CH. I.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 13
prefaces the volumes of
evidence appended to the report. The evidence of all
these witnesses is contained in the appendices.
The number of persons or
associations who submitted written statements of
their views in response to the Commission's invitation was
extremely limited. In
most cases their names appeared in the list of witnesses selected
by Local Gov-
ernments and Administrations, and they submitted detailed answers
to the Com-
mission's questions in which their views were fully set forth. In
their cases the
preliminary written statements, which were not intended to be
treated as evidence,
but were meant, as it were, to serve as an introduction to the
Commission, have
not been published, and only the written answers to the questions
and the oral
examination (if any) has been published. These will be found
incorporated in
the appendices containing the evidence. In the few cases in which
answers
to the questions were not furnished, the statements themselves have
been
treated as evidence, and have been published with the oral
examination when such
was made.
The evidence: Method of
treat-
ment of—
16. The Commission have
given a liberal interpretation to the term "evidence,"
and have not required that
the persons giving evidence
should of necessity actually appear before them. To
facilitate the collection of information, a series of 70 questions
framed by the
Commission was placed in the hands of the witnesses, or of the
majority of them,
and the written answers to these questions form the bulk of the
evidence before the
Commission. Also, as explained above, written statements, whether
following the
general line of the questions or not, which were from time to time
submitted by
persons or by associations who either did not care to answer the
questions in
detail or had no opportunity of doing so, have been accepted and
treated as
evidence.
In admitting to the
record these answers to questions and written state-
ments, the Commission have not held it necessary that the writers
should come
before them. The system followed was to summon, or request the
attendance
of, only those persons whom, after a perusal of their written
papers, the Com-
mission thought it desirable to examine orally. The papers of those
whom
it was not considered necessary to examine orally were at once
admitted to
the record. In summoning certain witnesses the Commission were
generally
influenced by the fact that their papers contained statements as to
facts or
expressed opinions which would be further elucidated if the witness
had an oppor-
tunity of explaining them verbally before the Commission. It was
not con-
sidered necessary to summon every witness whose evidence seemed to
require to
be tested or elucidated by oral examination: where several
witnesses gave evid-
ence of precisely the same character, it was deemed sufficient to
select only
some as representatives to be summoned. It was obviously impossible
within
reasonable time to cross-examine all witnesses. Other witnesses
were sum-
moned, not because their papers expressed any views which
themselves
required sifting, but because the Commission had reason to believe
that these
witnesses might, either from their position or from any other
cause, be able to give
further information than that contained in their papers. In orally
examining the
witnesses, the Commission did not take them through the whole range
of their
inquiries. The oral examination was almost entirely confined to
those points in
the written paper which required further elucidation, or to the
subjects on which
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