70
61. Charas not in use in Orissa.
62. Hemp is not grown in Orissa. I would
not consider the restriction of its cultivation for
the production of bhang in the Tributary States
at present necessary, except that if the Rajas took
its cultivation under State supervision, it would
lead to less smuggling into British territory.
63. A law might be passed rendering the sale
of any hemp drug to persons under a specified age
penal; but, as stated before, the drugs are not much
consumed by the young.
64. The present regulations for the importation
of Rajshahi ganja are adequate, but the bales
should be more securely packed and in stronger
gunny to prevent any removal on the way. The
rule for the importation of Gurjat ganja is that
not less than eight maunds be imported at a time.
This might be somewhat reduced to five maunds
as importers are not always ready to buy eight
maunds, and in this way the sale of Gurjat ganja
would be encouraged, as compared with Rajshahi;
and, as it is stated to be less harmful, this would
be an advantage.
65. Ganja is for its price much more intoxicat-
ing than alcoholic liquor, and hence is the intoxi¬
cant of the poor. To make liquor so cheap that
it would be able to take the place of ganja or
siddhi in this respect would not be, in my opinion,
desirable.
66. The present proportion between the rates
appears good, as by them the more intoxicating
form of the drug is the more highly taxed.
67 and 68. No.
69. Yes.
70. There is smuggling from the Tributary
States on the borders of Orissa into the districts
of Orissa. The only way to prevent this is to
have a strong preventive or detective force. In
the two districts of Orissa, with which I am
acquainted, viz., Puri and Cuttack, such cases
have been much better detected in recent years
owing to the inducement given to the police and
others to detect them, by the liberal distribution
of rewards on conviction.
28. Evidence of MR. H. R. H. COXE, Offg. Magistrate and Collector of Puri.
Oral evidence.
I have been over nine years in the service. I
have been Collector of Puri only since the begin¬
ning of last December. I have been on tour for
two months, about a fortnight of which was spent
in Gurjat States, and the rest in the interior of
this district. I was, while in the States, occupied
specially with work connected with a recent rising
and had no opportunity to investigate questions of
general information. The only way in which
ganja came to my notice then was that in the
Rampur State, where I had grievances to investi¬
gate, one of the grievances alleged was that the
Raja levied taxation on ganja. The people put up
their grievances at great length, and mentioned
everything that they possibly could against the
administration. In respect to ganja they stated
that they should have perfectly free trade in ganja
and no taxation. My belief is that this was not a
grievance that affected the people generally at all
and that there was little of weight in it. But it
was mentioned. The Raja taxes the vend; but I
am not certain whether he interferes with cultiva¬
tion. In comparison with other matters contained
in the representation of the raiyats this was quite
unimportant. I made no inquiries as to the ex¬
tent of cultivation nor as to the traffic in the
drug.
I think there is no part of the district in which
ganja is not used. By "used" I mean smoked.
Ganja is generally smoked, though it is also occa¬
sionally drunk. My impression is that the use of
the drug is common all over the district. At the
same time I think it is commoner along the roads.
That is, I think, it is commoner with pilgrims
than among the real inhabitants of the district.
My impression is that Gurjat ganja is at least as
popular as the Rajshahi ganja, perhaps more so.
This impression is not based on careful inquiry,
but it is based on what I have heard here as to the
popular view of the drug throughout the district.
Besides the Gurjat ganja is cheaper than the other.
Yet it is of the Rajshahi that the most is issued.
Thus, taking the last quarter's returns, we find
that the issues of Rajshahi ganja amounted to 17
maunds and 32 seers and of Gurjat 6 maunds 13
seers. The consumption of licit Gurjat ganja has
been steadily rising for the last three years as com¬
pared with the consumption of Rajshahi. But still
it falls very far short. This leads me to have a
strong impression that there has been much
smuggling of Gurjat ganja. It is popular, yet it
is not issued from the legal sources of supply, and
the fact that the legitimate consumption is rising
so rapidly would seem to show that the people
have long used it, but that we are now only begin¬
ning to get the consumption of it under our control.
This seems a logical conclusion.
I have before me also the settlement of the
shops for next year. There are forty-three shops.
Of this, only fourteen shops have taken Gurjat
ganja at all during the current year. Of these,
all but one or two are in the Sudder sub-divi¬
sion. The Khorda Sub-division has two thanas,
viz., Khorda and Bhanpur. Half of Khorda is
surrounded by Native States, and Bhanpur is
quite imbedded in the Native States. At the
head-quarters of Khorda there is one shop, which
takes on an average one seer and three chit-
tacks a month. No other shop does. In Bhan¬
pur there is only one shop, which takes two chit-
tacks. All the rest of the Gurjat ganja goes to
the Sudder sub-division. Most of it goes to Puri
town and the shops on the high road. But the
interior shops of the Sudder sub-division also take
it. My conclusion is that the Khorda sub-division
gets a very large portion of its supply by smuggl¬
ing. It is obviously natural that the Khorda
people would prefer Gurjat ganja, being of the
same race as a large portion of the people of the
Native States and being accustomed to it. The
figures seem, to bear this out. The average issues
per mensem are:—
M. S. C.
Gurjat
Khorda
0 1 5
Gurjat
Sudder
1 28 1
Rajshahi
Khorda
0 27 1
Rajshahi
Sudder
6 4 8
I am convinced that the total of twenty-eight
seers cannot represent anything like the monthly
consumption in Khorda.