during the calendar year 1904 turned out work to the value of Rs. 1,63,600. The output consists chiefly of wood and ironwork and furniture for buildings constructed by the department; wooden and iron punts and staff boats for use on the canals; repairs to steamers and other floating plant; lock gates, sluice shutters and gearings; and repairs to engine boilers and machinery belonging to the department-. The shops also undertake work for other departments, municipalities, and private persons. These are charged ten per cent, on the cost of the raw materials plus fifteen per cent, on the total cost of the work.
The District Board also has workshops of its own. These are at Cocanada, and the work done in them consists of such items as the construction of iron and wooden ferry boats and ballacuts, small iron bridges, doors and windows, office furniture and iron sheds for markets (of which latter a large number have been made), and of repairs to tools and plant, including the steam road-rollers and the two steam ferry-steamers owned by the District Board. The shops are in charge of an overseer, subject to the control of the District Board Engineer, and all the hands are temporary men on daily wages. The value of the work turned out in 1903-04 was approximately Rs. 30,000, inclusive of materials.
An important industrial undertaking exists at Samalkot in the works of the Deccan Sugar and Abkári Company, Limited, established in 1897 and at present under the management of Messrs. Parry & Co., Madras. Excellent plant and buildings have been erected about half a mile south-west of the railway station, and the capital of the company is ten lakhs. The manufacture of both refined sugar and spirit is carried on, and about 400 men are employed daily. Sugar is extracted from jaggery by the usual process, and the final residue molasses form the staple material of the distillery. Both palmyra and cane jaggery are used, the bulk of them being obtained in this and the surrounding districts. Three kinds of sugar are manufactured; namely, a white granulated, a soft, and a brown sugar, and the total output in 1903 was 8,600 tons. In the distillery two stills and a rectificator are in use, and the usual method of spirit manufacture is employed. During 1903, 198,000 gallons of proof spirit were manufactured. Arrack is supplied from the distillery to this district and Kistna, Nellore and Cuddapah, for the supply of which the company hold the contract. Two artesian wells have been recently sunk in the company's compound.1[1]
- ↑ 1 See Chapter IV, p, 90.
