NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES AND OUDH MEMORANDUM.
31
statements go only five or six maunds annually pass into their possession. This must be a
small part of the produce, which, moreover, could be largely extended if there were a sufficient
demand.
32. I have made many enquiries to ascertain if true charas is in these parts of India
ever extracted from the plant grown in the plains. I have now got definite information of
two localities in which this occurs. It was stated incidentally that some charas is made by the
ganja cultivators in Gwalior. Colonel Pitcher has kindly verified this through his Assistant,
Pandit Gopal Ram, who reports that "a certain amount of charas is obtained in this (Gwalior)
State by scraping off the resin which adheres to the hands in cutting the ganja plant. In
tahsil Antri the cultivators do not care much about the charas. In tahsil Kalaras, district
Narwar, I hear charas is obtained in small quantities by the same process as in Kumaun and
Garhwal." The second locality is in the Kumaun Tarai and Bhabar, where the practice was
possibly introduced by the hill men who come down to cultivate there. The method is the same
as that employed in the hills. The flowers of the wild plant are rubbed in the hands and the
resin which adheres is scraped off. No record can be kept of the amount so prepared, but it
does not as yet seem to be considerable. I have obtained specimens' of this charas from both
Gwalior and Kumaun, and will submit them to the Commission.
It is a fact of first-rate importance to know that charas can be and is manufactured in
the plains and from the wild plant. This at once enlarges immensely the possible sources of
supply. It has been stated that charas is collected in Sind and Central India by the tradition-
al process of men, naked or leather clad, running through the hemp fields. The story seems
to require verification. It seems strange that no charas is produced in all the handling which
the Bengal ganja undergoes in the process of preparation.
ADMINISRATION
33. The excise on hemp-drugs is administered under Act XXII of 1881 and rules there-
under. The administration is carried on by the ordinary district staff. The central control-
ling authority is the Board of Revenue. The Commissioner of Excise has the power of a
Revenue Commission under the Act. His statutory powers are limited to those defined in
sections 54 and 14 of the Act. He has little initiative or final authority, and acts chiefly as an
intermediary between Collectors and the Board. There is one uniform system of administer-
ing the drug revenue for the whole provinces. The right of sale over a fixed area is farmed
to a contractor, who is at liberty to procure his drugs wherever he likes and to sell them at any
price he chooses. No distinction is drawn between the different sorts of hemp drugs; all
are included in the same license and are stored by the farmer on his own premises. There is
no import duty here of any sort. The contracts are usually for an entire district—in some
cases for tahsils or parganas. There is nothing to prevent a contractor having separate
contracts for several districts. The ordinary period is for one year, but contracts are now often
given for two or three years and the longer periods always fetch proportionally higher sums.
The chief reason for this is that there is an enormous difference between the wholesale and
retail prices, and an out-going contractor can flood the market with cheap drugs, which lessen
the sales of the new contractor for weeks or months. The number and locality of the
retail shop has been fixed by the Collector subject to the orders of the Board and is
revised from time to time. Shops are only located in places where a demand exists.
The maximum proportion is one to every 10,000 of the population. In a very few cases
this is exceeded for special reasons. In more cases the proportion is less. In the tabular
statement which accompanies this memorandum, the number of shops before 1878-79
cannot in many cases be stated, as the returns showed only the number of farms. A
general revision of the number of drug shops was undertaken some time ago, and con-
siderable reductions effected which will come into operation in the year now commenc-
ing (1893-94). For that year the total number of shops in the provinces is 3,673, being
one for every 12,770 of the population. A list of the shops is notified at the time of
sale, and no alterations are permitted without sanction. The contractor either sublets the
shops or works them through his servants. As a rule, he holds the best shops in the
large towns in direct management, and sublets the rest. He keeps the wholesale vend in his
own hands and supplies his servants and sub-lessees, charging the latter at prices which leave
him a large margin, and he makes his profits partly in this way and partly by requiring cash
payments from sub-lessees. The shop licenses are all issued by the Collector on printed forms
(Appendix XX, Excise Manual). When the contractor has made his arrangements, he applies
to the Collector, filing a list which shows the names of the shops and licensees. This is com-
pared with the sanctioned list of shops, and the licenses are made out in the Collector's office
and given to the contractor. If he wishes at any time to change the retail vendor, he can do
so by applying to the Collector and returning the first license.
I do not know of any case in which an objection was ever made on public grounds to the
number or locality of drug shops. If any such objection were made, it would receive due
consideration. The neighbours are not affected by the presence of these shops, as there is rarely
any consumption on the premises.
34. The contracts are sold by auction in each district at the time of the other annual
excise settlements. As a rule of course the highest offer is accepted, but it is sometimes found