118 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. VII.
of these figures is 61/2 maunds. On the average of the last five years, the culti-
vation of the Deccan and Southern Maratha Country, including the Native States,
is about 1,100 acres, which at the above rate would yield 7,150 maunds of
ganja. The cultivation in the other parts of the Presidency proper is insig-
nificant, and yields only bhang. The whole of the Presidency, including Cutch,
Kathiawar, and the other Political Agencies, draws its ganja supply from the
Deccan. Baroda also comes to the same market, and so do Sind and Aden.
Statistics of sale unreliable.
Estimate of consumption.
311. The registered retail sale of the British districts (excluding Sind) is on
the five years average 2,120 maunds. This ought to
be near the amount of actual consumption, for im-
ports of ganja are compared with the passes on arrival of consignments at the
district head-quarters, the taluka, or the village, and the accounts of the retail
vendors and their stocks are inspected from time to time by the District and
Abkari Officers (Excise Memorandum, paragraph 8). The Commissioner of
Customs, Salt, Opium, and Abkari states also (paragraph 14, Excise Memorandum)
that the reports from all districts are unanimous that smuggling of these drugs is
to all intents and purposes unknown, and he explains why it should not be worth
the people's while to engage in illicit practices. But unfortunately it is found on
examining the district figures that the provincial total is got simply by adding
them up, and that in no less than nine districts there is no registered sale
whatever in the year 1892-93. Large districts like Dharwar and Satara are thus
imperfectly represented, and the average is falsified by the fact that in other
districts the figures for the full quinquennium are not brought into the account.
The actual average consumption is evidently very much in excess of 2,120 maunds.
Another large addition must be made to the recorded sale on account of the
waste which accompanies the handling and distribution of the less highly
manufactured ganja found outside Bengal. With these corrections the con-
sumption of British districts alone will account for not less than 3,000 maunds of
the total production.
Ganja supplied to Native States.
312. A few States and some of the Agencies have sent figures of imports and
consumption which exceed a total of 1,000 maunds.
Only one State of Kathiawar is represented in this
list—Junagadh. The important State of Kolhapur has no statistics to give.
Baroda also would appear to import Deccan ganja to the amount of about 400
maunds. The consumption of all the Native States which import Bombay ganja
cannot be much less than double the amount which has been reported.
Transport and import of ganja.
313. In British territory the district contractors, and sometimes the holders
of smaller farms (Excise Memoramdum, paragraph
8), import on their own account from the places
of production. These are all retail vendors. There is only one merchant
in the Kolaba district who engages on the wholesale business, and probably
the supplies for Sind and other places on the sea board pass through his
hands. The farmer for the Bombay district appears to import for himself. It
would appear from the Excise memorandum that some ganja is imported from
the Central Provinces. It seems to be brought into Khandesh, but there is no
evidence that it goes beyond that district. Some may possibly go as far as
Nasik. But both in Khandesh and Nasik the cultivation is almost sufficient to