BOMBAY MEMORANDUM.
89
of the Abkari Act, V of 1878, and the rules published in accordance with sections 27 and 30
thereof under Government Notification in the Revenue Department, No. 4421, dated 23rd
August 1880. That notification with the forms attached of which a copy is appended, gives
in a complete and intelligible form the whole system of the administration of revenue from in-
toxicating drugs. It supplies almost completely answers to points (a) and (c) to (f) in
the Note, and such further information as I can give will be supplementary and on matters of
detail.
6. Regarding point (b) the information I have received from the various Collectors shows
that wild hemp is not found anywhere in the presidency; as a consequence it is not used for
the preparation of bhang or other narcotics, and it is therefore unnecessary to control the pos-
session or sale of such drug.
7. Point (c).—The cultivation of hemp is not prohibited by law in any district, though
in such districts as produce it there is a certain restriction in that the cultivator has to obtain
a permit, for which, however, no fee is required to enable him to dispose of his produce. His
cultivation is noted and watched by the village officers, and he cannot dispose of his crop
without obtaining the necessary permit. Form B.—The districts in which hemp is grown
are Khandesh, Ahmednagar, Satara, Poona, Nasik, and Sholapur in the Deccan, Bijapur in the
Southern Maratha Country, and Broach and Surat in Gujarat. The cultivation, however, is
on a very limited scale, as will be seen from the following table, which shows the average area
under cultivation for past years so far as figures are available:—
Khandesh
30 acres.
5 years.
Ahmednagar
660 "
10 "
Satara
335 "
13 "
Poona
16 "
10 "
Nasik
20 to 25 "
10 "
Shol apur
38 "
10 "
Bijapur
3 acres 27 gunthas
5 "
Broach
29 "
10 "
Surat
16 " 30 "
10 "
The information under this head can be regarded only as approximately accurate, as
papers relating to cultivation have not been uniformly preserved, and in several instances, e.g.,
Satara, the term of thirteen years is broken by an interval of five, previous to 1890-91. From
ganja being cultivated almost entirely in districts where the rainfall is from moderate to scanty,
it may be inferred that in those where the fall is heavy, such as the Konkan and Kanara,
conditions for its growth are unfavourable.
8. Point (c).—The only importers of ganja and other hemp drugs are the licensed retail
vendors, i.e., the farmers or contractors for each district or in a few cases each taluka or shop;
the arrangements for import, transport, and export are stated in paragraph 3 of the notification
mentioned above, and this information may be supplemented by stating that a permit has to
be obtained from the Collector, Assistant Collector, or Mamlatdar, according as the drug is to
be imported from outside the district, taken from one taluka to another, or from one village
to another in the same taluka. When the bhang or ganja arrives it is compared with the pass
by the Mamlatdar in the first two cases and by the patil in the third. The retail vendor may
store the drug in his own store-room, but the Mamlatdar and Abkari officers go from time to
time, and compare the quantities in store with the accounts.
9. Point (e).—The nature of the control exercised over wholesale vendors, i.e., the culti-
vators of hemp, and retail vendors, i.e., the contractors and their servants, and the system of
licensing them have been explained above, and are further shown in the Government notifica-
tion mentioned in my 5th paragraph.
10. So, too, as regards point (f). The direct tax is the levy of duty on import, trans-
port, and export, the rates of which are specified in the notification aforesaid, viz., Rs. 5 for
amounts not exceeding 10 Indian maunds; Re. 1 for every additional 2 Indian maunds or
fraction thereof. The indirect tax is the sum paid by the contractor for the right to sell the
drug, and that of course varies according to the sums bid in each district. No tax is levied
from the wholesale vendors, the cultivators of the plant, and without legislation prohibiting
the growth of the plant, I do not think that any tax could be levied, inasmuch as they pay the
revenue assessment on their lands. As regards evasion by the farmers or retail sellers, they
cannot possibly evade the indirect tax, because until they pay two instalments of the amounts
they have bid, they cannot start their business, and if they were to fail in any of their instal-
ments, their licenses to sell would be withdrawn. As to the direct tax, it is equally difficult
for them to evade that, seeing the bulky nature of the article, the necessity for getting passes,
and the series of examinations to which the consignments and the passes are subject. They
have also to keep accounts, which are examined and compared with their stocks from time to
time by various Government officers.
11. With reference to point (g), I may say that the retail shops are usually fixed by the
Collector of the district with regard to the area and population of the locality and the demand
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