8
the market with a quantity of wood, and even
that in gol ganja is unnecessarily large.
67. No, I think it works well.
68. I do not remember any consumption on
licensed premises, and do not think any such
accommodation is required.
69. I think it is rubbish consulting local public
opinion. It generally means only consulting a
number of Babus, who are out of all sympathy
with other classes, and utterly ignorant and care-
less of their requirements.
70. The smuggling of Gurjat ganja into Orissa
and elsewhere is very great. You should look up
the papers in the Excise Office: otherwise I think
most of the ganja consumed really does pay duty.
If it were easy to evade the tax, the astute traders
would not pay it to the extent they do now.
Oral evidence.
Question 1.—I have been in the service since
January 1863. For four years I was Commis-
sioner of Excise. I have served in all parts of the
Province, except Behar and Orissa.
Questions 3 and 7.—I think the plants come up
from self-sown seed. I have never seen it away
from habitations, and that points to its being
propagated by human agency. I have spent a
great deal of time in the jungles, and have been
in the habit of observing plants, but I have never
noticed the hemp plant in jungles. The self-sown
plant differs very materially in appearance from
the cultivated plant, and I believe that the plant
grows with different appearance in different parts
of India and Europe, though all are botanically
the same. The Gurjat plant differs both from the
cultivated and self-sown plant of Bengal. I do
not think the flowering parts of the self-sown
plant contain so much of the resinous quality as
the cultivated plant does. I do not think much
pleasure could be derived from smoking the pro-
duce of the self-sown plant, though it may have
been to some extent taken care of.
Questions 20 and 33.—Recent inquiries make
me doubt whether the cultivating classes use ganja
much.
Question 34.—Recent inquiries lead me to think
that the preference of people in the mud tracts for
ganja is almost entirely due to its cheapness.
Question 36.—By the phrase "absurd extent"
I mean that the price has been raised to such a
figure that the poorer people cannot afford to buy
it. I should have expected an increase of ganja
in consequence of the rise of the price of liquor.
There is undoubtedly some smuggling, and the
statistics do not, therefore, show the full consump-
tion of ganja.
At Chuadanga I found that the charges which
the retail dealer had to pay on one seer of ganja
were—
Rs. A. P.
Government tax
7 8 0
License fee
12 0 0
To warehouse-man
2 0 0
TOTAL
21 8 0
The price of a seer of a ganja was Rs. 30, leaving
a profit of Rs. 8-8, out of which rent and other
expenses had to be met. I do not consider this
profit unreasonable. It shows, however, that a
margin is left for further taxation, especially as
in this case the license fee was excessive. In this
view I would modify my answer to question 65
though I still hold that alcohol is taxed too highly.
Comparing opium, liquor and ganja, the last
gives the largest profit at present. I found at
Chuadanga that the contractor was making no
apparent profit on his opium.
The figures given above regarding the charges
on ganja are confirmed by inquiry made at other
places.
Rs. 30 per seer is the average retail
price in Nadia and Jessore. The retail license
vendor in bidding for his license is at a disadvant-
age in not knowing the price he will have to pay
to the wholesale dealer, which varies immensely,
and I drew attention to this matter in para. 8 of
my letter No. 6601, dated 23rd March 1891.
Question 46.—The badmash ganja smoker cor-
responds to the habitual drunkard in England.
He is not merely an excessive consumer of ganja
like a bairagi, but is addicted to other vices, and
ganja-smoking is only one of the conditions of
his life. I have never seen a moderate smoker
in the act of smoking as far as I remember,
at least I never ascertained that it was ganja
which was being smoked. I must have seen my
boatmen smoking, but cannot say it was ganja.
I have not seen excessive smokers smoking. I do
not know how a moderate smoker is to be distin-
guished from an excessive smoker.
Question 55.—My general experience of police
cases formed the basis of my answers. I have
never received a report of drugging by ganja.
Question 58.—My views on this question are
contained in a letter from myself as Commissioner
of Excise, No. 6601, dated 23rd March 1891, and
I adhere to those views. With reference to these
representations and my answer to question 66, I
desire to say that Dr. Prain's experiments in pre-
paring caked ganja seem to have to a great extent
met the difficulty of obtaining uniformity in the
quality of ganja. I certainly think it would be
a good thing to get rid of the wood portion of
ganja. I can see no difficulty in it, and do not
know why this defect has been tolerated. I re-
member dismissing an excise clerk who allowed the
dealers to remove the wood of flat ganja and pay
duty for flat ganja, thereby defrauding the
revenue.
Question 59.—By management on the lines of
the Opium Department, Government
might
acquire the profit which is now made by the whole-
sale dealers. I have not considered the bonded
warehouse system, and am not prepared to say
whether under that system the same profit could
be secured to Government.
Theoretically our
present system is the bonded warehouse system.
Mr. Price, the Commissioner of Rajshahi, will be
able to explain why this system has not been pro-
vided in practice, and the cultivator has been
allowed in every case to store his own ganja.
The principal reason is that he is able to look after
his produce under the present system. The cul-
tivator has to take out a license to cultivate and
a license to store, but there is no weighment
before the produce goes into the store. A rough
crop estimate only is made. My impression is
that the ganja remains in the cultivator's posses-
sion from February to May, but there is nothing
in the system to prevent its remaining as long as
the cultivator pleases. I do not remember how
the cultivator is called to account for the amount
estimated to have been stored in his gola. Mr.
Price can give this information. The system
does afford facilities for smuggling, but I do not
think smuggling can be very extensive, for, as I
have stated in answer to question 70, the dealers
would not in that case submit to the heavy taxa-
tion. One dealer would inform against another.
Smuggling or illicit use by the cultivators them-
selves would not be checked by this consideration.