196 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. X.
And Colonel Bowie, Commissioner in the Central Provinces (witness No. 2),
says: "I can call to mind a great many cases which I have had to deal with as a
Magistrate and as a Sessions Judge, in which serious hurt and homicide have
been caused by persons under the influence of alcohol, but not a single case of
crime of any kind which had been committed under the influence of bhang or
ganja." Representative officers from other provinces might be quoted, such as
Mr. Vidal or Mr. Campbell, C.I.E., in Bombay, or Mr. H. E. M. James, Commis-
sioner in Sind. The Rev. Mr. Laflamme (Madras witness No. 153), who took
much pains in collecting information, gives evidence in the same sense. It is,
however, in the northern provinces that there is most experience of these drugs.
The only officer of standing in Upper India who holds the contrary view is Mr. T.
Stoker, Excise Commissioner, North-Western Provinces (witness No. 6), who
says: "I put these drugs above liquor and opium in their injurious tendencies."
In saying this, he differs, however, both from his predecessor, Mr. R. Wall (witness
No. 233), who held the office for eleven years, and from the Hon'ble A. Cadell
(witness No. 1), who is the Member of the Board of Revenue in charge of
Excise.
The opinion that alcohol is more injurious than hemp drugs is also expressed
by leading Native gentlemen in these provinces, such as Maharaja Bahadur Sir
Jotindra Mohan Tagore, K.C.S.I. (Bengal witness No. 163), Munshi Newal
Kishore (North-Western Provinces witness No. 231), Babu P. C. Chatterji,
Judge, Chief Court (Punjab witness No. 76), and the Hon'ble Gangadhar
Madho Chitnavis (Central Provinces witness No. 46). The first of these only
need be quoted. He says: "The use of the aforesaid indigenous drugs appears
to me to be preferable to the use of ardent spirits and wines now rapidly re-
placing them to the great injury of the moral and material well-being of our
people. Prohibition, I fear, would lead many to take to the use of ardent liquors,
and this, in my humble opinion, would be replacing one evil by another of still
greater magnitude." These views are held by the great majority of the native
witnesses who make the comparison between hemp drugs and alcohol; and there
is really no witness of authority on the other side.
This is also the opinion of medical witnesses who make this comparison.
It is no doubt an accepted and established opinion among medical men that the
evil effects of alcohol are intensified in the tropics. This may explain the very
strong opinion held regarding alcohol. Perhaps it is unnecessary to refer to
more of these witnesses than to two of more than ordinary experience who take
a very strong view of the deleterious character of hemp drugs if used to excess,
but a still stronger view regarding alcohol. Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Crombie
says: "I believe that the habit of using ganja moderately is absolutely harm-
less; but I think even the moderate use of alcohol is liable to produce tissue
changes in the long run. Further, I here refer entirely to the native community;
and it is my observation that when a native takes to alcohol, it is extremely dif-
ficult for him to remain moderate; and in life assurance work, of which I have a
good deal, I always advise an extra premium in the case of any native who indulges
in alcohol even in the most moderate way, and utterly refuse to accept a native
life if there is evidence of the consumption of alcohol to any considerable extent
which would still be considered moderate in the case of Europeans. My experi-
ence leads me to hold the same views of the effects of alcohol on the lower classes.