CENTRAL PROVINCES MEMORANDUM.
59
The number of permanent retail shops open during the year was 1,226, but of these 123 (in
Bilaspur 102, Nursinghpur 4, and Bhandara 17) were open on bazar days only. In Hoshang-
abad the number had been again reduced till each shop had an average population of over 5,000
persons to serve. The incidence of revenue per head of total population rose from 1¼ to nearly
1½ pie. Of consumption no satisfactory estimate can be made: in the Excise Report of the
year 1,000 maunds was stated to be the probable amount.
1877-78.
8. Similar arrangements to those of 1876-77 were in force in the Khalsa. The most
important measure taken during the year was the extension
of the Khalsa rules regarding the cultivation and possession
of ganja to the zamindaris both feudatory and non-feudatory, of the Chhattisgarh Division.
Very little, however, was done towards assimilating practice in those zamindaris to that in the
Khalsa, the order on the subject having issued only a short time before the cultivating season
began.
The revenue of the year was raised in the same way as that of 1876-77. Bids for the
right of retail vend improved from Rs. 58,995-12-5 to Rs. 62,894-14-10, all districts except
Narsinghpur and Sambulpur contributing to this result. The enal rate of acreage fee (Rs.
10 per acre) was in several districts vigorously exacted, and collections under this head
amounted to about. Rs. 4,000: including fees at the rate of Re. 1 per acre, the tax on cultiva-
tion yielded Rs. 6,368-2-9. Statistics of area cultivated are not available for 2 (Wardha and
Balaghat) out of the 15 districts in which fees were levied, but it is safe to say that in none
except Nagpur and Nimar was the quantity produced at all considerable.
It would appear from the statements for the 2 years that (Appendix A) 82 more retail
shops were worked in 1877-78 than in 1876-77; but in the latter year there were 102 bazar
shops in Bilaspur, which are not included in the total given in the statement, although they
have been taken into account in the remarks in paragraph 7 of this Memorandum, while the
number of such shops in 1877-78 is not ascertainable.
The total revenue of the year fell at the rate of rather more than 1½ pie per head of popu-
lation.
Statistics of the amounts sold by retail are not available, and no trustworthy estimate of
consumption can be made. From figures in statement No. VI appended to the Excise
Report for the year it appears that 3,419 maunds of ganja locally raised were exported to
different parts of the Central Provinces, while imports from other British territory and
foreign territory amounted to 532 maunds, so that in all 3,951 maunds were imported.
Adding for the undermentioned non-importing districts the amounts which were probably
consumed as well as raised in them respectively, viz.:—
Nagpur
1,000
Seoni and Chhindwara
200
Nimar
300
* Paragraph 6, Chapter VIII of Ex-
cise Manual, 1875.
(Appendix B).*
Paragraph 33.
a consumption of nearly 5,500 maunds seems to be accounted for. But much ganja was
doubtless consumed in Chanda which had been illicitly brought from the Nizam's Dominions,
while in the Chhattisgarh Division a considerable portion of the demand must have been met
by the produce of the bordering zamindaris and feudatory States. Raipur and Chanda
between them imported under due authority* 374 maunds,
but Bilaspur and Sambulpur made no such importations.
On the whole it would be safe to put consumption at 6,000
maunds as a minimum: the estimate in the Excise Report
for the year is apparently about 5,000 maunds, but from it are excluded imports into districts
of the Central Provinces from elsewhere than Nagpur and Nimar.
In reviewing the Provincial Excise Report for 1876-77 the Government of India re-
marked that they were prepared to consider any suggestion that might be made for restricting
the use of ganja, and again in March 1878 they approved of the Chief Commissioner carrying
out measures for restricting the cultivation of ganja and imposing on the drug gradually, or
otherwise, as heavy fiscal burdens as it could be made to bear. Accordingly the subject had a
large share of the Chief Commissioner's attention during the next 3 years.
1878-79.
9. In November 1878 a new set of rules under para-
graph 2 of section 40, Act X of 1871, was issued.
The Judicial Commissioner, to whom a draft for concentrating cultivation of the
hemp plant in the Katol and Khandwa tahsils and for the imposition of a prohibitive
acreage tax on cultivation elsewhere had been submitted, pointed out that as the Act of
1871 merely authorized supervision
of cultivation, cultivation without a license, even if
the licenses were granted gratuitously, could not legally be prohibited, nor could any
acreage tax be imposed. The rules finally sanctioned provided (1) that cultivators of the
hemp plant should give notice of intended cultivation, its locality, extent, &c., (2) that
they should give similar notice of their intention to cut, (3) that their crop should be stored
in Government godowns or in authorized private store-houses, and that it should only be re-
moved therefrom on payment of the Government duty. The duty fixed by the Chief Commis-
sioner after considerable deliberation was Re. 1 per seer, equal to Rs. 40 per maund.
* Not printed.