Abstract

It was at the first Economic Conference held in Bombay, Dr. Mann read a paper on a similar subject in which he endeavoured to show that the agricultural labourer in this country is not as bad as he is depicted to be by several writers on Indian labour problems, and from certain experiments conducted, he argued that "the ploughman in America using his horses, is 50% more efficient than the ploughman here using bullocks." It is not my intention to question the figures quoted by Dr. Mann, nor to argue in favour of or against the efficiency of the Indian labourer. Efficiency is, after all, only a relative term, and what is considered as a piece of efficient work in America may not be judged equally efficient in Britain compared with its own standards or vice versa. My object is, taking the labourer in India for what he is worth, to elicit from those more conversant with this important problem, any information on the methods of making labour still more efficient, if it is already so. Personally I am of opinion that there is room for im- provement.

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