DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24890#0102
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few hours’ labour would not undertake piecework, which
required a fair day’s work for a fair wage.
It may he observed that districts under the Interme-
diate system have kept wonderfully free from cholera during
the summer. The outbreaks have been few and mild. Among
the large numbers on Code works in the very distressed dis-
tricts the cases of epidemic cholera have been more numer-
ous, persistent, and fatal. The cause is to he found in
the better physique of the people in the districts in which the
Intermediate system prevailed, in the absence of the weak
and sickly “ dependants,” and consequently in the less
crowded state of the works, wdiicli rendered easier the preserv-
ation of the water-supply from pollution.
Generally it may be said that this Intermediate system
was not suitable for districts where the distress was most acute.
In such tracts it was necessary to arrange works which would
provide a moderate fixed task and a bare subsistence wage
for each applicant. The piecework system was unsuited for
such conditions. The Intermediate system was accordingly
restricted to those districts wThere distress was less severe and
less extended. These comprised all districts, except the four
Bundelkhand districts, South Allahabad, and Hardoi. Only
in the case of a small portion of Unao, bordering on Hardoi,
was it found desirable to revert again to the Code system in
those districts in which it was abandoned.
It is necessary now to revert to the sequence of events.
Early in December the general orders already mentioned as
.he outcome of experience gained in the Bundelkhand famine
were supplemented by the issue of more detailed instructions,
which, though based generally on the Famine Code, differed
from it in the method of computing wages, in simplifying
the classification of workers, and in the methods of enforcing
task work. These instructions (for the basis of which the Lieu-
tenant-Governor was indebted
to Mr. Palmer, Superintending
Engineer, Allahabad Division)
took the shape of rules, div-
ided into sections, which, as the
headings noted in the margin will
show, dealt with the management
of relief works in detail. These
rules include instructions drawn up by the Government Bacter-
iologist and Chemical Examiner, for the purification and disin-
fection of wells as a means of checking epidemics of cholera
They include also a ready reckoner for the calculation of
wages. These rules as issued have, it is believed, been adopted
in some other Provinces as the basis of the Public Works
relief organization there.
It was from the first recognised that these rules, based
as they were chiefly on experience acquired in part of one
I.—Establish-
ment.
II.—Tools and
baskets.
III. — F uuds
and supply of coin.
IV. —Drinking
water.
V. —Food.
VI. —Field hos-
pitals.
VII. —Hutting.
VIII. —Conserv-
ancy.
IX. —Organi-
zation of relief la-
bour.
X. —The task;
setting out work,
and getting it done.
XI. —Wages.
XII.—Reports
and accounts in
the field.
XIII.— Checking
work, numbers,
and payments.
few hours’ labour would not undertake piecework, which
required a fair day’s work for a fair wage.
It may he observed that districts under the Interme-
diate system have kept wonderfully free from cholera during
the summer. The outbreaks have been few and mild. Among
the large numbers on Code works in the very distressed dis-
tricts the cases of epidemic cholera have been more numer-
ous, persistent, and fatal. The cause is to he found in
the better physique of the people in the districts in which the
Intermediate system prevailed, in the absence of the weak
and sickly “ dependants,” and consequently in the less
crowded state of the works, wdiicli rendered easier the preserv-
ation of the water-supply from pollution.
Generally it may be said that this Intermediate system
was not suitable for districts where the distress was most acute.
In such tracts it was necessary to arrange works which would
provide a moderate fixed task and a bare subsistence wage
for each applicant. The piecework system was unsuited for
such conditions. The Intermediate system was accordingly
restricted to those districts wThere distress was less severe and
less extended. These comprised all districts, except the four
Bundelkhand districts, South Allahabad, and Hardoi. Only
in the case of a small portion of Unao, bordering on Hardoi,
was it found desirable to revert again to the Code system in
those districts in which it was abandoned.
It is necessary now to revert to the sequence of events.
Early in December the general orders already mentioned as
.he outcome of experience gained in the Bundelkhand famine
were supplemented by the issue of more detailed instructions,
which, though based generally on the Famine Code, differed
from it in the method of computing wages, in simplifying
the classification of workers, and in the methods of enforcing
task work. These instructions (for the basis of which the Lieu-
tenant-Governor was indebted
to Mr. Palmer, Superintending
Engineer, Allahabad Division)
took the shape of rules, div-
ided into sections, which, as the
headings noted in the margin will
show, dealt with the management
of relief works in detail. These
rules include instructions drawn up by the Government Bacter-
iologist and Chemical Examiner, for the purification and disin-
fection of wells as a means of checking epidemics of cholera
They include also a ready reckoner for the calculation of
wages. These rules as issued have, it is believed, been adopted
in some other Provinces as the basis of the Public Works
relief organization there.
It was from the first recognised that these rules, based
as they were chiefly on experience acquired in part of one
I.—Establish-
ment.
II.—Tools and
baskets.
III. — F uuds
and supply of coin.
IV. —Drinking
water.
V. —Food.
VI. —Field hos-
pitals.
VII. —Hutting.
VIII. —Conserv-
ancy.
IX. —Organi-
zation of relief la-
bour.
X. —The task;
setting out work,
and getting it done.
XI. —Wages.
XII.—Reports
and accounts in
the field.
XIII.— Checking
work, numbers,
and payments.