The Gazetteers Department

IN 1926, THERE WERE NINE MOTOR-REPAIRING WORKS engaging 13 employees. During 1946-47, there were 16 mechanical workshops and 23 motor-repairing works which engaged 239 persons. At the time of our survey there were 31 motor body building and repairing establishments in the city. They engaged 71 persons, out of whom 27 were members of owners' families. Most of these establishments were located in C ward. Only five were situated in A and B wards.

Three establishments of different sizes were surveyed in the sample. All of them were started after 1946.

Principal work carried out in establishments in the sample was repairing of motor engines and rehauling and oiling them. The occupation provided employment throughout the year.

The mechanical equipment in these concerns consisted of grinding mills, tools, jacks, files, etc. The cost of equipment in the three workshops was Rs. 700, 550 and 200 respectively. The annual repairing or overhauling charges of equipment were about Rs. 30, 20, and 15 respectively. The total capital investment in each of the three establishments was Rs. 3,000, 8,000 and 400.

A total of 17 persons was employed in the three establishments. One was exclusively managed by male members of the owners family, the other two had eight paid employees, of whom two were children. Each was paid a monthly salary ranging from Rs. 15 to Rs. 90. A motor body builder was paid Rs. 90 and unskilled workers Rs. 15 per month, Their working hours were six to eight per day.

All the workshops were situated in rented premises, the rent of which ranged from Rs. 15 to Rs. 30 per month. One of the workshops had to pay Rs. 12 as municipal licence fee per year and was spending Rs. 50 on advertisement. The total cost of maintenance of establishment of each was Rs. 880, 203, 45 per month. Raw materials used in these concerns consisted of kerosene and crude oil, mobile oil, steel plates, timber, oil cloth, canvas, bolts, and angles, etc. One workshop consumed raw materials worth Rs. 450 per month.

Two out of the three workshops did the work of motor body building and repairing and one was doing only repairing, cleaning and oiling. Usually orders were placed at these workshops by customers and business was more or less steady throughout the year. One of the establishments in the sample was reported to be running at a loss for want of sufficient work.

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