120 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. VII.
Bhang.
316. Bhang occupies such a position in relation to ganja in the Bombay Presi-
dency that it is hardly possible to examine the traffic
in it separately. In the Northern Division the
cultivation may yield 150 maunds, which would not be more than sufficient to
supply the local demand. The bhang produced in Baroda, a very small amount,
is not exported. The bhang which generally passes by that name consists of
the fragments of leaves and flower head which come away in the manufacture of
ganja. If figures had been complete and trustworthy, ganja and bhang might
have been put together, and treated as one article of trade.
It did not
appear advisable to deal thus with a total consumption of only 44 maunds in
the year 1892-93, a figure which a comparison with previous years shows to be
incorrect. It does not appear that the sale of bhang as a distinct article from
ganja exceeds 150 maunds a year in the whole Presidency, excluding Sind.
The sale is only registered in the Northern Division and in Khandesh.
Mr.
Almon states that some of the Surat bhang finds its way to Bombay, and
Mr. Campbell mentions import from Palanpur.
Charas.
317. Charas is only used in Bombay City to the extent of 7 or 8 maunds a
year. Seven sérs only were sold in Poona for the
first time in 1892-93. The drug is imported from
Amritsar and Hoshiarpur.
Bombay States.
318. The information is not complete enough to make it worth while to
examine the individual trade of the Native States.
The above general survey of the Presidency supplies
the broad fact that all the States get their supply of ganja from the Bombay
cultivation. The States in the extreme north of the Presidency, especially Palan-
pur, grow a little bhang for themselves, and this State may export some of its own
growth to Bombay; but it cannot be much. Some of the southern States probably
export part of the produce of the cultivation mentioned in Chapter IV.
Sind.
319. In Sind bhang takes the place of first importance among the three
hemp drugs. Cultivation for the production of this
drug amounts to 262 acres on the average of the last
five years. The outturn calculated at something under 12 maunds an acre is
3,000 maunds. A high rate is adopted because the whole crop, except the actual
sticks, goes into the product. The Excise Reports of 1891-92 and 1892-93
show the sources from which the various districts of Sind get their supplies
of the drugs. All the districts, except the Upper Sind Frontier, would appear
to consume locally grown bhang. The retail sale on the average of the last five
years is 4,539 maunds, so the local production does not cover the consump-
tion. But it is possible that this figure includes transport within the province.
The Upper Sind Frontier district would appear to import the drug from the
Punjab and Khelat. The statement regarding Khelat may be doubted, for there
is very little cultivation there according to the information furnished to the Com-
mission.
Import of ganja.
320. The imports of ganja average 55 maunds, and the retail sale 22 maunds.
It is mostly brought through Karachi from Panvel
in the Kolaba district of the Bombay Presidency,
where there is a wholesale business carried on in the ganja grown in the Deccan.