229
Oral Evidence.
Question. 1.—I have been sixteen years in the
Government service in Bengal. I was first in the
police and then joined the excise, and have served
in the latter department for twelve years in Jessore,
Nadia, Khulna, Murshidabad, the 24-Parganas, and
Gaya.
Question 14.—The illicit preparation I refer to
in this answer and in 15 and 17 is that of the wild
bhang which grows abundantly in some districts.
Up to 20 tolas such preparation is not illegal, and
by illicit, therefore, I mean preparation which is
apart from excise arrangements.
Question 34.—The complaints I refer to in this
answer are diarrhœa and other bowel complaints.
If deprived of bhang these people will not find
other remedies ready to hand. Native physicians
prescribe bhang for these complaints. I have
known many people to have had bhang prescribed
for them to relieve their complaints, and to have
in that way learnt the habit of taking the drug,
and when they give it up diarrhœa immediately
sets in. I have known some eight or ten cases of
this kind, the people themselves having told me
that the drug was prescribed for them. I also
know cases in which people have taken the drug
to relieve their complaints without having had it
prescribed for them. In view of the opinion I
have now expressed regarding the difficulty of
leaving off bhang in certain cases, I wish to
change my answer 31 (b) from "No" to "Yes."
It is these consumers' statement that if they stop
taking bhang they get diarrhœa.
Question 35.—Another deleterious drug that
would be taken if hemp was rendered inaccessi-
ble is dhatura. I know of no other. I mention
dhatura because I hear that many people already
use the seeds and flower mixed with siddhi or
ganja. I have never seen it used myself.
Question 39.—It is easier to take large quanti-
ties at a time by drinking than by smoking. I
have not seen Dr. Prain's report. In comparing
smoking and drinking I am speaking of the same
drug in both cases, either bhang or ganja, and
not bhang in one case and ganja in the other.
This is a purely theoretical conclusion; I have
never made any experiments.
Question 45.—I did not make detailed enquiries;
but after I got the Commission's questions I be-
gan enquiring about insane people whom I met
near the ganja shops. I questioned the men
themselves and other frequenters of the shop.
I myself made enquiries in four or five cases. My
Sub-Inspectors also made enquiries. I believe I
have met four or five such insane persons, and the
whole paragraph of my answer is based on these
instances. All my general conclusions in this
paragraph regarding insanity are based as far as
personal experience goes, on enquiries made from
insane persons and other frequenters of ganja shops
in regard to four cases. And in regard to about
fourteen or fifteen cases I received information from
Sub-Inspectors of Excise, who said they had made
similar enquiries with like results. I think this
quite sufficient ground for forming an opinion.
This opinion is that in most cases of alleged ganja
insanity, it is due to some other cause, but in only
a few cases it is due to the excessive use of the drug.
The last paragraph of answer 45 was not revised
by any one before submission to the Commission.
It was not written after consultation with any one.
The ideas are entirely my own.
Question 59.—By the word intoxicate I should
mean making insensible. That is not my meaning
in this place. I should now prefer to use the
word exhilarate. My meaning is that, although
there is no harm in a man being exhilarated, he
should not be exhilarated at too cheap a price, and
therefore the tax should be raised. I consider
that for hard work a man needs to be exhilarated,
and that it is no harm for any one to be exhilara-
ted. The vernacular word nasha means exhilara-
tion, and matwala or matlami means drunkenness.
A drunken man is called matal.
Question 62.—There is no cultivation of the
plant as far as I know for the production of bhang.
I allude in this answer to the wild growth.
Question 64.—Zamindars and their gumastas
and naibs frequently apply that shops should be
opened in certain localities. I have had such
cases. I have had application from other people
asking for shops to be opened. The latter are
not respectable people. Zamindars apply because
they think it will make their tract flourish. It is
in the Sunderbuns especially that the zamindars
file such applications. They find that people will
not come and live on these marshy tracts without
the drugs, and the people are addicted to ganja
and liquor and other intoxicants. We grant the
application if we find that there is no shop in the
locality. I do not remember how many have
been granted in the last three years, but two or
three may have been granted for ganja and many
for liquor. The enquiry is made when the petition
is presented, and it is only if it is decided to open
a shop that a settlement is made. The subject of
the enquiry is to see if the neighbouring shops will
be affected by the new shops. In cases of liquor
shops, enquiry is made to see if the local inhabit-
ants object to the opening of the shop or its site.
Such enquiry is not made in regard to ganja,
because the ganja shop is not a nuisance, and for
my part I think it is unnecessary.
(Two days later witness appeared and said:—)
I have searched the records of the last three
years, and have been able to trace only three
petitions for the opening of shops submitted by
private persons, and none from zamindars. Two
were rejected and one is under inquiry. I do not
include in this applications of would-be licensees to
open shops. There are five petitions on the
register for these years which I could not trace,
and cannot therefore tell what they were, i.e.,
whether they were from would-be vendors or not.
I remember that there were two cases of zamindars
who applied to the Excise Deputy Collector for
shops last year (1892-93), viz. (1) Bholanath
Banerjee, and (2) the agent of Khundu Babu of
Ghat Kula. I do not know precisely how they
applied, whether orally or in writing. No shop
was granted, and no papers are forthcoming in
their cases.