85
47. The use is not
hereditary. The children are
not directly affected.
49. Ganja is so
used by prostitutes. This use
is more injurious than as a narcotic, because in
this way the consumer uses the drug to excess.
The habitually excessive use is said to produce
impotence.
50. Answered in question No. 49.
51. Crime cannot be
attributed to the use of
any of these drugs here.
52. A ganja consumer when
under the influence
of the drug may be more easily provoked to
personal violence than non-consumers in general.
53 and 54. No.
55. Ganja and
dhatura may be used. The only
cases in which these are now used are in theft
cases. The commonest type is that of theft of
ornaments from prostitutes.
56. Tobacco lessens the effect.
57. They are not
eaten or drunk here, as far
as I can ascertain.
58. It is working satisfactorily here.
59. The duty should
be sufficiently great to
prevent the consumption of these drugs increas-
ing. The duty has been increased on ganja since
1st January 1894.
69. Enquiry is held by
the Sub-Divisional
Officer as to the wishes of the inhabitants of any
place before opening a shop there.
36. Evidence of
MR. W. C. TAYLOR, Special Deputy Collector, Land
Acquisition,
East Coast Railway, and Pensioned Deputy Magistrate and Deputy
Collector,
Khurda, Orissa.
1. About 47 years'
residence in India, including
33 years as Assistant Commissioner, Deputy
Magistrate, etc., spent chiefly in the mafassal,
where I was in charge of sub-divisions with
management of Abkari or Excise matters. Since
1866 I have been in Orissa, but my personal
knowledge of the subject is very limited, and
most of my answers to the questions have been
compiled from replies to enquiries from natives
of the district who have some knowledge.
2. Dr. Prain's
names and definitions are correct
and are used in Orissa. Charas is not much used
in Orissa.
The formation of seed
does not appear to be
prevented entirely in the preparation or rather
growth of the plant, as most ganja contains
fertile seeds which germinate freely.
The names flat or chipta
ganja, round or gol
ganja, and broken or bhanga ganja are all used in
Orissa. There are no other names.
3. I am not aware
of the hemp plant being
indigenous in Bengal, Behar, or Orissa, but the
plant grows freely from seed everywhere on suit-
able soil.
4. Ganja or ganjai.
The Uriya ganja and
Telegu ganjai; both names refer to the same
plant. There is, I believe, doubt as to the two
species, Cannabis sativa and Cannabis Indica,
being really distinct.
5. No special
conditions, excepting rich light
soil, with sufficient moisture, appear to be neces-
sary.
The plant is indigenous
in the hills of Northern
India, and grows freely, producing flowers and
seeds all over India, and, I believe, Asia.
6. I have never seen wild hemp growing.
7. (a) Yes;
in the Tributary States of Orissa
and in Ganjam, and Gumsar in Madras.
(b) No.
(c) Yes. Ditto Ditto.
(d) No.
I cannot give the extent
of cultivation in the
Tributary Mahals. The plant is usually grown
in the gardens or near the homesteads of the
raiyats, but in more or less small plots. No duty
is charged on the plant or its products in the Tri-
butary States and in Madras, which presidency
adjoins Orissa, ganja is not an exciseable article.
All the hill tribes, such as Khonds, Santias, etc.,
grow and consume ganja and bhang as a preven-
tive of malarious fevers.
8. There has of
late years been some decrease
in the area under cultivation in the Orissa Tribu-
tary States owing to pressure put on the Chiefs
to forbid cultivation near the boundaries of the
regulation districts of Puri, Cuttack, and Bala-
sore. A few years ago I recollect that the
Madras authorities refused to check the cultiva-
tion of hemp in Gumsar on the grounds that the
Khonds required ganja and bhang as a safeguard
against malarial fevers. A considerable amount
of what is called Gurjat ganja and patti are smug-
gled into Cuttack, Puri, and Balasore.
9. The hemp plant
is usually cultivated in
small plots of light rich soil, on the plants getting
well up, they are hoed and weeded, roots loosened,
and vegetable mould or well rotted cowdung
applied as manure.
10. All classes and
castes will cultivate the
hemp plant. The cultivation, where permitted, is
not confined to any particular class. In the
course of my service I have often found a few
plants of hemp growing in the gardens of
Brahmins and other high caste natives. Unless
these plants are found and pulled up by the
police, they are invariably used for preparation of
ganja and bhang.
11. I do not know.
12. I know nothing
of the so-called wild hemp.
In the hemp grown in Orissa and Ganjam the
male plants are not, I believe, extirpated.
13. The cultivation
of the hemp plant for
ganja is not permitted in the regulation parts of
Orissa. In the Non-regulation parts or Tribu-
tary States the cultivation is permitted by the
Chiefs of those States, but in States which lapse
to Government, or which come under Govern-
ment management, cultivation of hemp is not,
I believe, allowed. In the adjoining district of
Ganjam in Madras, I believe that there are no
restrictions on the cultivation of the plant or the
preparation of its products, ganja not being, I
believe, an exciseable article in Madras.
14. Flat ganja is
prepared in the Tributary
States. Charas is not prepared. Bhang is pre-
pared all over Orissa. I cannot give the extent,