BENGAL MEMORANDUM.                                  9

Clauses 52—55, section XX, Excise
Manual.

(2)   No delivery of the drugs is made except in the presence of an excise officer (gene-
rally a Deputy Collector), and under an order from the Collector or from an
officer duly authorized by the Collector to grant passes, and no pass is granted.
until the full amount of duty has been levied, as evidenced by the treasury
chalan.

(3)   A ticket is attached to each bale or bag showing the actual quantity contained in
it, and whenever ganja is taken out of a bag, the quantity so taken out is noted
on the ticket and the balance struck after each transaction. These entries are
mad'3 by the officer issuing the drug and initialled by him.

(4)   The gola licensee is not allowed to sell any quantity of ganja by retail vend
under his license.

(5)   The goladar is bound to give access to the store whenever required by the excise
officer in charge or his official superior.

Besides, as already stated, at the end of each year stock is taken of the quantity of ganja
or siddhi in the gola by the Excise Deputy Collector or the
sub-divisional officer, as the case may be, and duty is levied on
all deficiency in excess of 21/2 per cent.

36. Rates of duty on Rajshahi Ganja from 1853—

Garhjat ganja is not manufactured with as much care as Rajshahi ganja. It contains
more leaves and seeds and less resin, and is much inferior to the Rajshahi drug in quality.
A lower rate of duty is, therefore, fixed on it. It is only of one variety—flat.

37.   Duty on charas.—The duty was fixed at Rs. 8 per seer under Government order,
No. 3347, dated the 23th October 1880, referred to in paragraph 104 of the Excise Report for
1880-81.

38.   Duty on siddhi or bhang.—It appears from paragraph 123 of the Excise Administra-
tion Report for 1874-75 that a duty of 4 annas per seer was levied in Calcutta in that year
for the first time. It further appears from paragraph 82 of the Excise Report for 1879-80
that a duty of 8 annas per seer was fixed on siddhi from 1st April 1879 for the entire pro-
vince.

39.   The number of retail licenses for the sale of hemp-drugs is determined according
to the bond fide demand of the drug at a place. This may be regarded as the guiding prin-
ciple in opening a new shop. But the vast majority of the shops are of old standing, and the
question in recent years has been one rather of elimination than of augmentation. In 1873-74
the number of ganja shops was 4,898, while in 1892-93 it was only 2,673. The object that
the department has kept steadily in view is to do away with unnecessary places of vend.
There is no fixed rule based on area or population, as the demand varies largely in different
districts and in different parts of the same district. In December every year the Collector
decides the number and sites of retail shops to be licensed during the next official year. As
a rule no new shop is allowed to be opened unless there is a sufficient demand for the drug at
the locality. An upset price is fixed as regards each license, based generally on the average
fees paid in the last three years, any increase or decrease in sales being also taken into consi-
deration. The Collector's proposals are reviewed and finally sanctioned by the Commissioner
with the approval of the Board of Revenue. All the licenses are sold by public auction in
March for the ensuing year.

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