20
61. The Governor General in Council considers that both in Madras and
Defects in the system of administration in Bombay the excise administration of hemp
Madras and Bombay pointed out.
drugs might be greatly improved, and that
the taxation in these two presidencies is capable of considerable development.
The area under cultivation should be restricted in both presidencies, no
cultivation should be permitted without license, and arrangements should be
made in them for the supervision of the manufacture and storage of the crop in
order to the imposition of a fixed duty on ganja in addition to the fees for
licensed vend which are already levied. In Madras too the import and ex-
port of the drugs must be placed under control.
62. In Berar, Ajmere, Coorg, and Quetta-Peshin the system should be
System of administration in force in some of assimilated to that in force in other prov-
the minor provinces and the Punjab.
inces.
In the Punjab an import duty
ought to be levied on charas, it being provided that all charas shall be taken to
bonded warehouses, and a duty, which the Commission propose to fix at R80
per maund, must be levied on all charas issued from the warehouses. The
duty may, the Governor General in Council considers, be all levied when
the charas is issued from the bonded warehouse; it does not seem expedient
to make the duty in part payable on issue from the Punjab bonded ware-
house and in part in the provinces to which the charas is removed, as this
proposal of the Commission would tend to complicate the levy of the duty.
The credit of the duty to the province of consumption is a matter of account
that can be separately arranged.
General recommendations of the Commission
63
. The recommendations of the Com
extending to all India, and orders of the Gov- mission, which are general to all India,
ernor General in Council thereon.
are
—
(a) As regards bhang, that such measures as are possible should be
taken for controlling and taxing it.
In Bengal a duty of 8 annas a sér is levied on all bhang brought to the
storehouses under Government supervision. In the Central Provinces a duty of
R2 per sér is levied on foreign bhang, which limits the import, and is, as the
Commission remark, excessive. Where there is considerable spontaneous
growth nothing can be done except to regulate the traffic and to auction the
monopoly of retail vend. In other parts the cultivation should be prohibited
except under license, and arrangements should be made for the transfer of the
whole crop from licensed cultivators to authorised vendors. These recom-
mendations have the approval of the Governor General in Council. It is
doubtful if any attempt should be made to extirpate spontaneous growth by
rendering the occupiers of land responsible if it is found on their land;
although in ganja-growing tracts it may be necessary to treat bhang as ganja,
otherwise the ganja administration will be imperilled.
(b) Import, export, and transport duties on ganja are not required
except, perhaps, on imports from such Native States as do not
assimilate their system to that in force in British India. Imports
from such States should, however, be as far as possible prohibited.
(c) The sale of licenses for the different drugs separately is advocated
by the Commission, but this is a matter which the Governor
General in Council thinks may well be left to Local Adminis-
trations. Retail licenses should not, the Governor General in
Council agrees, be granted to wholesale vendors because, if both
retail and wholesale vend is in the same hands, the holder has
a practical monopoly, which is not desirable; and the Governor
General in Council also accepts the recommendation that shops
should be sold separately, and not sold at all unless a sufficient
sum is bid for them.
(d)
( d ) A s t o c o n s u m p t i o n o n o r o f f t h e p r e m i s e s o f h e m p d r u g s h o p s , t h i s
is a matter which should be regulated by Local Governments.
Licenses for the sale of hemp drugs should not be granted to
females, and the sale of the drugs to children or insane persons
should clearly be prohibited.
(c) The question of local option is next discussed by the Commission.
In Municipal towns the Governor General in Council considers