MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS

READY-MADE CLOTHES MAKING.

Besides these tailoring shops there were shops for keeping ready-made clothes in the city. Their number was 45 at the time of survey. Of these shops C ward contained 14, B ward nine, A and D wards eight each and E ward six. Six shops of different sizes were taken in the sample. All the shops except one in the sample were started after 1944. The principal occupation in these shops was tailoring. The initial capital was raised by proprietors from their own resources.

The equipment in these shops was sewing machines, pairs of scissors, and other material required for sewing, and cupboards and chairs. One shop had four sewing machines, the other had three and other two had two each and the last two had five each. Four shops had five pairs of scissors each and two had two each. The maximum number of cupboards one shop had, was 13 while the smallest shop had only one: The yearly repairing and overhauling charges of each shop varied from Rs. 20 to Rs. 80.

All the shops in the sample were situated in rented premises. The rent of each varied from Rs. 50 to Rs. 110. Other expenses on maintenance of establishments were electricity and municipal licence fee. The total electric bill per month of each establishment was between Rs. 6 and Rs. 20. Two establishments were paying Rs. 3 each as municipal licence fee per year; one was paying Rs. 55 as municipal tax.

Raw materials required were cloth of medium and coarse variety, thread and canvas. The consumption of cloth of both varieties in each shop varied from 500 to 3,000 yards per month.

The total employment in these shops was 36. Of these, 23 were paid employees. The wages of a tailor varied from shop to shop the minimum being Rs. 35 per month and the maximum Rs. 75. Three shops employed four salesmen. The wages paid to them varied from Rs. 30 to Rs. 40 per month. The total monthly wage bill of each establishment varied from Rs. 35 to Rs. 300.

Half-pants, shirts, coats, trousers, pyjamas and baby-frocks were made in these shops. The monthly production of all these ready-made garments of each shop varied between 650 to 2,000 pieces. These ready-made cotton garments were mostly sold to retail dealers in the local market. Usually marriage season was the brisk season in this business.

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