VOLUME III.—APPENDICES.
No. 2792-Ex., dated 3rd July 1893.
Resolution by the Government of India, Finance and Commerce Department.
READ—
Despatch from Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India, No. 36 (Revenue), dated 16th March 1893,
forwarding a copy of a question asked in the House of Commons, and of the answer given thereto
by the Under-Secretary of State, regarding the appointment of a Commission to enquire into the
production and consumption of hemp drugs in India.
Read also—
Correspondence ending with Despatch from the Secretary of State, No. 99 (Revenue), dated 20th October
1892, regarding the consumption of ganja in India.
RESOLUTION.—In the despatch recited in the preamble, Her Majesty's Secretary of State
informed the Government of India that, in answer to a question put in the House of Com-
mons, he had expressed his willingness to request the Government of India to appoint a Com-
mission to enquire into the cultivation of the hemp plant in Bengal, the preparation of drugs
from it, the trade in those drugs, the effect of their consumption upon the social and moral
condition of the people, and the desirability of prohibiting the growth of the plant and the
sale of ganja and allied drugs. In accordance with the announcement thus made, Lord Kim-
berley requested the Government of India to appoint a Commission for the purposes stated,
and to issue such instructions as would ensure that the enquiry should be thorough and com-
plete. His Lordship is of opinion that the investigation can hardly be confined to Bengal,
but should extend to the whole of India, and that the Commission should be instructed to as-
certain to what extent the existence of the hemp plant all over India affects the practical
difficulty of checking or stopping the consumption of ganja, as distinguished from other nar-
cotic drugs prepared from the hemp plant, and whether there is ground for the statement that
bhang is less injurious than ganja to consumers.
2. In accordance with these instructions, His Excellency the Governor-General in Council
has been pleased to appoint a Commission to conduct the enquiry desired by the Secretary of
State. The following gentlemen are appointed to form the Commission:—
President:
The Honourable W. Mackworth Young, M.A., C.S.I., First Financial Commissioner, Punjab.
Members:
1. Mr. H. T. Ommaney, Collector, Panch Mahals, Bombay.
2. Mr. A. H. L. Fraser, M.A., Commissioner, Chattisgarh Division, Central Provinces.
3. Surgeon-Major C. J. H. Warden, Professor of Chemistry, Medical College, and Chemical Examiner
to Government, Calcutta, Officiating Medical Storekeeper to Government, Calcutta.
4. Raja Soshi Sikhareswar Roy, of Tahirpore, Bengal.
5. Kanwar Harnam Singh, Ahluwalia, C.I.E., Punjab.
6. Lala Nihal Chund, of Mozaffarnagar, North-Western Provinces.
3. His Excellency the Governor-General in Council desires that the enquiry should be
thorough and searching, but he leaves to the Commission full discretion to determine the best
means of securing that result. Certain instructions are given in the following paragraphs;
but these are not intended to be exhaustive, and the Commission have full authority to take up
any branch of enquiry which in their opinion is likely to elucidate the subject and to aid the
Government of India and the Secretary of State in deciding on the policy to be adopted in
regard to hemp drugs.
4. It is desirable that the Commission should visit and take evidence in all or most of the
Provinces of India: there are political objections to their holding sittings in Native States,
but any information similar to that required regarding British India, which can be obtained re-
garding Native States, should be included in the Report.
5. The Commission should ascertain with as much precision as possible the extent to
which the hemp plant is cultivated in each of the provinces of India in which it is grown.
They should collect full information as to the manner in which the plant is cultivated for the
production of drugs, and the methods of preparing the manufactured drug from the raw pro-
duct, whether of the wild or the domesticated plant. Little is known at present as to the ex-
tent to which the wild plant can be used for the preparation of drugs, whether in the milder
or the more noxious forms. This point has an important bearing on the possibility of intro-
ducing restrictive measures, and will require careful investigation. Full particulars should be
obtained regarding all the different forms of the drug which are commonly used, especially
ganja, charas, and bhang; and regarding the classes of the people by whom, and the extent
to which, each is used. The physical and other effects of the use of hemp-drugs should be
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