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m a t t e r s o f m u c h g r e a t e r u r g e n c y e . g . , a g r i c u l t u r a l i n d e b t e d n e s s , r e l i g i o u s a n i m o s i t i e s , t h e
growth and repression of crime, the extension of
communications, and irrigation, all of which are a
never-ending source of anxiety.
I do not go so far as to say that the bringing
of the consumption of hemp drugs under stricter
control would be impossible, but in my opinion,
the game would not be worth the candle.
68. We have licensed houses in Karachi for the
sale of bhang ready made, in addition to the
ordinary shops licensed for the sale of the raw
materials. But we have no ganja or bhang
" dens" where the stuff must be consumed on the
premises.
69. No concession of" local option "in the matter
of hemp drug shops has been made nor is it necess-
ary. Where there is sufficient demand, the
farmer applies for a shop and retailers are all
grocers, and the drug forms a small addition to
their ordinary stock of groceries. The farmer's
self-interest no doubt might be supposed to
induce him to stimulate sales. But in three out of
five of the Sind districts, the shops are actually
fewer in number than nineteen years ago. Even
in the large district of Shikarpur also, where ( J
imagine, owing to the advent of people from
across the border, for the construction of railways,
and also to the Afghan War ) shops increased
from 179 in 1873 to 265 in 1881-82, the figure
has receded to 246 in 1892-93. And in Thar and
Parkar, where the shops have also increased, the
present figure of 29 is only 5 more than it was
fifteen years ago. A farmer does not, like a pub-
lican at home, stimulate sales by accessories calcula-
ted to make his shops attractive. He simply de-
pends on the demand. The Collector and District
Magistrate, after consulting the local officials, is
able to judge whether a shop should be opened
or not, and local residents other than the con-
sumers of the drug take no more interest in the
matter than a tailor in an English country town
in the question whether a particular grocer down
the street should have a license to sell claret or not.
The subordinate officials whom the Collector would consult before deciding, e. g., the Revenue
and Police beads of the taluka, no doubt ask the
local zemindars or Hindu Mukhi their opinion
upon this as upon most matters affecting the
peace and comfort of the village. But the matter
is too insignificant for any formal rule to be made
or to be necessary.
70. We occasionally catch a load of hemp drugs
being run across from Cutch, but all told, the
smuggling, especially across the desert, is of no
importance to the revenue. We may have a treaty
some day with Khairpur which will prevent any
little smuggling there may be from that State, but
there is no hope of such a measure during the
lifetime of His Highness the present Mir.
Letter from MR. JAMES appended to his
evidence.
In continuation of my answer to question 35 (c)
I have the honour to inform you that on a recent
v isit to the Khirthar range of mountains, which
separate Sind from Baluchistan, I there found the
so-called wild hemp alluded to. growing freely in
different localities within the hills. Mr. Woodrow
of the Poona Botanical Gardens, to whom speci-
mens were sent, identifies it as Hyoscyamus muticus,
Linn., a henbane, closely allied to the poisonous
English plant of that name, which is used in
medicine.
The Baluchis stated that if small quantities
were mixed with bhang and an infusion drunk
it created intoxication very rapidly, and that too
large a dose produced absolute madness. Not
long ago three men indulged too freely, with the
result that they stripped off all their clothes and
danced and rushed about nude, being temporarily
quite out of their senses.
This wild plant is, therefore, quite different
from the common wild hemp that grows freely in
Kashmir and the Tarai, and has the merit of
being much more injuricus.
2. Evidence of MR. R. GILES, Collector, Shikarpur.
1. As a Revenue Officer of twenty-three years'
service, all of which has been spent in Sind, I
have had some opportunities of forming an opinion
as to the working of our present system of excise
administration, of talking to the farmers who pur-
chase the right to retail hemp drugs, and of ob-
serving in the towns and villages the classes who
consume them, and their effect on the consumers.
I have not, however, any special knowledge on the
subject, but I have utilized my present position to
secure from others the best possible information
regarding the matters specified in the questions.
2. Charas and ganja are not manufactured in
Sind. I cannot, therefore, speak for the accuracy
of the definition. They are, however, imported in
small quantities, and known by those names.
Bhang includes the seed and also the small stalks
when broken up and dried of the hemp plant.
3. Wild hemp is said to grow in the Sind hills,
I have never seen it in the plains.
4. It is spoken of as kohi bhang, i.e., hemp
from the hills.
5. I do not know what special conditions are
necessary for its growth.
6. I do not know whether its growth is dense
or scattered ; but in the Sind hills the latter may
safely be inferred, as the hills are for the most
part bare and barren.
7 . Hemp in Sind is cultivated for use as bhang
only, never for ganja or charas ; and as those pre-
parations of the drug are not prepared in Sind,
and only imported into it to a very limited extent,
to be used chiefly by foreigners, I have for the
most part withheld any remarks regarding them,
thinking that such would be far more reliably
obtained in the provinces where they are prepared
and in common use. Sometimes, but very
rarely, the thick stalks of the plant are placed in
water to rot, and with great. labour rope or twine
is made from them by individual persons for
special purposes; but the plant is never grown for
the use of its fibre or of its seed only.
8. There has been no considerable fluctuation in
the area under hemp in recent years. The land-
holder cultivates it with the sole object of getting
a larger profit from it than from other crops; but
he is in reality the slave of the licensed farmer
who can buy his crop or not if he likes. Cultiva-