NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES AND OUDH MEMORANDUM.
29
In Garhwal a substance is produced and used which might be classed with either ganja
or charas. After the charas has been extracted from the female flower the powdered or
broken flowers are mixed with hemp seed and smoked in a chillum. This seems akin to the
"garda" of the Punjab.
The ganja coming from the Central Provinces is known here as "pathar," "pattiyara or
pattiyala," possibly on account of its leafy character. It has more waste in the shape of
stalk and leaf and apparently less of the resinous secretion than the Bengal drug. But, as I
have already said, it can be prepared to simulate the latter.
Mds.
Mds.
1882-83
503
1887-88
1,145
1883-84
2,472
1888-89
1,879
1884-85
741
1889-90
3,237
1885-86
4,223
1890-91
1,530
1886-87
229
1891-92
1,450
I need not here attempt to describe its method of cultivation, preparation, storage,
wholesale price, &c., because such information can be more accurately procured from the
Central Provinces. Our contractors who bring it from Khandwa pay no duty there, but have
to meet warehouse and registration fees, which, I believe, come to about Rs. 2 per maund. It
varies a good deal in quality according to the season and probably also according to the skill
of the cultivators who grow and prepare it. Many of the specimens I see contain more or less
seed, showing that the male plants have not been completely extirpated. Pathar, whether
from the Central Provinces or Gwalior, &c., is most largely used in the central districts of
these provinces and in those western districts
where ganja is consumed at all. It is gradually
making its way in the eastern districts, where it is
supplanting baluchar. I do not think the import
of Khandwa pathar is increasing just at present.
The figures marginally noted show the imports for
the last 10 years.
From what some of our contractors have told me, I think Gwalior ganja has been gain-
ing ground, as it has latterly been rather cheaper owing perhaps to bad crops in the Central
Provinces and the heavier railway freight to many of our districts. The construction of the
Indian Midland Railway has apparently improved the market for Gwalior ganja.
24. The Gwalior ganja is of the same character and appearance as the Central Provinces
"pathar." It is known here by the same name and is used in the same places and by the
same people, in fact it stands on exactly the same footing as the latter. Like the latter, too,
it seems to vary considerably in quality. On an average I should say, it is neither better nor
worse than that which comes from Nimar. It is the product of careful cultivation and pre-
paration. Colonel Pitcher, Director of Land Records and Agriculture for the Gwalior State,
has kindly supplied a memorandum on this point prepared by his Assistant, Pandit Gopal
Ram, which will be found as an appendix to this report. The State duty of Rs. 5 per maund
must be calculated on the drug stripped from stalk and waste and ready for use. My en-
quiries here show that our contractors pay duty to the farmer at the rate of Re. 1-8-0 to Rs.
2 per 100 bundles. The fact seems to be that the farmer, paying a lump sum to the State,
collects the duty in the way he finds most convenient to all concerned, and is not very particular
provided he gets a fair offer. The incidence of the duty on weight of the drug is very much
a matter of conjecture or estimate. I have no doubt myself that the actual incidence on the
cleaned stuff comes in the end to less than Rs. 5 per maund. Some of the contractors I have
spoken to have been under the belief they paid less dues in Gwalior than Khandwa. The
Gwalior ganja as a rule is despatched by rail from Antri on the Indian Midland Railway,
The State is bound by treaty not to permit the export of intoxicating drugs, &c., by any route
or direction formerly barred by the Inland Customs line. This restriction had been disre-
garded, but the attention of the Darbar was called to it in 1887, and they took measures to
enforce it. The principal measure, curiously enough, was to double the duty on ganja
exported to British territory. The convenience now afforded by the Indian Midland Railway,
added to the above restriction, now confines the conveyance to the railway, but I have no
doubt that if the inducement existed, it would be quite easy to smuggle in the drug at many
points of our land frontier.
Dattia.
Chattarpur.
Sampthar.
Kadaura (Baoni).
25. Of the same class as the Gwalior ganja is that imported from some of the Bundel-
khand Native States. I give in the margin the name of
those States from which ganja has been from time to time
procured by our contractors. To these may be added
Dholpur, which is under the Bhartpur agency. The plant is cultivated in Dattia, Sampthar, and
Chattarpur to some extent, and the drug is not, so far as I could observe, distinguishable from
Gwalior ganja. In all these States there is some duty on export, but it seems to be variable
and unequal. In one place I am told it is two annas per rupee of the price of the drug which
would be about Re. 1 to Rs. 2 per maund. In another place it is said to be Re. 1-9-0 on each
purchase irrespective of quality. But these rates require confirmation. I am not sure that all
the ganja brought from these States is of local growth; some of it, I suspect, comes from
Gwalior or Khandwa originally. I learnt in Hamirpur that the Chirkari State supplies itself
from Khandwa. I believe also that ganja as well as bhang finds its way from our districts into
adjoining native territory. The import of ganja from these States is inconsiderable and
irregular. It is only brought into a few of our Bundelkhand districts, but it is a source of
supply which is capable of extension.
8