28
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
[APP.
20. The chief districts from which bhang is exported are Gonda, Gorakhpur, Bahraich,
Basti, and Kheri, the Tarai (Naini Tal), Bareilly, Pilibhit, Saharanpur, Gorakhpur, and Fateh-
garh; but any of the other districts mentioned in my 8th paragraph are capable of yielding
a practically unlimited supply, and bhang is occasionally procured from them. In Saharan-
pur a separate contract is given for a wholesale depôt. It only fetches a few hundred rupees
and is almost invariably taken by the contractor for retail vend in the district. Elsewhere
the local contractor does some business in wholesale export, or the contractors of other districts
send their agents to purchase direct from the owners or occupiers of land who collect and
store the plant.
This export, or, more correctly speaking, transport, within the provinces is effected under
passes issued by the Collector of the district in the form printed as Appendix XL, in the
North-Western Provinces Excise Manual, which is framed for opium, but also used for hemp-
drugs. The rules will be found in chapter X of the Excise Manual.
21. The three main localities from which ganja is imported are—
1. Bengal.
2. Khandwa in the Central Provinces.
3. (a) Gwalior.
(b) Bundelkhand Native States.
That imported from Bengal is almost exclusively the cheapest kind, "flat ganja." I be-
lieve some very small quantities of the superior kinds are occasionally imported, but I have
never seen any. This import business is chiefly in the hands of a large Patna firm who hold
contracts for several districts in these provinces and also supply other contractors. Some con-
tractors, however, obtain their supplies direct from Patna, Rajshahi and Buxar, or from the
border districts of Saran and Champaran. This is entirely a matter for their own choice. The
Bengal Government impose a duty which is now Rs. 6 per seer on flat ganja. This is collected
and credited in Bengal. Till the 1st April 1892 these payments were subsequently credited
to this Government by inter-provincial adjustment. Since that date they remain to the credit
of Bengal. The cost price varies considerably according to the character of the crop and the
state of the market. Within the last two years it has been as high as Rs. 70 per maund and
as low as Rs. 9.
The Bengal ganja is known here as "baluchar" from the name of a village in Bengal,
whence it is supposed to come. It is used chiefly in the eastern districts forming the Benares
and Gorakhpur Divisions, but a little still finds its way further west, where its superior quality
secures for it a certain, though small, demand in spite of its much higher price. The high
quality of the Bengal drug is universally admitted, and I believe that weight for weight it
possesses greater intoxicating power. This point could be best determined by a chemical
analysis. Its appearance would indicate that it contains more of the resinous secretion, but,
so far as I know, it seems to be preferred on account of its flavour and less unpleasant after-
effects. Notwithstanding its better reputation and its older trade connection, the Bengal
drug is losing its hold in the market here. The decrease in Bengal exports attracted the
attention of the authorities there, and I was asked about a year ago to ascertain the causes.
The result of my enquiries was to show that the consumption of baluchar was falling off
because of (1) the successive increases of the duty levied in Bengal and the consequent
enhancement of price; (2) the increasing competition of the cheaper "pathar" ganja
from the Central Provinces, Gwalior, &c.; (3) extended use of charas. No doubt cause (2)
is greatly fostered by cause (1), and is a consequence as much as a cause. But I think in any
case the cheaper drug was bound to assert itself and gradually supplant the dearer article. The
difference in price is considerable. Baluchar has lately been generally retailed in our towns at
six annas per tola, while pathar sells at one anna and half an anna.
22. In those districts where the use of baluchar prevailed I do not think the pathar
ganja was, at first at least, openly offered under that name. It was rather used to adulterate
baluchar. Ordinary specimens of the two are easily distinguishable to the experienced eye.
But there is sufficient resemblance to make adulteration easy. I have no doubt a good deal
of pathar is sold as baluchar. The Commission will remember that on their inspection of the
two chief drug shops in Allahabad the vendors professed to have no "pathar" for sale, but on
visiting the contractor's storehouse a quantity of pathar was there found in stock. Last
year Babu Ganga Bishen, the head of the Patna family, and the largest contractor in the
provinces, was found in the Nimar district engaging with the cultivators to manufacture their
ganja so as to resemble baluchar and instructing them in the process. This had occurred also
on a previous occasion. I have handed to the Commission a specimen of Khandwa ganja
which I found on sale in a shop here and which approaches baluchar in quality and appear-
ance. All these circumstances seem to indicate that the duty on Bengal ganja has reached a
point which must lead to its gradual exclusion from a market where it has to compete with
the cheaper products of other localities. I should also add that the districts in which there is
reason to believe that locally grown ganja is surreptitiously prepared are chiefly districts in
which baluchar is used.