72 SOCIAL SCIENTIST into rice equivalent and also into daily rates. For the second period^ data were available for daily rate for the districts. It is presumed that payments in kind were converted into money value in both the periods obviously with elements of imperfection. A similar agency worked in both the periods, but in the latter one, it was seen to be more scattered-Compilers of the former period were not happy with the quality of data as they pointed to several loopholes which are not mentioned for the period. FIGURE II DAILY WAGES OF AGRICULTURAL LABOUR C (« rif-k^) 1873^(900 «• 195(-(962 75 90 95 90 95 1900 55 60 Wages for both periods in terms of coarse rice in three districts of Bengal^ and their average are examined to show that there are cyclical fluctuations, more frequent and relatively intense in the former period-obviously due to vagaries of monsoon and consequent droughts, scarce ties or famines (Table III and figure II). Attempt has been made also to examine the growth pattern of real wages in both periods. In the former the growth rate was declining by 0.14 per cent and in the latter period by 0.82 per cent.1 Broadly, a picture of stagnation of real wages emerges from the above results. The average of the former period is 3.27 kg. and of the later period 2.88 kg. The mean value will be lower in the latter years, if wholesale prices are converted into retail prices at 15 per cent rate. We tried to examine the relationship between wages and prices of coarse rice. For the former period, correlation coefficient is 0.1127 and for the latter period 0.4756. The second period represents a greater stability in wage rates in real terms even at a lower slab. The former period is woven with a number of famines and scarcities. A lower correlation coefficient in the former period is due to an absence of demand for labour and a simultaneous rise. in prices in bad seasons. It may not be out of place to mention tha-t a study made by A V Jose partly based on unpublished data revealed that index of real wages