the Economic Products of India.
85
and Revenue derived therefrom.
PAPAVER
somniferum.
from Málwa by Chiefs, and vendors permitted on payment of duty to sup
- p l y t h e m s e l v e s d i r e c t l y w i t h o p i u m f o r r e t a i l d i s t r i b u t i o n .
The licit sales of the year under review exceeded those of the preced
- i n g y e a r b y 9 , 6 6 4 l b . T h e i n c r e a s e w a s n o t i c e a b l e i n t h e d i s t r i c t s o f K a i r a ,
Broach, and Khandesh, while there was a considerable decrease in the
district of Ahmedabad. In the Native States of the Presidency the licit
sales amounted to 154,555lb, of which 62,844lb were sold in the dominions
of t he Gáekwár of Baroda, 10, 880l b i n Cut ch, 46, 863l b i n Kát hi áwar, and
31,375lb in other States in Gujarat. The opium required by Native Chiefs
in the Konkan, Deccan, and the Southern Maratha Country amounted to
2,593lb and was obtained by the Chiefs from the nearest British depôt or
from the Collector of Customs, Bombay.
The total pass-fee realisations from opium amounted to R1,87,35,185, of
which R12,61,260, representing duty on excised opium bought for home
consumption on account of Government by British licensed vendors and
by Native Chiefs in the Bombay and Madras Presidencies, were transferred
to the account head of Excise, leaving R1,74,73,925 to the credit of
Imperial revenues. Adding to the latter sum the fees levied on account of
the transhipment of opium chests in the Bombay Harbour and miscella
-neous receipts, the total receipts for the year credited to imperial revenues
amounted to R1,75,01,507 or R20,09,559 less than in the previous year.
The decrease was wholly due to smaller imports into Bombay of opium
from Málwa for export to China. The total excise realisations from opium
allowing for refunds of duty to Native States were R11,68,269 against
R12,13,858 in the previous year. They included the pass-fee on opium
consumed in British territory, two-thirds of the pass-duty on opium
consumed in Kathiáwar and Cutch, nine-tenths of the pass duty on opium
consumed in the Sátára Jághirs, and four-fifths of the pass-duty supplied
to other Naive Chiefs except those in Rewa Kántha, Mahi Kántha,
Pálanpur, and Cambay. The last-mentioned States are entitled to receive
opium free of duty. In Baroda consumption was confined to the opium
grown in the State and no duty was paid to Government.
The expenditure on account of a portion of the opium establishment
employed in Bombay and that employed at the Ahmedabad opium
agency, which is debited to Imperial services under the head Opium,'
amounted to R25,233 against R25,021 in the previous year. The provin-
cial expenditure of the Opium Department is included in that of the Abkári
Department and cannot be accurately distinguished, but may be estimated
approximately at R30,000."
TRADE IN OPIUM.
In the chapter on HISTORY above, some of the leading ideas regarding
the early opium trade have already been dealt with. In the succeeding
chapters on CULTIVATION and FISCAL ADMINISTRATION, additional facts
have been brought out, as to area and yield, manufacture, purchase of the
drug, and the system under which it is sold to the highest bidder. Very
little remains, therefore, to be discussed in this place. The table at page
40 shows the number of chests of Provision Opium manufactured at the
Government Agencies since 1860, and the table at page 41 shows the num
-ber of maunds of opium produced at the Patna (Behar) Agency during the
p a s t f i v e y e a r s , w h i l e t h e t a b l e a t p a g e 4 2 g i v e s t h e s a m e i n f o r m a t i o n f o
the Benares Agency. As exhibiting certain facts of historic interest, the
following brief account of opium may be taken from Milburn's Oriental
Commerce (published in 1825, pp. 294-295). It shows the constancy of
the policy pursued in the traffic, and also gives certain figures of early
transactions:—"The monopoly in the trade of opium, or the cultivation
ADMINISTRA- TION.
Revenue.
Malwa.
Pass Fees.
Conf. with
remarks on
Revenue,
p. 81.
TRADE.