ago. The
31 net result. to the miners is that they do now receive less for
32 every 100 matnds of salt produced than they used to previous-
33 ly to 1872. On the other hand, all around them they haye all
34 other kinds of labour being paid for at much higher rates than
35 ruled some five years ago; while the development of the Dandot
36 and Pidh collieries and the stone quarries at Sodhi provide
37 more than ample work for all. Their discontent is natural,
38 and now that they have made it the subject of complaint, their
39 claims will be submitted for consideration.”
40 But Mr. Bglster overlooks that the amount paid up to
41 1871 included the cost of porterage of salt to the outside
42 of the mine; while the rate now paid is for delivery of salt at
43 the loading stations inside the mines, which are almost inva-
44 “ riably close to the workings; and further, that in those days the
45 miner had to wait for payment until his salt was sold to trad-
46 ers, Whereas now he is paid promptly by the Department on the
47 measurement of the space he has excavated. The miners
48 generally themselves brought the salt to the mine’s mouth,
49 helped by their wives and children; but if carricrs were hired,
50 they were paid by the miners atthe rate of Re. 1 per 100
51 maunds for the transport of salt from the interior to the mouth .
52 of the mine. Moreover, it is on record that the miners were
53 not paid for their labour until a period of from four to eight
54 months had elapsed from their bringing the salt to the mine’s
55 mouth. Such was the old system. So far from the miners
56 now receiving less than they did 20 or 25 years ago for the
57 salt they quarry, they really receive considerably more: to the
58 extent certainly of 4,annas per 100 maunds. But that is not
59 the point. The point is that in recent years (within 10 years,
60 that is) since the railway came to Khewra and the collicries
61 were opened, skilled, and chiefly mining, labour has been
62 worth more than before, and we have now to face this fact and
63 ( 13)
64 REVIEW BY SECTIONS.
65 PUNJAB MINES,