532
insanity is much exaggerated, and is a good deal
due to the fact that the police in the case of a
lunatic have to fill up a form and state the supposed
cause of insanity and they give the popular
reason—use of ganja.
46. I must leave this for a medical expert.
47, 48, 49 and 50. No information.
51. No, I cannot connect crime with the moder-
ate use of the drug. In the Assam Valley we
have no habitual or professional criminals. In the
Surma Valley there are river dacoits, but I can-
not say that the fact of their being river dacoits
is in any way connected with the use of ganja by
the people of Sylhet and Cachar. The conditions
of Sylhet are similar to the conditions of the
neighbouring Bengal districts, and probably more
useful and reliable information could be furnished
from that province.
52. I do not think that ganja is used to excess
to any extent. I have known it said that
murders have been committed when the murder-
ers were intoxicated with ganja, but in most
cases there was little or no foundation for the
statements.
53. Amongst garden coolies, when a man mur-
ders his wife, the imputation is that he was intoxi-
cated with ganja, but my experience is that ganja
is not responsible. The murderer probably was
a consumer, but I never knew that the ganja had
led to the murder or was the cause of it in any way.
54. I don't think so. At any rate I cannot
give a single instance.
55. Not in this province.
56. I have no information. I have never
known dhatura used with ganja.
57. Ganja is smoked, very rarely drunk. I
don't know of its being eaten.
58. I consider the present system as good as
any that could be devised. The object is to make
ganja as expensive as possible up to a certain limit
and not to afford too great facilities to people
to obtain it, and to reduce and restrict consumption,
and this is obtained under our present system.
60. Not produced in the province; we import
from Bengal.
61. Not produced.
62. None in the province.
63 and 64. None.
65. I can suggest nothing.
66. The different kinds of ganja yield different
quantities of the drug, and so I think different
rates fair; but more reliable information could be
obtained in the producing districts.
67. None.
68. There are shops for the sale of ganja, but
as a rule the ganja is carried home and used. I
see no objection to these shops.
69. As far as possible we consider the wishes
of the people. As a rule we only open new shops
when a demand has arisen for ganja and indicated
by application by the people. I would not go
beyond this.
70. In order to a correct understanding of our
difficulties in connection with the excise on ganja,
it is advisable to realize our position in regard to
the hill tracts round and within the province, and
to consider the system of administration in those
tracts, and how far we are in a position to exercise
any control over their inhabitants. All these hill
tracts produce ganja, which is smuggled into the
plains, so that, irrespective of excise ganja, we
have in Assam to deal with the so-called wild
ganja, which grows luxuriantly in the plains
districts, and the hill ganja, which is surrepti-
tiously imported.
Assam is divided into three distinct portions:
the Northern or Brahmaputra Valley, the South-
ern or Surma Valley, and the Hill districts—the
Garo Hills, the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, and the
Naga Hills—which comprise the range of moun-
tainous country running east and west and form-
ing the watershed between the two valleys.
I will first take the Brahmaputra Valley,
which consists of the districts of Goalpara (on both
banks of the Brahmaputra River), Kamrup (also
on both banks), Darrang (on the north bank),
Nowgong (on the south bank), Sibsagar (also on
the south bank), and Lakhimpur (on both banks).
I will begin with the hills on the south side, on
the borders of the Goalpara district. We first
come to the Garo Hills. This tract of country
was formed into a Deputy Commissionership in
1866, and is administered under special rules.
Though we have excise shops in Tura, the head-
quarters of the district, we interfere as little as
possible in excise matters with the people and
have no excise shops in the interior. Proceeding
east we come to the Khasi Hills. Here we only
possess a few small villages, ceded to us under
special circumstances. These include the tracts
of land on which the stations of Shillong and
Cherrapunji are built. The greater part of the
hills consists of the territories of Native Chiefs in
subsidiary alliance with the British Government.
The people govern themselves through their
elected rulers. They pay no revenue to the British
Government, but we, on behalf of the Chiefs,
manage their mines and forests on condition of
recovering half the profits from these sources.
Petty crimes are dealt with by the Chiefs and
only homicide and a few other heinous offences
are referred to the Deputy Commissioner. In
these hills, outside the station of Shillong, which
is inhabited by foreigners, we have no excise
system and no control over the people in excise
matters. They distil their own spirits. To a
certain extent the Deputy Commissioner's in-
fluence enables us to check the importation of
excisable articles into the plains, at any rate
openly. Next to the Khasi Hills we come to the
Jaintia Hills. Here the Deputy Commissioner
has more control over the people. The Syntengs
(the people of Jaintia) make their own spirits, and
ganja grows in their hills. To the east of the
Jaintia Hills are the Mikir Hills and the Naga
Hills. The various Naga tribes extend south-
wards up to the great Patkoi Mountains and
eastwards to the Noa Dehing River—a portion of
the Naga Hills forms the district, which is known
by that name. This tract is administered by a
Deputy Commissioner under special rules, but we
do not interfere with the people in excise matters.
They make their own spirits and their "zu" (rice
beer). We have shops in the station of Kohima,
maintained for foreigners, and we discourage the
Nagas from frequenting them. The remainder
of the Naga tribes are practically independent.
They are supposed to be British subjects, but it
has not been found expedient to extend to them
our laws and regulations; a small tract of Naga