5
amount of the stuff in the custody of the raiyat.
The bulkiness of ganja is an additional safeguard
as compared with opium. We have never within
my knowledge discovered a cultivator disposing
of his crop illegally. Of course, if there were
collusion between the protective establishment
and the cultivators, this safeguard would be of
little use, but as a fact I believe the establish-
ment is trustworthy.
The public gain to which I refer at the close
of this answer consists in the financial gain and
the removal of facilities for smuggling. I wish
to add that since writing this answer the line
taken by the anti-opiumists on the Opium Com-
mission has greatly strengthened my view as to
the weakness of the opposition to Government
establishing a monopoly in ganja. At first we
were prepared to bring forward strong evidence
as regards the working of the monopoly system
as regards opium. But within very few days of
the opening of the Commission the anti-opiumists
intimated that if the growth of opium were not
entirely prohibited they considered the Govern-
ment monopoly as the best and most restrictive
system under which it could be grown. In
Bengal the financial benefits to be gained by
Government assuming the monopoly would be
very great. Only the other day the Excise Com-
missioner found the wholesale vendor at Balasore
selling ganja at the price of Rs. 3 per seer to
the retail vendors, and the price there is occa-
sionally as high as Rs. 4, while his expenses could
not possibly exceed Re. 1 per seer. This occurs
more or less all over the province. The wholesale
vendor pays a fee of Rs. 2 for each license.
I should say that there would be distinctly less
difficulty in the way of Government undertaking
this monopoly than in the case of opium, on ac-
count of the limited area in which the drug is
grown. The main difficulty would be the bulki-
ness of the crop, which would be greatly reduced
if Dr. Prain's experiments turned out successful.
I will place the Commission in possession of the
result* of Dr. Prain's experiments so far as they
will be available in March 1894 (page 22 of Dr.
Prain's report). I do not think the quality of
ganja varies so much as that of opium, but it is
true that the latter can be accurately ascertained,
whereas at present the former cannot. It is pos-
sible that if Government undertook the monopoly
they would be able by chemical experiment to
gauge the quality of ganja. The quality of ganja
does not vary so much as opium from field to field,
but does vary from harvest to harvest. Crops of
inferior ganja do sometimes occur, and people do
make complaints. This would be a difficulty in
the way of fixing a price, but not an insuperable
difficulty. It would not be so easy to fix a price
according to standard as in the case of opium.
The difficulty caused by the deterioration of the
drug is distinctly more serious than in the case of
opium, but we hope that Dr. Prain's experiments
will enable us to discover a remedy for this. At
present all ganja is destroyed after two years.
My principal object in proposing the monopoly
is to get the maximum of revenue with the mini-
mum of consumption and to benefit the culti-
vators. At present a large share of the revenue
goes into the pockets of the middlemen. Further,
Government is unable to fix any sliding scale of
price for districts where smuggling is impossible
or easy, as is done in the case of opium. The price
of opium in the consuming districts is Rs. 16,
rising to Rs. 32 per seer in the more distant and
inaccessible districts. If Government purchased
the ganja crop the cultivator would have a sure
market and not suffer the occasional losses he does
at present. Government would of course have to
regulate the area of land for which licenses should
be given and not issue licenses, as at present, to all
who apply.
At present the price of the crop is fixed by
the ordinary rules of the market, and all risks
on account of the crop are taken by the cultivator
and to a less degree by the middlemen. The ar-
rangements of the market are all made by the
wholesale goladar (middleman). Government is
then saved a great deal of trouble and risk in
regard to the custody of the crop, the fixing of
the price, and the transport of the drug. At the
same time I think this relief is too dearly bought.
The system of fixing a price at which the whole-
sale vendors should be bound to supply retail ven-
dors and auctioning the right of wholesale vend
would to a certain extent meet the difficulty by
giving a share of the goladar's profit to Govern-
ment, and would also be of advantage in enabling
the retail vendor to know what he was contracting
for; but I doubt if the system would result in
much financial gain on account of the limited
competition among goladars and probable com-
bination among them. As the head of excise I
should much prefer to take up a Government
monopoly and would guarantee to work it.
Question 62.—I should have preferred that the
circular No. 6075 of 26th January had stood. It
never had a fair trial. I do not think there would
have been any considerable oppression, because the
people would very soon give up cultivating if they
knew it would lead to prosecution. In some few
cases, no doubt, prosecutions would have had to
be instituted. But, as far as I know, none were
instituted as long as the circular was in force, and
should have been prepared to repress any undue acti-
vity of this kind. The quantity of bhang that is
now exported from the Bhagalpur Division shows
that there must be cultivation to a considerable
extent, though there is no licensed cultivation.
The theory is that the whole of this is wild hemp.
Question 68.—Consumption on the premises is
not general though it is not illegal. I know of
no evil arising from the practice, and see no
reason why it should be prohibited. Nothing has
come to my notice to lead me to suppose that any
harm arises from it.
Question 69.—The number of shops has been
greatly reduced of late years, as statistics will show.
Further reduction would cause great discomfort
to consumers, and I think they have a right to be
considered. I am not prepared to say whether an
appeal to public opinion would result in the closing
of many more shops. The smoking of ganja is
not unpopular.
The people of Bengal are distinctly a sober
people, and I do not see any need to interfere
further with their habits in regard to the con-
sumption of the hemp drug. I do not think the
monopoly I have advocated would be such inter-
ference.
*See Appendix to Dr. Prain's evidence.