CH. VIII.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 141
classes are giving up bhang for liquor—a change of habit which has been
noticed in other provinces.
Evidence regarding charas.
374. The steady and considerable increase which the statistics of the con-
sumption of charas shew in the last ten years is not
reflected in the evidence in a very decided manner.
It is true there are some who allege increase as being caused by the development
of the Central Asian trade, the fall in the price of charas, the increase in the
number of shops, the increase of population, and the addition to the number
of poor and idle people. But there are many who allege decrease; and the
more weighty opinions are all in favour of the view that the use is neither
increasing nor decreasing. It is true that during the last three years there
has been a great development of the trade in charas, but the excess imports
have for the most part passed over the Punjab into other provinces and territories,
and only a portion of the increase appears from the figures to have stayed in the
province. The figures in column 45 of the statement do not appear to be
derived from accounts of actual retail sale. They are the exact difference of
columns 12 and 16, and the explanatory note attached to the table shows that
they are got by subtracting the exports from the imports. In saying that "it is
one of the incidental advantages which we expect to derive from the proposed
new arrangements that we shall be able to register the import trade efficiently
and acquire a proper control over it," the Excise Commissioner appears to admit
that the record of imports into the province is not reliable even yet.
He considers the statistics of consumption fairly accurate. They were derived
in 1892-93 from a comparison of the imports and exports in each district in
order, as he says, to give reliable figures of the quantity retained in each district
for consumption. But whatever method was employed in 1892-93 seems to have
been also employed in previous years, for the figures in column 45 are throughout
merely the difference between columns 12 and 16. The Commission therefore have
considerable doubt as to the correctness of the figures as indicating a steady
increase to consumption for the last 13 years from 480 maunds to 1,020 maunds.
This apparent increase may be due to improved methods of registration.
Punjabs States.
Extent of use.
375. The Native States of the Punjab all lie, with the exception of Bahawal-
pur, in the eastern of the two halves into which the
province is divided in reference to its habit of con-
suming charas. Leaving Bahawalpur out of con-
sideration for the present, there is no reason to suppose that the States, either
those which are wholly or partly in the Himalayas, or those which are in the plain,
differ in any material respect from the British territory with which they are
intermingled in regard to this habit. It hardly seems necessary to make any
exception of the State of Nabha, where the hemp drugs are said to be prohibited.
A continuous area of heavy consumption of charas is thus determined, comprising
all those parts of the Punjab and North-Western Provinces lying between
Lahore and Shahjahanpur. As regards bhang also, the description of the habit
in the province must be held to apply to these States.
There is no official report from Bahawalpur, but the information which has
been collected confirms the idea which is suggested by the position of the State,
with reference to the Punjab and Sind, that it is a bhang-consuming country.
Ganja is hardly used at all, and charas but little. The use of bhang is more
common in the western than the eastern half of the State.
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