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52. Yes, ganja makes a man irritable and head-
strong, and leads the excessive smoker to any sort
of rash doing.
53. Yes, excessive indulgence in ganja incites
a man to unpremeditated crime, the effects of
rashness and violence of temper caused by smok-
ing it.
54. No. This might be said of liquor.
55. (a) No. (b) No.
56. Nil.
57. Unheard of.
58. Working well, but requires the supervising
staff to be a little more strengthened.
59 and 60. Ganja is cultivated only in the dis-
trict of Rajshahi, chiefly in the Naogaon sub-
division.
The chief local administration of the ganja
mahal now rests in the hands of the Subdivisional
Officer of Naogaon in addition to his other duties.
There should be a Special Excise Deputy Col-
lector for the ganja mahal, who will be able to
devote his undivided attention to the manage-
ment of the ganja mahal.
The supervising agency is very weak, having
only a supervisor of the rank of a Sub-Deputy
Collector, with one assistant of the rank of a
Kanungo. They cannot properly keep up strict
supervision over the cultivators, etc., owing to the
extensive field of the work and the multifarious
nature of the duties they have to attend. They
are, therefore, compelled to entrust some of their
subordinates with many responsible duties, such
as weighment of ganja during storage and ex-
portation. This is quite objectionable, and subor-
dinates being not above temptation, the weigh-
ment of ganja when taken, during storage, at the
gola in the importing districts, is invariably
found to disagree considerably with the quantity
noted on the pass from the exporting district,
giving every allowance for dryage on transit.
There must necessarily be something rotten at the
bottom. To obviate this, some responsible officers
must actually remain present during weighment,
whether for storage or for exportation. So the
staff of the supervising responsible officers must
be strengthened—at least doubled.
61. The luxury of indulging in charas must
totally be abolished, as being quite unnecessary.
62. Bhang is never seriously considered by the
people to be an intoxicant, and its effects are not
injurious to any appreciable degree. It is invari-
ably used in medicinal purposes, but seldom with
the object of intoxication, so no sort of restrictions
ought to be imposed upon its free use.
63. Preparation and sale of charas ought to be
stopped altogether.
Bhang ought to be allowed to be used freely.
Wholesale vend of ganja.—The wholesale vend-
ors do not pay anything either in the shape of
fee or duty. License for a wholesale gola ought
to be granted, on condition of payment by the
goladar, of a certain duty, say one anna per seer
of ganja imported to the gola. Now the duty on
ganja is paid only by the retail vendors and not
shared by the wholesale vendors. The maximum
quantity of ganja which a retail vendor can now
sell to the consumer at a time is 4 chhattacks.
This should be restricted and the maximum reduced
to one chhattack at a time.
64. The exportation of ganja in bags ought to
be stopped, and tin-lined boxes, well secured,
should be enforced instead. To extract ganja from
the bags during transit, keeping the seals intact,
is not a difficult affair, and straw of equal weight
may easily be inserted into them. That some of
the goladars or their agents thus defraud Govern-
ment out of its legitimate dues in the shape of
duty, there is every reason to suspect. This sort
of suspected malpractices during transit might be
one of the reasons which accounts for the consi-
derable loss in weight of the actual quantity of
ganja during storage at the gola of the import-
ing districts, though it is curious to observe that
the gross weight (bag, ganja and straw) gener-
ally tally with the gross weight noted on the pass
from the exporting district.
65 (a). Preparation and sale of charas ought
to be stopped, and taxation on bhang ought to
be abolished.
(b) Although the duty on ganja has been in-
creased by a rupee on each seer from April last,
the duty on it is yet capable of being further
increased.
One pice worth of ganja makes one intoxicant,
whereas 4 annas worth of alcohol will fail to
produce equal effects.
66. Yes, there are at present different rates of
duty for different kinds of ganja. But the prac-
tical value is the same. The present taxation is
gradual in proportion to the quantity of stalks
found in each sort.
68. Yes, there are licensed shops. Consump-
tion is not allowed on the premises where they
are prepared, but is allowed in the retail vend
shops, which ought to be discouraged.
69. Not generally. Public opinion ought to
be considered.
70. Cases of smuggling of hemp drugs from
Nepal into the Bengal frontier districts are rare.
The quality of the Nepal drug is much worse.
Sometimes dealers in ganja in Nepal come to the
frontier districts and take out ganja on payment
of proper duty. There is no general use of un-
taxed drugs, as is suspected to be the case with
liquor.
89. Evidence of MR. R. L. WARD, District Superintendent of Police, Rajshahi.
1. I have served in the Police Department for
fourteen years. In the districts of Patna, Gaya,
Bankura, Backergunge, Chittagong Hill Tracts,
Palaman, Ranchi, Shahabad, Darjeeling, Dhubri
(Assam), Pabna, Bogra, and on three occasions in
Rajshahi, where I am now.
2. The definitions may be accepted.
Ganja locally known as bhang or siddhi. Charas
is not made sold, or used in this district. It is
true that ganja, bhang and charas are prepared
from hemp, but ganja I have always understood
cannot be made from hemp growing spontaneous-
ly. From that bhang only is obtained. Round
ganja is known and made here. Patti or subji
is not known here.
3. I have found wild hemp in fairly large
quantities in Hill Tippera and Chittagong at the
foot of the hills, and in smaller quantities in
Eastern, Northern, and Central Bengal, and
usually on high lands.
2 L