BENGAL MEMORANDUM.
7
Clause 71, section XX.
Clauses 70 and 72, section XX.
Clause 73, section XX.
Clause 74, section XX.
sub-division) within three days of the expiration of the period of its currency. After crossing
the British frontier, the importer is bound to take the con-
signment to the first police-station for inspection. The im-
porter is not authorized to make sales during the journey,
and any police or excise officer may challenge and examine
consignments during transit. The rules as to storage and
levy of duty on Rajshahi ganja apply mutatis mutandis
to Garhjat ganja.
Any vendor licensed to retail Rajshahi ganja may sell
Garhjat ganja under the same license.
23. Both the wholesale and retail dealers are under control and are licensed. The
wholesale licenses are granted free and the retail licenses are annually sold by auction.
Clause 43, section XX, Excise
Manual.
Clause 51, section XX.
Clauses 52 and 53, section XX.
Clause 55, section XX.
24. Before ganja is allowed to be stored in a warehouse the Excise Deputy Collector of the
importing district, or where the gola is situated in a sub-divi-
sion, the sub-divisional officer, is required to ascertain by per-
sonal inspection of the consignment that the seals of the bales
or bags are unbroken, and that the weight and sorts correspond with the weight and sorts noted
on the pass given in the producing district. He opens some of the bags, and having ascertained
that they contain flat, round, or choor ganja as invoiced, reseals them. He examines the general
quality and the condition in which the drug is received, whether dry or damp or in process of de-
terioration or decay. If any of the particulars do not agree with the entries in the pass under
which the ganja is imported, the circumstance is reported to the Collector. The full duty, at the
rate chargeable on the sort of ganja in which the deficiency or defect is found, is at once levied
on any deficiency of weight and on any broken bundles. Any bale or bag received without the
original seal may, if the Collector thinks fit, be confiscated.
A wholesale dealer can sell ganja only to another duly author-
ized wholesale dealer, or to a retail dealer duly licensed. Stock is taken annually in each
ganja and siddhi warehouse between the 25th and 31st March
at the head-quarters of the district by the Excise Deputy
Collector, and at the sub-divisions by the sub-divisional officer. The ganja and the siddhi
goladars are held responsible for any deficiency in excess of
21/2 per cent., and duty is levied on such excess on or before
the 31st March of each year. Each warehouse is secured by two reliable locks, the key of
one of which remains with the goladar, and that of the other with the officer in charge of the
warehouse. No gola can, therefore, be opened except in the joint presence of the goladar and
the officer in charge.
Clause 5, section XXI.
25. Every importer of charas is bound to keep an account of the quantity received
and expended, and if he wishes to dispose of the drug to
the public, he must take out a separate license for retail
vend.
Clause 75, section XX.
(Vide forms of licenses Nos. 63, 116,
and 124, pages 267, 312, and 318, re-
spectively of the Manual.)
26. Ganja and siddhi golas are liable to periodical inspection by the Collector, the Ex-
cise Deputy Collector, and the sub-divisional officer. The
inspecting officer is required to test the stock in hand and
to examine the ganja registers and the treasury receipts to ascertain that the duty has
been properly levied on all ganja issued, and finally that the collections have been duly credited
to Government.
27. Retail licensees are bound to act according to the excise law and rules, and licenses
are granted to them under certain conditions, which they
must observe on pain of forfeiting the license.
28. Retail shops are also liable to inspection by Excise officers. Retail vendors pay duty
according to the prescribed scale at the time of obtaining their supplies from the golas, and
the drug is issued in the presence of a responsible officer (generally a gazetted officer), and
the consignment is protected by a pass during its transit from the gola to the licensed
shop.
29. The excise revenue from ganja and other hemp drugs is levied in two ways,
viz., (1) in the form of license fees, and (2) in the form of duty at a fixed rate per seer on the
quantity issued for retail vend.
Excise Report, 1860-61, paragraph
39.
Clause 14, section III.
30. License fees.—For some time prior to 1860, no fee was taken on licenses for the retail
sale of ganja. Duty only was charged at the rate of Re. 1 per
seer. During the year 1860-61 a fee was imposed on licenses
for the retail vend of ganja, and licenses were issued at a fixed
rate of monthly fees till the introduction of the auction system in 1876.
Licenses are now put up to auction and sold to the highest bidder at or above the upset
fee. The term of a license is one year, except in Calcutta,
where it is three years. The Sadar Excise Deputy Collector