38
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
[APP.
It is necessary, however, to remember that abnormal figures which appear in this table are
in some instances due to the method of keeping accounts on which the Accountant General's
Department insists. For instance, some part of the unusual increase in 1886-87 is caused by
the inclusion in the returns for that year of the security advances made on account of the
following year. In the previous year the sums shown were those paid on account of the year
of report. In the last year 1892-93 these security advances for 1893-94 are not shown, as
they had not been made when the statement was compiled. In some cases, again, security
advances have been refunded where sanction to a contract has been refused by higher authority,
but the sums have still to appear in the accounts. I must also observe that these figures do not
take account of the very large revenue collected in Bengal on ganja consumed in these provinces,
and which from 1884 to 1892 was credited to us by inter-provincial adjustment though it was
not reported to this Department and does appear in our Excise returns. In 1889-90 this was
as much as Rs. 1,37,741, but has since fallen off.
42. Still these figures on the whole give a fairly correct view of the progress of the
provincial revenue from this source. In the twenty years since 1873 the receipts have grown
from Rs. 4,07,822 to Rs. 7,06,788, or over 73 per cent. In Oudh the increase has been over
193 per cent., in the N.-W. Provinces it has been 50 per cent.
For this increase I assign three causes:—
1st.—Increased general prosperity which has shown itself in a larger expenditure on
excisable commodities.
2nd.—Better administration, which has secured a larger proportional revenue from the
amounts consumed.
3rd.—An increased use of hemp-drugs.
These causes are, of course, mutually co-related.
That the causes in operation have not affected hemp-drugs alone is clear from the fact
that there has been a similar growth in other branches of excise revenue. The receipts from
country spirits have increased between 1873 and 1892 from Rs. 11,70,242 to Rs. 21,16,977
in the N.-W. Provinces and from Rs. 5,52,364 to Rs. 11,04,949 in Oudh, a gross increase of
87 per cent. In the case of spirits at least this revenue is gained not on a larger, but on a
smaller consumption. Owing to the extension of the distillery system and to administrative
improvements, which have checked fraud and peculation, the gallonage has actually diminished,
while revenue has increased.
43. The first substantial increase of drug revenue began in 1881-82. After that it
was, though more irregular in Oudh than the N.-W. Provinces, continuous and rapid for both
provinces. This movement must, in my opinion, be associated with the reforms which
originated with the Excise Committee of 1877. Some of these had a direct effect on hemp-
drug revenue. For instance, a most important measure was to place the Excise Department of
each district in charge of a selected Covenanted Assistant Collector. The contract system
requires particularly efficient and honest management, which was thus secured. It is a matter
of regret that the depletion of the Covenanted European Staff has latterly led to this salutary
measure falling a good deal into abeyance. There are many indications in the tabular state-
ment that contracts used, for one reason or another, to be given in some cases for much below
their real value. Without multiplying instances I may point to Unao, Rai Bareilly, and
Sultanpur in 1885-86, where the revenue rose at one bound from Rs. 12,991 to Rs. 30,350 from
Rs. 9,166 to Rs. 19,918, and from Rs. 4,583 to Rs. 11,800, or to Partabgarh in 1886-87, where,
after allowing for advance payments, the revenue jumped from Rs. 4,469 to Rs. 11,483. In
all these cases the higher revenue has since been fairly sustained. These and such like instances
indicate leakage, which has since been stopped. In some cases, as in Azamgarh in 1882-83,
a large enhancement was gained by granting separate contracts for each tahsil and so admitting
competition. The annexation to Oudh of the N.-W. Provinces seems to have been followed
by better methods, which partly account for the more rapid growth of the drug revenue in the
former province.
44. Some of the measures of excise reform have indirectly affected drugs by raising
the price of country liquor. It seems to me impossible to doubt that restrictions on the use
of spirits, either in the shape of prohibitive prices or diminished supply, tend to stimulate the
use of drugs. I have dealt with this point in my Annual Reports for 1890-91 and 1891-92.
I find running through all the Excise Reports for many years past assertions that drugs have
been taking the place of liquor. I may point here to a few specific instances which seem to
confirm that view. It will be seen that the drug revenue fell in certain districts of the Rohil-
khand Division (Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Budaon), during the years 1880-81 to 1883-84.
The reason of that fall was that outstills were introduced at the beginning of that period
into portions of these districts, and liquor in such areas became cheap and accessible. At
the close of the period the outstills were abandoned, and this, coupled with other changes,
made liquor again dear, and the supply scanty. On this the drug revenue at once revived.
Within the last two years the contraction of the outstill area in Bijnor and Pilibhit and the
enhancement of the still head duty on distillery liquor has been followed by an increased
importation of charas and an enhancement of the drug revenue. The same phenomenon has
been observed in other parts of the provinces.