111
improvement and some improvement may be sug¬
gested.
59. The following are some of the suggestions
indicating the direction in which improvement is
possible:—
1. To strengthen the present staff of officers
and men engaged in the supervision
and control of the cultivation of
ganja.
2. To reduce the quantity of ganja which
a person is allowed to possess from
twenty to five tolas. This will minimise
smuggling, and at the same time will
act as prohibition to the consumer
who has a tendency to go to excess.
3. To provide for punishment for possession
of ganja of any quantity for which
duty has not been paid. This will
check consumption of ganja on which
duty has not been paid, and at the
same time will benefit the revenue.
4. To authorise all the excise officers, spe¬
cially those employed for the super¬
vision of cultivation, to make search
for ganja without the assistance of
police, as they are, under the present
law, required. This will check illicit
cultivation and thus tend to decrease
the consumption,
5. To weigh ganja manufactured by the
cultivators of Naogaon and not to
depend upon the guess weight which
must necessarily be incorrect. This
is necessary both from administrative
and moral point of view. Ganja
passing out from the hands of culti¬
vator without payment of duty must
necessarily be cheaper. Therefore it will
increase consumption.
6. To store ganja in public warehouses. At
present ganja is stored in the house
of the cultivator, who can smuggle a
portion of it without being detected.
7. To provide punishment for taking away
ganja plants from the field by other
persons than the cultivators.
8. To provide the Subdivisional Magistrate
of Naogaon to exercise criminal juris-
diction in all ganja cases arising
within the ganja tract, which at pre¬
sent is locally situated in the districts
of Bogra and Dinajpur where the ganja
cases are now tried.
9. To reduce by half the rate of duty on
different sorts of ganja in the ganja-
producing districts, Rajshahi, Bogra
and Dinajpur. On general principle,
the price of an article should be
cheaper at the place where it is pro¬
duced. On this pinciple the duty of
opium is nearly half of what it is in
most other districts of Bengal. This
will tend to entirely check or eradi¬
cate the petty smuggling which at
present exists and which it is impos¬
sible to check under the present law
and rules.
10. To increase the duty of all sorts of ganja,
specially chur. In my opinion we
have not raised the duty to such an
amount where we should stop, so that
overtaxing might not induce illicit
cultivation. Chur ganja, it is admit¬
ted, even at present, pays less duty in
proportion. Proposal for its increase
has been submitted and it is anticipated
that the increase will be sanctioned.
11. There should be only one sort of ganja
manufactured. I would propose to
turn all ganja into chur, to pack it in
uniform bundles and distribute like
opium to all the treasuries and suo-
treasuries of Bengal for sale.
12. To buy up the whole produce from the
cultivator as soon as it is manufactured,
and to distribute it to the several dis¬
tricts according to their requirements,
keeping a reserve stock at Naogaon.
60. The cultivation of Naogaon ganja and its
manufacture are sufficiently controlled. I would,
however, recommend the appointment of two addi¬
tional supervisors during the manufacturing season
with a staff of peons.
61. I have no experience.
62. I am not aware that the cultivation of
hemp plants for production of bhang is controlled
in any way. No control, I think, is feasible,
since these plants grow wild all over the country.
63. The present system of wholesale and retail
sale of ganja, charas and bhang is the best. No
one would have any objection to it.
64. There would be no objection to the existing
regulations governing the export and import of
ganja.
65. In my opinion the taxation of ganja,
charas and bhang is reasonable with reference to
each other, but not quite reasonable with
reference to alcoholic or other intoxicants. I have
already proposed the increase of taxation of ganja
in my reply to question No. 59. Four pice worth
of liquor or tari could not make any impression in
the consumer, but a pice worth of ganja is suffi¬
cient to intoxicate a habitual smoker and sure to
kill a man who never smoked before. Charas is
very little consumed, and any increase in duty on
this article will not matter much. Bhang, as I
have said before, is grown wild all over the country
and could be had for collecting. Bhang pays
a very small duty of eight annas per seer. If the
taxation is raised, the consumer would not come
to our shop but would collect it from the wild
plants. Had it been possible to eradicate the
wild growth of bhang, I would have recommended
an increase in the taxation of this article.
66. In my opinion it is necessary that different
rates of taxation should be for different kinds of
ganja, flat, round and chur. In Bengal, ganja is
only grown in Naogaon. In Gurjat in Orissa
some sort of so-called ganja is collected from wild
plants. Each kind of ganja should be taxed in
proportion to the narcotic matter that each is
supposed to contain. On this principle, the
present rate of taxation was fixed.
67. Excepting the remarks made by me in the
foregoing replies, I have no objection to the
present method of taxing.
68. There is no objection to the consumers
smoking ganja in the licensed shop. But ordi¬
narily the smokers take away the ganja from the
shop and smoke in their own houses. The shops
are by no means disreputable.
69. Ordinarily the wishes of the people are not
consulted or considered when a shop is opened in
any locality. I don't think it is necessary to