CENTRAL PROVINCES MEMORANDUM.
65
at fixed rates issued without limit as to the number of shops at any one place had not
generally answered, the reason being that sufficient data for deciding what fee might fairly be
fixed in each case were not available.
The sale of foreign bhang was no longer permitted to retail vendors of ganja: wholesale
ganja contractors and their agents were constituted sole vendors of the drug. The bhang
imported had to be stored in the same way as ganja, and a direct duty of Rs. 2 was made
leviable on each seer sold. No fee was payable for a license for retail vend of foreign bhang.
Charas and foreign majum had never been imported, so no provision for their sale was
required. The case of local majum appears to have been overlooked when the rules were
framed; but the plan started in 1880-81 of licensing separate shops for its sale continued
to be followed in practice. (See para. 17.)
25. Advantage was taken of the opportunity afforded by the breaking up of the monopoly
of wholesale vend to obtain some revenue from wholesale license fees. The arrangement
with the firm of Jaitram Mahadeo had been to levy duty at Rs. 2 per seer on the cleaned
ganja issued, and to allow them to sell that ganja at Rs. 3 per seer to retail vendors. The
terms of that arrangement were more favourable than the circumstances of most districts
justified, and each wholesale vendor had henceforward to pay a certain amount per seer in
addition to the direct duty of Rs. 2, the rate varying in different districts and being general-
ly determined by tender.
26. The Sironcha sub-division of the Chanda district had from the first, as already
remarked, been excluded from the system of supply prevailing in the rest of the province.
Retail vendors had always supplied themselves with ganja from the Hyderabad and Madras
country. The rules of February 1882, however, only permitted import by wholesale vendors,
and licenses could only be granted by the Deputy Commissioner and with the sanction of the
Commissioner of Excise. To meet this special case, a rule was added empowering the Assist-
ant Commissioner of the Sironcha sub-division to grant import licenses to any authorized
vendor of ganja.
27. The gross revenue of the year, excluding credits to Government on sales of ganja
to certain feudatory States in the Raipur district, was Rs. 1,11,095-6-1, made up as
follows:—
Rs. A. P.
Direct duty on ganja
47,935 7 10
Wholesale license fees—ganja
11,021 12 2
Retail
50,654 9 0
Direct duty on bhang
851 7 9
Retail license fees—majum
632 1 4
The amount of taxed ganja consumed was a few seers short of 600 maunds. Besides this,
about 56 maunds were supplied by a wholesale vendor to feudatory States and zamindaris.
Retail sales decreased in all districts except Chanda and Damoh, and the fall was very marked
in Raipur and Bilaspur, where, however, the statistics given for 1881-82 include sales to
feudatories and zamindaris. The pressure of the higher retail rates was now being generally
felt by consumers, and smuggling and illicit cultivation had to be contended with in conse-
quence. In some districts, too, the wholesale vendors had supplied old and inferior ganja;
to guard against a repetition of this they were required to supply in 1883-84 none but ganja
of the crop raised in 1882.
In Sambulpur the revenue had always been insignificant, and the rate per seer for issue to
retail vendors was reduced from Rs. 3 to Rs. 2 for that district, in order to give our taxed
drug a chance against that smuggled from the Tributary Mahals of Orissa and the States of
Chutia Nagpur; at the same time the direct duty was lowered to Re. 1 per seer. Similarly,
in the case of the Raipur district, the south and south-east portions of which suffered from
the illicit introduction of ganja from Bastar, the rate of issue to retail vendors in the Sihawa
Pargana was reduced to Rs. 2, on condition that none should be sold for consumption beyond
the limits of that pargana.
For this year and onwards satisfactory statistics of cultivation in Nagpur and Nimar
are available. The total amount of the roughly manufactured drug deposited in the Govern-
ment stores was 4,021 maunds, nearly 5-6ths of which was raised in Nimar.
The number of retail shops was considerably reduced, the most important change being
in Balaghat, where the allowance in 1881-82 had been far too large in proportion to
population. The average incidence of revenue was a little more than 21/4 pies per head.
1883-84.
28. There were no important administrative changes in
1883-84.
The total revenue from the Khalsa proper was Rs. 1,29,207-2-6, made up as under:—
Rs. A. P.
Direct duty on ganja
59,663 11 9
Wholesale license fees—ganja
10,584 6 9
Retail
"
"
"
57,556 14 0
Direct duty on bhang
769 10 0
Retail license fees—majum
632 8 0
17