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MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS
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BICYCLE REPAIRING.
IN 1926, THERE WERE 14 SHOPS OF CYCLE DEALERS [Ibid., pages 5, 29 and 35.] and repairers
in the town. total of 16 persons were employed in them. In 1947, the total number of bicycle shops in city was 134. [N. V. Sovani, Op. cit., p. 182.]
There were 325 bicycle-repairing and hiring shops in the citv at the time of survey. A majority of these shops was located in C ward. 35 shops were located in A ward, 24 in B ward, 175 in C ward, 31 in D ward and 44 in E ward. The total employment in all these shops was 590, out of whom 329 persons including four children were members of employers' families, and 261 were paid employees. Six establishments of different sizes were selected for survey. Of the six shops, one was started in 1918, the other in 1940, the third and fourth in 1953 and 1954 and the last two in 1955. Bicycle-repairing. hiring and sale of spare parts of bicycle was the principal occupation in five shops and in addition to this the sixth shop had an agency of sale of bicvcle. Out of the six shops, initial capital resources in the case of four were contributed by the proprietors themselves, while two establishments borrowed the necessary capital. The debt incurred by these two was not fully repaid even till 1956.
Equipment of these establishments was drilling machines, spanners and other machine tools required for repairing and a few pieces of furniture like tables, chairs, cup-boards.
The total cost of equipment of the biggest establishment in the sample was about Rs. 500 and of the remaining five between Rs. 200 and Rs. 300 each. The life of each different item in the equipment varied between ten years and 30 years. The repairing and overhauling charges on equipment varied from shop to shop. Two shops spent every year Rs, 100 each on repairing while others spent between Rs. 25 and Rs. 50.
The circulating capital invested in these shops varied from shop to shop. A sum of Rs. 50,000 was invested in the biggest establishment, Rs. 20,000 each in two establishments, Rs. 4,000, Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 1,000 respectively in the others.
Five of the six establishments were situated in rented premises. The rent of each varied between Rs. 15 and Rs. 60 per month. The remaining one was situated in owned premises. Besides rent, other items of expenditure on maintenance of establishments were water charges, electric charges, advertisement and municipal tax. The total cost of maintenance of one establishment including water and electric charges, municipal licence fee and municipal tax, excluding rent, and wages of labour was about Rs. 300 and of three Rs. 100
each per year. Two establishments had no expenditure on these items.
As the establishments in the sample were neither engaged in manufacturing bicycles nor in producing spare parts of bicycles, consumption of raw materials by them was out of question. They were more or less concerned with the purchases of bicycles and spare parts of bicycles.
The total employment in all the six establishments was 21 persons out of whom ten were members of employers' families and 11 paid employees. A bicycle-repairer was paid between Rs. 45 and Rs. 60 per month and a cleaner between Rs. 15 and Rs. 40 per month. The total wage bill excluding the wages of members of employers' families of one establishment was Rs. 120; of the other Rs. 90; of the third, fourth and fifth Rs. 60 each; and of the last Rs. 35 per month. The working time observed in these shops was eight to ten hours a day.
The total cost of maintenance of these establishments including all items, rent, wages, taxes and electricity varied between Rs. 60 and Rs. 210 per month and the net income of them varied between Rs. 110 and Rs. 800 per month. Out of the six establishments, the margin of profit in the three was quite high and in the other three it was quite low due to lack of sufficient business. These establishments catered local needs and business in them was brisk between October and May.
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