219
sell bhang, ganja and pak at his own prices. At
present bhang is sold from 5 to 6 annas per lb,
ganja from Re. 1 to Re. 1¼ p e r l b a n d p a k f r o m
Re. 1t o R e . 1 ¼ p e r l b . T h e r e t a i l s a l e a c c o u n t s
kept at shops are unsatisfactory. The actual con-
sumption may be disguised, as deteriorated bhang
and ganja destroyed and accounted for in the
column of loss from deterioration and destruction,
thus rendering actual statistics of consumption
unsatisfactory.
59. The manufacture of pak, local purchase of
bhang, and import of bhang and ganja should be
sufficiently controlled, and stocks to be kept in a
central district depot from whence each drug to
be issued to retail shops covered under permits,
proper accounts kept, deteriorated drugs destroyed
in the presence of responsible officers, retail price
of each drug fixed in the license, and the limit of
retail sale and possession by any one person on
any one day to be reduced from 40 to 10 tolas.
The farm for each district should be given on
" the central depôt, annual guaranted minimum
vend, and definite duty system." The farmer
should be restricted to the sale of such quantity of
the drugs as may be covered under the annual
minimum revenue guaranteed under his license,
and calculated at a certain rate of duty fixed per
lb of each drug sold, as is the case with the
country spirit farms at present, and was the case
with the opium farms before the guaranteed mini-
mum vend system was abolished.
62. The cultivation of the hemp plant for the
production of bhang should be controlled by
granting licenses for cultivation, registering the
area under cultivation, collecting, weighing and
storing the produce under Government supervision
which may be issued and transported, covered
under permits granted by competent authorities for
local consumption "at the district central
authorized depot" for the farmer, or transported
to other districts as may be necessary, and proper
accounts kept of each transaction.
63. Yes ; I have objection to the present system
of ( a ) wholesale, ( b ) retail vend of ( 1) ganja,
(2) charas, (3) bhang, or preparations of them,
which I have fully described, and indicated the im-
provements I suggest in the answers for the
questions 58 and 59, which I consider unnecessary
to repeat here.
6 4 . Y e s . T h e e x i s t i n g r e g u l a t i o n s g o v e r n i n g
the export and import of these drugs or of their
preparations from and into my province or that
transport within the province are unsatisfactory,
because the farmer may import, export or trans-
port the drugs from one place or district to
another place or district, under permits which are
never scrutinized, or the storage kept under Gov-
ernment control, and satisfactory accounts of each
transaction are not kept. Illicit drugs could not
he distinguished from licit or the mischief traced.
65. Yes ; in my opinion the taxation of (1)
Ganja, (2) charas, (3) bhang is not reasonable
with reference (a) to each other, (b ) to alcoholic
or other intoxicant. I would suggest an excise
d u t y o f R e . 1 p e r l b . b h a n g , R s . 3 p e r l b . o n g a n j a , a n d R s . 5 p e r l b , o n c h a r a s , B h a n g i s
the least noxious out of the three drugs. Next to
bhang is ganja, and the worst is charas. These
are my reasons for the different rates of taxation
of the three drugs I suggest.
66. No.
67. Yes; the ultimate incidence of the tax on
the consumers of ganja, bhang and charas is
quite insignificant, and out of all proportion to
that on the consumers of alcohol and opium when
the relative intoxicating property of each drug is
considered along with its price.
68. There are no houses or shops licensed for
the sale of these drugs, or their preparations, where
they may be consumed on the premises in my
province of Gujarat. However, some unlicensed
sale of prepared bhang is practised at Surat which
may be suppressed.
69.
The wishes of the people are seldom con-
sidered in any way before a shop is opened in any
locality. The revenue and police authorities are
only consulted before the opening of a shop is
sanctioned. I think it would be advisable to con-
sider local public opinion in such matters.
70. There are cases of illicit import or smug-
gling of hemp drugs from the Native States of
Baroda, Rewa Kantha and Mahikantha, which
surround and interlace the province of Gujarat,
although the actual offences on record are few.
These drugs are so small in bulk and easy to trans-
port that detection is very difficult and sometimes
impossible. There is use of untaxed drugs to a
certain extent which may be greatly aggravated
by enhancing the duty on them for licit import
and sale. The only remedy would be the co-
operation of the Native States concerned with the
British Government in maintaining an uniform
system of taxation, import, sale, and transport as
in the case of opium at present ; otherwise the
Native States will gain in revenue at the cost of
the British Government if they may be pleased to
raise the taxes on the drugs as suggested in the
answer for question No. 65. The proportion of
habitual moderate and excessive as well as occa-
sional consumers of these drugs could. only be
ascertained by actual enumeration through the
village officers in each district under the directions
of the Collector any time, or on the occasion of
the census. During the tenure of my opium farm
for the Broach district for the years 1890-91 and
1891-92, I have
i n d u c e d t h e C o l l e c t o r a t B r o a c h t o o r d e r t h e p r e p a r a t i o n o f a l i s t o f o p i u m - e a t e r s
residing in each village through the mamlatdar
and village officers in each taluka, with the quan-
tity or value of opium consumed by each person
per diem. These lists were scrutinized and cor-
rected by my private preventive Inspectors on
personal inquiries at each village, and they proved
to be greatly instrumental in calculating the
actual consumption of opium in each village,
and tracing the illicit import, sale and consump-
tion of the drug from the surrounding and inter-
vening Native territories of Baroda and Rajpipla.
In the same manner lists of consumers of each
intoxicating drug may be prepared and corrected
from time to time, which may be very useful in
deducing the requisite statistics.
114. Evidence of KISAN DULICHAND, Licensed Vendor of Ganja, Nasik .
1. I have been a dealer in ganja for the last
thirty years and cultivator of the same for the last
seven or eight years.
vol. vii.
2. The definition of ganja stated in question 2
will serve the purpose of the inquiry.
7. I cultivate the hemp plant for the production
2 H 2