535
who was not, however, a Government servant.
I
brought up the ganja at Government expense
from Gauhati and issued it to the vendor at Rs.
29 per seer, a price calculated on the basis of aver-
age consumption yielding sufficient to pay the cost
of the ganja, duty, carriage, and the average
license fees. All profits went to this vendor.
This system is still in force, but will cease from
the 1st of April, as for 1894-95 a good settlement
has been effected.
3. Evidence of MAJOR M. A. GRAY, Deputy Commissioner, Khasia and Jaintia
Hills.
51. (a) Not in this district.
(b) None in this district.
52. There is no excessive use of these drugs
known in this district.
53. No; not here. No.
54. Not in this district.
55. No; not in this district.
4 Evidence of MR. J. D. ANDERSON, Deputy Commissioner; Officiating
Commissioner of Excise.
1. I have been in charge of the Excise Admin-
istration of nearly every district in Assam, and
am at present officiating as Commissioner of Ex-
cise.
2. Bhang in Assam has acquired an ambiguous
meaning. Officially it bears the meaning given to
it in the question, but in popular parlance bhang is
wild ganja, whether dried or undried. Of the
three varieties of ganja, flat ganja is sometimes
called mota dál, and round ganja is called mihi
dál.
3. The wild hemp plant grows abundantly all
over Assam as a weed, but, like many other weeds,
it is not a jungle plant. It follows in the tracks
of cultivation. It is commonly found in deserted
clearings and in the vicinity of growing crops. It
is especially abundant in the hill districts, where
the plant seems to be richer in the resinous matter
which makes it intoxicating. Ganja is smuggled
into the plains by hill people both from the Khasi,
Naga, and North Cachar Hills in our own territory,
and also from the Bhutan Hills and from Hill Tip-
pera outside the area of British rule. It is also
grown by the Miris in Lakhimpur and Darrang.
It is largely consumed to the prejudice of excise
ganja by the many immigrants, tea garden coolies,
syces, etc., who live in the province.
4. It is known indifferently as ganja and bhang,
but when a native of the province contrasts ganja
with bhang, by the former he means the excise
drug, by the latter the wild variety. In Sibsagar
the plant when brought from the Naga Hills is
called "Naga mohoni."
5. The plant is said to grow more readily in the
hills and to, require a considerable rainfall. But,
as aforesaid, it is a common weed all over the pro-
vince.
6. Where it grows, it grows densely, and I am
told that it is a weed which it is extremely diffi-
cult to eradicate. I know of a garden in Shillong
the owner of which has endeavoured for years to
choke out the weed, but in vain.
7. The plant is not cultivated in the proper
sense of the word, but it is occasionally fenced
in and cared for when it springs up spontaneously.
8 to 10. See above.
11. No; but the contrary often occurs. I have
frequently prosecuted ganja-smokers for raising
plants from the seed of excise ganja.
12. The Miris, a hill tribe in Lakhimpur, un-
doubtedly fence in the wild plant on a large scale
for consumption and vend. In 1887-88 some
Miris were punished for selling no less than 59
seers of bhang. The informant was one of our
licensed vendors of excise ganja. Such cases are
very difficult of detection, as Miris, Kacharis, and
other semi-savage people live in the midst of dense
grass jungle, and have obvious facilities for con-
cealing cultivation. I am not aware that the male
plant is ever extirpated.
13. Cultivation is forbidden all over the pro-
vince, but there is no part of Assam where culti-
vation would be impossible.
14. The drugs mentioned are not prepared in
this province.
15. So far as I know, ganja and charas are in-
variably smoked in Assam.
16. See answers to questions above.
17. Not made here.
18. Ganja is stored in small bonded warehouses
as in Bengal. Its strength deteriorates rapidly.
It will keep fairly good for about a year if protect-
ed from white ants, etc. But the damp climate
of Assam rapidly removes its toxic effect.
19. So far as I know, hemp is only used for
smoking, except on rare occasions, when fire or
the chillum are not available.
20. The Sylhet Musalmans and bairagis are
the only portion of our indigenous population who
consume ganja. They are, in fact, a portion of
the ganja-smoking population of Eastern Bengal.
Any facts which the Commission may gather as
to the use of ganja in East Bengal will apply
equally to the districts of Sylhet, Cachar, and
Goalpara. In the remaining districts the use of
ganja is almost entirely confined to immigrant
coolies, to the Gurkha sepoys in the Assam regi-
ments, and the up-country constables, in the police.
Charas is not much used in Assam.
21. Since the duty has been increased, the
proportion of chur and round ganja imported from
Rajshahi has steadily increased. I append a table
showing the extent to which this change has taken
place. This Table (A) should be compared with
Table (B).*
22. Charas is only used as a smuggled article,
and I personally only know of it from hearsay.
I have never even seen the drug.
Not printed.