187
Then, I think, a provision should be made in
the existing law, creating a legal presumption, to
be held conclusive until the contrary is proved,
that bhang plants found growing on land in the
possession of a person have been grown and culti-
vated by him.
Such a provision in the law will be sure to in-
duce people to extirpate wild bhang wherever found
growing. To prevent hardship the operation of
this provision may be brought into effect, say a
year after it becomes law.
When by these means wild bhang will be ex-
tirpated, it will be easy for Government to bring
the cultivation of bhang under such control as
is now exercised with regard to the cultivation of
ganja.
63. I have already indicated these in answers to
questions 59 and 62. The improvements are to
be effected not so much in the system, but in its
working.
64. I have already stated that duty should be
levied in the producing districts instead of in the
selling districts.
65. I have dealt with this question at length in
my answer to question 59.
66. The three different varieties of ganja must
necessarily bear different rates of duty in propor-
tion to the quantity of useless wood that each
variety contains. The effect of imposing the same
duty on all the three varieties will be to altogether
drive out of the market the flat and the round
varieties.
It is not, however, easy to say what proportion
the three rates should bear to each other. The
rates in 1892-93 were R5-6-4 and R7. From
the current year the rates have been fixed at R6,
R7-4, and R8. The effect of this change has
been in this district to create a strong demand for
chur ganja. It shows that it has now become
more profitable to sell chur than flat or round
ganja.
The three varieties of ganja that are ordina-
rily sold here have been carefully examined by
me with reference to the woody substance that
each variety contains. If chur ganja be taxed
at R8, the round ought to be taxed at R7-8
and the flat at R6. These rates are practically
the same as are now in force. Though these rates
have stimulated an increased demand for the chur
ganja, still, I think, the change is one for the
better; for in the sale of the flat ganja much
room exists for the commission of fraud from the
large quantity of useless wood it contains.
It may not be out of place to note that it
would be a distinct advantage if the ganja pro-
ducers at Rajshahi were induced to prepare only
one kind of ganja, the round variety. The frauds
that are now committed can then be entirely re-
moved.
67. None.
68. No prohibition to this effect exists under
the existing rules in Bengal. I do not think any
considerable number of the consumers consume
their drug on the premises of the vendor. There
is nothing like ganja or bhang dens existing in
this province.
69. I do not think this is ever done. What
is done is that the officials in their tours and in
the course of their inspections enquire from the
people if they object to any site where a shop has
already been established. If the people have any
objection to make, it is duly considered. Expe-
rience, however, shows that a shop already opened
in an objectionable place is difficult to be removed
elsewhere. On this account I think local opinion
ought to be consulted before the opening of the
shop.
70. I have no experience of districts bordering
on Native States.
Oral evidence.
Question 1. —I have been nearly four years a
Deputy Collector. That is my whole service under
Government, and it has been passed principally in
Malda and a short time in Dacca. My age is
twenty-eight.
Question 6.—The bhang jungle I have described
is found near villages not at a distance from habita-
tions. The largest patch I have seen measured 2 or
3 bighas. I have seen such a patch in the Malda
district at a village called Makrampur. This was
not cultivation, but spontaneous growth in un-
cultivated land adjoining the basti. The plants
were two feet high. I have never seen the plant
in such quantity in the flowering condition. I did
not report this growth. There was then an Excise
Commissioner's order to destroy wild bhang. I
instructed the villagers to destroy the growth, but
I don't know if that was done. I have not seen
such a large quantity growing anywhere else.
Elsewhere I have only seen it in small plots. I
did not examine the plot I have described to see if
other plants were growing with the bhang, but
there probably were. I do not think I have ever
stated the area. I inspected the growth generally
from one or two directions without going into it.
Question 29.—My statement that dhatura
smoking often leads to insanity is based on the
general belief that dhatura is a very powerful
drug. I have known one case of an insane who
used to take dhatura, but I cannot say if the in-
sanity and the drug were related as cause and
effect.
Question 42.—My view that ganja is the most
injurious form of intoxicant used by any people on
earth is based on the official opinions I have
quoted, which are confirmed by my own experience.
I have seen people who smoke ganja in my travels
in the districts, and I have always found it did
them harm. But I have not made special enqui-
ries into any particular case. My general observa-
tion is that ganja smokers are haggard, afflicted
with asthma and bronchitis, and generally of evil
repute. I cannot pick out a ganja smoker from
his appearance. I cannot distinguish between a
ganja smoker and a drinker of liquor. In the
above statement of effects I am speaking of people
whom I know personally. There must be one
hundred of them, and I could name many. Most
of them are excessive smokers, but there are also
moderate smokers among them who have the
diseases I have described. I cannot tell whether
these diseases are more or less common here than
elsewhere, but there are many who suffer from
them without being ganja smokers. Some of the
hundred, as many as half, are people whom I have
seen frequently, residents of my own and adjoining
villages, and places I visit frequently. I left my
home two years ago. I cannot say that ganja and
these diseases were related as cause and effect in
any particular case, but the fact that the two are
frequently found together leads one to entertain
that belief.
I should say generally that ganja is more harm-
ful than spirit. Spirit drinking, if kept within
moderation, does not do any harm, whereas ganja
does, even taken moderately. I have seen injury