MADRAS MEMORANDUM.
83
suggestion to fix 40 tolas as the maximum quantity of the drug that might be possessed with-
out license was negatived by Government, as the extension of the provisions of the Act, con-
templated and sanctioned, referred only to the sale and not to the possession and transport
of the drug.
6. On a representation from the Collector of North Arcot of the difficulty experienced in
choosing among a number of rival applicants, and of the large profits earned by shopkeepers,
which, without any risk being incurred of pushing the sale of intoxicating drugs, might be
diverted to the public exchequer, the remedial measure of enhancing the license fees from Rs.
30 and 15 to Rs. 45 and 30 in Madras and the mofussil respectively was proposed by the Board
and approved by Government to take effect from 1st April 1890.
7. Experience, however, showed that the demand for these drugs was considerably larger
than was suspected and that the competition in certain districts for the privilege of vend
was, in spite of the enhanced license fees, very keen, in consequence of which the difficulty of
deciding between the claims of rival applicants was seriously felt. The Board thereupon con-
sidered that the already increased rate of license fees might be further enhanced or that the
auction sale system might be adopted for ascertaining the true value of shops. As the balance
of opinion among Collectors was against the continuance of the fixed license fee system as
being entirely inadequate and unsuited to the object in view and as sale by auction was advo-
cated by most of them, the Board recommended the latter proposal and suggested that a
minimum retail selling price of 4 pies per tola of ganja might be prescribed as a check against
licensees making undue profits by reduction of prices and stimulation of sales. Both these
proposals were sanctioned by Government and effect was given to them from 1st April 1891.
8. The sale of intoxicating drugs prepared from the hemp plant having thus been placed
on a satisfactory footing, the next question that engaged the Board's attention was whether,
having regard to the reported increase in consumption of ganja, it would not be justifiable to
impose restrictions also on the transport and possession of the drug. Closely connected with
this is the question of controlling the cultivation of the hemp plant. The majority of the
Collectors were for prescribing the limit of 10 or 15 tolas of ganja for possession without
license, but the Board, agreeing with small minority that restrictions on the cultivation of
the plant should precede those on possession, foresaw that any attempt at controlling hemp
cultivation would involve the taking out of a license by every person who had a plant or two
in his garden. The large undesirable increase to the existing number of shops which would
have had to be sanctioned to meet the legitimate demands of consumers under the altered
circumstances, as also the considerable additions which would have had to be made to the
preventive force were also in the Board's opinion considerations which far outweighed any
advantages which the proposed measure was expected to effect. The Board, therefore, came
to the conclusion that such a regulation was neither desirable nor necessary, and the ques-
tion of extending the provision of the Abkari Act to the cultivation of the plant and posses-
sion and transport of drugs prepared therefrom was accordingly deferred.
The above is a résumé of the correspondence that has passed between the Board of Rev-
enue and the Madras Government on the subject of ganja administration in the Presidency.
9. Administration.—The ganja administration of the Presidency is under the direct con-
trol of the Collectors of Land Revenue, subject to the central controlling authority of the
Commissioner of Salt and Abkari Revenue, who is a member of the local Board of Re-
venue. In addition to Collectors, the Commissioner is assisted in carrying out the provisions
of the law relating to ganja by the officers of the Abkari Department.
The administration is regulated by the Madras Abkari Act and the rules and notifications
framed thereunder. The portion of the Act relating to the sale of intoxicating drugs was
extended to the whole of the Madras Presidency except the scheduled districts on 1st April
1889 and subsequently to 122 Agency villages in Ganjam, 4 in Vizagapatam, and 24 in
Godavari. There are no diverse systems of administration in the several districts of the
presidency. In those portions of the Agency tracts to which the provisions of the Madras
Abkari Act have not been extended, no revenue is raised on hemp-drugs, and the cultivation
of the plant and traffic in the drugs are left uncontrolled.
10. The cultivation of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa or Indica)—The plant is cultivated
in most districts only in back yards of houses and gardens for domestic use. In the following
districts it is reported to be more extensively grown. In Ganjam, though the plant is not
cultivated extensively in the district proper, the Khonds of the malarious tracts of the Goomsur
maliahs cultivate it on a large scale for smoking and for barter in the low country in exchange
for other commodities. The estimated outturn of ganja in the district in 1889-90 was about
1,720 maunds. In Kistna it is cultivated chiefly in the Bapatla and Bezwada taluks, the
total area under hemp being about 342 acres with a yield of about 3,450 maunds in 1889. In
North Arcot district the cultivation of the plant, which was very considerable in 1887—100
acres on the Javadi hiils—diminished to about 55 acres with a yield of 1,620 maunds of ganja
in 1889. In the Tinnevelly district the Cannabis sativa is grown in a few gardens, but
apparently to no appreciable extent, the hemp plant largely cultivated in the district being
Crotalaria juncea, noted for its fibre. In Cuddapah and South Arcot the Cannabis sativa is
cultivated only to a slight extent, in the latter principally for fibre, the area under cultivation
being 5 and 30 acres respectively.