238 LABOUR IN MADRAS To the Rt. Hon. the Earl ot Selborne, President, Joint Select Committee on Draft Rules under the Government of India Act, 1919. MY LORD, I had the honour of appearing as a witness before the Joint Committee presided over by you on August 12, 1919. My evidence is recorded in the volume of Minutes of Evidence, pp. 201-208. Representing the Madras Labour Union, I drew the attention of the Committee to the necessity of enfranchising the wage-earning factory-going workers. In a statement submitted to that Committee two schemes were put forward to achieve that end. The 'Report of the Joint Select Committee re commended the enfranchisement of wage-earners in cities. The Report says: “ They also think that an attempt should be made to secure better representation of the urban wage-earning classes." (Page 7). The Government of India in their Draft Rules have endeavoured to respond to this recommendation, and the wage-earners of Bombay and Calcutta have been enfranchised to a very neagre extent. This cannot be regarded as satisfactory, and yet a beginning has been made, for which, as a friend of Indian Labour, let me record my grateful thanks to your Lordship's Committee and the Government of India. It is, however, a matter of great disappointment that the Government of India have not extended even this very limited franchise to wage-earners in other cities like Cawnpore, Ahmedabad, and Madras. Why this anomalous distinction is made between Bombay and Calcutta and other industrial centres is not clear. The recom
