149
other. Each gola should have its capacity fixed
and each individual shop likewise. In sub-divi¬
sions the same arrangement, on a minor sale,
should be effected. The stringent conditions of
the license are, I know, nowhere followed, and
the Board of Revenue have seen fit to relax rules
in regard to poor natives for breach of such con¬
ditions. Some of these rules should be entirely
left out. Each gola should be taxed. The Ex¬
cise Deputy Collector should have under certain
limitations, power to disallow the renewal of the
lease of a gola. These things done, it might be
said that trade in ganja is sufficiently controlled
by authorities.
65. (a) Yes.
(b) Vide reply to question 36.
66. Yes; in proportion to their relative intoxi¬
cating value. There is no other safe test.
68. I have no knowledge of shops licensed to
sell ganja or its preparation or any of the other
drugs for consumption on the premises. But
as a matter of fact, shops holding the license to
retail ganja are used for smoking purposes.
69. Yes, in that vague, undefinable way in
which the agency of the police is capable of
being employed for such a purpose. The thana
office is asked to consult the wishes of the people.
A notice is posted up in the thana, perhaps a drum
is beat, and possibly the friends of the thana
officer are in a few cases consulted. Practically
there is no consultation. Genuine local public
opinion, such as is to be found in the villages,
is considered, even by police subordinates, to be
beneath notice.
70. Actual occurrences of smuggling are very
rare. " Smuggling " of evidence to prove smug¬
gling is, according to my experience, much more
common. A cry of smuggling once raised is
hard to quell. It affords excise subordinates op¬
portunities of securing many convictions on weak,
insufficient, and even worthless evidence. It
also enables plausible explanations being offered
to superiors, and accounts for a great many days
of touring, where no touring is actually made.
Duty is paid, and there is certainly no general
use of untaxed drugs either in the districts bor¬
dering Hill Tippera or the Orissa Tributary
States.
Oral evidence.
Question 1.—I entered the service in 1881. I
have been Sub-divisional Magistrate for nine
months; I have been Registration Officer, eleven
months; Settlement Officer, five years; Pro¬
fessor of Science, three years; and Excise Deputy
Collector for a short period. Bangaon is in the
Jessore district.
Question 46.—Bidesi Khalifa was a bearer and
also waited at table. He used to get R16 pay at
first; but I reduced his pay on account of his
habits, and when he died he was getting R10. His
age was about forty-four when he died. He was a
servant of the family for many years, but only
under my personal observation from 1886 to 1893
when he died. He was also under my observation
in 1881 and 1882. In 1881 I know he used to
smoke ganja habitually in moderate quantities.
I noticed the first symptoms of madness in 1887
or 1888. He was very mad for a few weeks and
he had to give up ganja-smoking. He was kept
under restraint and not allowed to take ganja.
When liberated from restraint he took ganja
again, and became mad in 1888, 1889, or 1890.
This time he remained mad for a fortnight. He
was boisterous for a fortnight and idiotic for some
six weeks more. He became mad a third time in
1891, and never recovered completely till his death
in 1893. In this last period he used to neglect
his food. He used to do light work as a servant.
He would serve chota hajari and absent himself
for the rest of the day. Still I kept him on and
paid his wages, Rs.10. I used to pay his wages to
his wife. He was always honest. He was not
loose in his habits. He might have drunk liquor
in his younger days. I think his caste was
Jairwara, and he had been servant in a refresh¬
ment room at Jabalpur. His father was not in
my service and I did not know him. I picked
him up in Calcutta, and I know nothing about his
antecedents, except that I was told and believed
that he had been in service at Jabalpur. I believe
he belonged to the Central Provinces. I remem¬
ber the occasion on which I first discovered him
smoking ganja. I was thrown from my horse
near the stable, and the servants' quarters were
next door to the stable and I smelt the smoking
of ganja.
Sarat Chandra Ray Chowdhri was a student
when I knew him and he used to live near me.
He was under the instruction of a tutor who also
taught in my house. He learnt the habit, I sup¬
pose, from Calcutta students. He did not pass
any examinations though be read for the matri¬
culation. He lived with his father. He used to
mix with the vulgar boys in a basti behind the
Hare School. His father used often to wig him.
He began smoking tobacco and then took to
ganja. I have found him with a chillum loaded
with ganja. His father used to bring him to me to
be chastised. He ran away from home because of
his uncle's ill-treatment. I attribute the case to
ganja, because the boy, when young, was a good
boy, and I knew he took ganja. He did not
drink. His companions did not drink, for though
they were of low caste they were poor. I never
heard of his being immoral, and we should have
heard of it if he had been. He would remain all
right in the winter months and get bad again
about March and remain bad through the rains.
He was quite beyond control and did as he pleased.
I think he smoked ganja to the same extent all
the year through. My experience is that most
people who go mad from ganja become boisterous
in the hot weather. This was true also in the
case of Dinanath Rai Chowdhry, case No. 4. The
boy become absent-minded while studying. I
noticed him becoming mad first about the end of
February 1879. He was then eighteen. I think his
absent-mindedness was noticed six or seven months
after he was detected taking ganja. It would
not be right to describe him as a boy of naturally
feeble intellect. On the contrary he was bright.
He certainly went thoroughly to the bad. But
he was not immoral. It is true he interfered with
young women, but he did not frequent houses of
ill fame.
Abbilas Chandra Banerji probably suffered both
from ganja and immorality. He was not bois¬
terous. He was enfeebled to the extent that he
was generally called mad. There was no insanity
in the mother, but I cannot answer for the father.
I have heard people say Abhilas drank, but I
knew nothing personally about it. I did see him
smoking ganja. I first saw him smoking ganja in
his own house. It is not usual to smoke before
one's neighbours or betters. I do not say that he
hid the liquor, but if he had been an habitual
drunkard I should have seen it.