529
EVIDENCE OF ASSAM WITNESSES.
1. Evidence of MR. G. GODFREY, Commissioner, Assam Valley Districts.
1. I have had no special opportunities of obtain-
ing information on the subject; all I say is based
upon recollection in my experience as a district
officer.
3. In all the districts of the Assam Valley. It
is not specially abundant in any district as far as
I know; it seems to thrive in places where there
are homesteads or where there have been home-
steads.
4. The Assamese call it "bhang;" it is the wild
ganja plant, I believe.
5. It seems to grow anywhere. I have seen it
growing abundantly in Orissa and parts of
Bengal.
6. In dense patches.
7. It is surreptitiously cultivated for production
of ganja, chiefly, I think, by tea garden coolies,
all over the Assam Valley; but this sort of culti-
vation is of course kept in check by the district
officers, and people who are found so cultivating
are prosecuted under the Excise Act; so there is
no considerable area under this sort of cultivation.
9. I think the plant springs up of itself, some-
times perhaps from the seed of the cultivated
Rajshahi ganja, which is consumed in the prov-
ince. It is then tended by being kept weeded;
beyond that there is no care, I think, taken of the
plant.
10. Chiefly imported coolies from Bengal or
immigrants from that province.
12. What I have said above refers to the so-
called wild hemp.
13. It is not allowed at all.
14. No; (a) is prepared—if it can be called
preparation—by merely drying the plant in the
sun, but the extent to which this business is
carried is exceedingly small.
15. As far as I know, ganja is only smoked in
the province. I have no knowledge of (B) and (C).
16. Ganja I think can; but it is of a kind far
inferior to the cultivated ganja in its narcotic pro-
perties.
18. If kept in a dry place, I think they keep
their flavour well for at least a year.
19. Ganja as far as I know is used only for
smoking.
20. The immigrant Musalmans from lower
Bengal are addicted to ganja-smoking; they form
a very small proportion of the population. I
cannot give exact proportion.
21. Flat I think.
25. I have not got the reports of the Excise
Department with me, so I cannot say. Probably
with the increase of the immigrant population the
consumption of ganja is on the increase.
30. Generally in company the chillum is passed
round, as the huka is in the case of tobacco-
smoking.
33. It is not in disrepute as far as I know.
34. Yes, it would be like depriving a poor man
of his beer or his tobacco.
35. (a) No.
(b) Yes, I think so.
(d) Yes.
(e) No.
(f) Yes, to excessive tobacco smoking or to
consumption of opium.
36. No, except perhaps among the superior
classes of Bengalis who can afford to buy spirits
in place of ganja.
40. Yes; I believe ganja is used as a medicine
for cattle; this is the plea sometimes put forward
when persons are prosecuted for cultivating the
wild ganja plant.
41. I am not aware that it has any beneficial
effect; it produces a sort of content like tobacco
does if used in moderation.
43. Yes, I think so certainly.
44. I have not had time to make inquiries on
these points.
46. The excessive use of ganja has most per-
nicious effects, and it must be remembered that
what is a moderate quantity for one person may
be an altogether excessive quantity for another.
It leads to insanity, temporary and permanent;
but I have made no special study of the subject.
53. No.
58. I think it works well.
62. It is absolutely prohibited.
63. No.
64. The system seems to work fairly well.
65. Yes.
66. Yes, they are taxed according to the quan-
tity of the consumable article contained in a given
weight of the product, i.e., one kind has more
stalk, etc., than another; the flowers, again, are
more abundant in one kind than in another.
67. No.
69. No, I believe not. No, I see no occasion
for consulting local opinion in the matter; the
consumption of the drug is not very extensive.
Oral evidence.
Question 1.—I came to India in October 1873
and served in Bengal till January 1875, from
1875 to 1879 in Assam, and from 1879 to 1883
chiefly in Orissa; since November 1883 in Assam.
4 A