444
If, however, it produces insanity, the children may
also be affected by it.
49 and 50. I have no personal knowledge in the
matter. But I am told that ganja and charas are
sometimes used as an aphrodisiac.
51 and 52. Ruffians and dacoits generally use
ganja to perpetrate their wicked actions.
53. A man loses his power of self-control by the
excessive use of ganja, which sometimes leads to
the commission of unpremeditated crime. I do
not know any particular case about it.
54. Yes; ganja is so used.
55. Criminals sometimes induce their victims to
partake of ganja in order to stupefy them and
further their object. A sort of extract of ganja is
also sometimes mixed with other eatable things in
order to make the victims senseless.
68. There are shops in this district licensed for
the sale of ganja. The number of these shops
should be decreased for the good of the people.
69. Never. . No measures are taken certainly.
Local public opinion should always be considered
before a shop is opened in any locality.
Oral evidence.
Question 1.—I have been 34 years a missionary.
I belong to the Baptist Missionary Society. I
have worked for 33 years in the Districts of
Jessore and Khulna. I have been member of
District Board and Road Cess Committee, Chair-
man of Municipality and an Honorary Magistrate.
My work consists chiefly in moving among the
lower classes of the people in town and country.
I was two years in England.
Question 25.—It is my general impression that
the consumption of ganja is increasing, and that
impression is formed on a speech made by the
District Magistrate at a public meeting. The
District Magistrate is a Bengali. He said that
ganja was yielding a larger revenue than alcohol,
but he did not say that the consumption was
increasing.
Question 26.—After writing my answers I
made special enquiries and found only one man who
had derived benefit from using ganja in moderation.
He was a preacher of the Baptist Mission and lived
to nearly 100 years old. He used to take one
chillum daily before going to bed. Two relatives of
this man finding they could not observe moderation
left off the habit. There were two other Native
Christians who took ganja to excess, and had to
be excluded from the congregation. I have also
known many Hindus and Muhammadans—hun-
dreds of them—who take ganja to excess. I have
met these men because my work takes me among
the classes mentioned in my written answer 20.
I have never met one moderate consumer except
the man described above. This man was my friend
for 14 or 15 years, but I never knew that he
smoked.
Question 45.—I believe Sriram Singh's prema-
ture death was due to ganja, because I see that
people who take ganja get dysentery and asthma
and die. It was not my belief alone, but that of
all Khulna, where the man was well known. One
of his relatives told me this was his belief, just
before I started for Calcutta to give evidence. No
professional man saw the case.
Jhani chaukidar came to me for medicine, but
I could do him no good, and he went elsewhere
for advice. I think his death was due to ganja,
because he is an habitual smoker.
I did not know the lunatic (case No. 3) at
Daulatpur. I saw him, and people told me that
his insanity was caused by ganja.
Jay Singh's death was, I believe, due to ganja.
His wife and relatives thought so, and I accept
their view. I have seen him smoking.
The two preachers mentioned under Case No. 5
are those to whom I referred in my answer No.
26.
I do not remember Prem Chand, nick-named
Amira. I know nothing about the case myself,
and got the information from one of my friends.
I do not think the cases of dysentery I have
given were due to hard life. Boatmen in our
district are not hard-worked. Dysentery is very
common in my district. I do not remember to
have known any other cases than those named.
These men got dysentery without any previous
illness. I have known cases of dysentery follow-
ing on fever and spleen, many of them. My con-
clusion that the cases of dysentery I have named
were caused by ganja is based on the fact that
there was no spleen or fever.
Question 51.—I was son of a zamindar, and I
remember that my father's clubmen before going
out to fight used to smoke ganja. It is a recollec-
tion of my boyhood.
I have been thinking over the matter of possible
restriction of the drug, and I have come to the
conclusion that if Government gave up its con-
nection with ganja the people would cultivate it
more in their own homes. I blame Government
because they establish new shops anywhere and
everywhere without consulting the people.
I
believe the number of shops has increased. Gov-
ernment has always the increase of the excise
revenue solely in view. What Government should
do is to increase the revenue and at the same time
reduce the consumption. If it were shown that
the number of shops in the Jessore district had
fallen in 10 years from 86 to 68, and in Khulna
during the same period from 70 to 51, I should
certainly change my view. If I learnt that the
consumption in Jessore had gone down from 60 to
51 maunds, and in Khulna had risen from 40 to
42 maunds in the same period, i.e., a net decrease
of 8 maunds in the two districts, I should be
inclined to change my views. I tried to get offi-
cial information, but failed to do so. I know the
public document called the Annual Excise Report.
I have never read it or looked at it. But I have
read about excise matters in the papers. I got a
set of the Commission's questions from the Cal-
cutta Missionary Conference and another set from
the British Indian Association. On receipt of the
first papers, I tried to get information from the
Government clerks, but they refused to divulge
official matter. I then applied to the Collector
who said he would be glad to supply me with any
information I liked, but I thought it best to write
what I knew, without getting information from
Government.