CENTRAL PROVINCES MEMORANDUM.
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In 1880-81 two special peons on Rs. 5 per mensem were entertained, one by Govern-
ment and the other by Kaluram, the wholesale contractor, for the purpose of detecting
smuggling on the western frontier of the Betul district, but they proved a failure, and
their services were dispensed with after a few months. The fact is that salaried detectives
are of little or no use, as they are liable to be bribed by the very men whom they are paid
to watch.
61. The Khandesh Collectorate of the Bombay Presidency succeeds the Berars as conter-
minous territory, and it is the Burhanpur tahsil of the Nimar district which is on the Central
Provinces side of the boundary. Reference has already been made to the extremely low price
of ganja throughout the Bombay Presidency: cultivation of the ganja-producing hemp plant
is not restricted in any way, though manufacture and sale of the intoxicating drug is required
to be covered by licenses, and the revenue, which is under 11/2 lakhs, is derived from annual
farms of retail monopolies and from permit fees at the rate of Rs. 5 per 10 maunds on imports
exports, and transport. Cultivation is largely practised in Khandesh and also in Ahmadnagar
and to a less extent in the Broach, Sholapur, Surat, Satara, and Poona Collectorates: ganja is
one of the few articles of export of these comparatively poor districts, and it would appear that
Government is accordingly unwilling to lay any very heavy tax on trade in the drug.
62. Next to Khandesh comes Indore, in the Sanawad Pargana of which ganja is largely
grown. That pargana divides the Kanapur-Beria tract from the rest of the Nimar district,
and there is thus a considerable area into which introduction of the untaxed drug is practically
inevitable. In 1879 the Commissioner of Excise, with the approval of the Chief Commission-
er, suggested to the Agent to the Governor-General in Central India that exports from Holkar
territory should be taxed and only permitted under formal pass; a duty of Rs. 7 per maund
was accordingly fixed by the Darbar.
Other States under the Central India Agency which bound the Central Provinces on the
north-west are Bhopal and Gwalior; in both of these local transit duties are levied, but they
are not sufficiently high to check transport into the neighbouring British districts, viz.,
Hoshangabad, Narsinghpur, and Sangor. In Gwalior the export duty is, so far as can be
ascertained at present, Rs. 2-12-0 per maund: the Maharaja is said to be bound by special
agreement to prevent export into British territory.
In the Resolution on the Excise Report for 1889-90, the Chief Commissioner declared
his intention of referring for the consideration of the proper authorities the questioun of limit-
ing or taxing production in the Central India States: the result of the action taken has not
been communicated to this office.
63. Damoh is probably the district the revenue of which suffers most from consump-
tion of untaxed ganja. There are villages belonging to the Panna State scattered up and
down the Hatta tahsil, and in one village belonging to that State and only a few miles
from the head-quarters of the district ganja is freely grown; in all these villages the drug is
sold at 10 aanas or 12 annas per seer. Complaints have been made to the Darbar from time to
time, but without much effect. The injury to our revenue from country liquor as well as to
that from ganja which is caused by the existence of these facilities for obtaining a cheap
supply of the latter, will be better appreciated when it is remembered that, whereas the
Provincial percentages of revenue from the two intoxicants to the total excise demand were
respectively 60.6 and 8 9 in 1892 93, they were in Damoh 33 and 28.8. There is compara-
tively little competition for country liquor monopolies, but a fair sum is realized from licens-
ing ganja shops, as illicit ganja can be sold under the licenses without much risk of detec-
tion.
Ganja is grown in Rewa, and some is doubtless introduced into the Murwara tahsil of
Jubbulpur and into the Dindori tahsil of Mandla.
64. That portion of the border of the Central Provinces which runs from the north-east
corner of Mandla to the extreme east of Sambulpur, and then south-west to the point from
which we started, divides them from a series of Tributary States and Mahals in Chutia
Nagpur and Orissa and from the Jeypore State in the Madras Presidency. For many years
past the absence of restriction on the cultivation and sale of ganja in these territories has
very materially affected the sales of taxed ganja in Bilaspur and Sambulpur and in the feuda-
tory States on the east. Most trouble was caused by smuggling from Gangpur and Boad,
and in 1883 the Commissioner, Chutia Nagpur, and the Superintendent of the Tributary
Mahals in Orissa were addressed on the subject. The first mentioned officer thereupon issued
parwanas to the Chiefs of Gangpur, Udaipur, Surguja, and Lakhanpur, informing them that
they must not allow ganja to be grown by any one without their permission, that they must
keep lists of those who grew ganja, and see that no one either grew more than they needed
for home use, or sold to others. The Superintendent of the Tributary Mahals, Orissa,
however, was unable to do more than request the zemindar of Boad to warn his people that
it was an offence punishable by our courts to carry ganja into the Central Provinces. In
Chutia Nagpur the action taken by the Commissioner was for some time effective, but by
1888 the special attention of the Chief Commissioner had been drawn to the matter, and the
Commissioner of Excise was directed to consult the Commissioner, Chhattisgarh Division,
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