'REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1903-1904' [‎106r] (99/112)

1903-1904.]
EXCISE.
75
; s 8 ( i ! 58 ^
ls year, p.„:
lhe ^
*» 2,1
7 * the,
JS f tof ‘keP,«i
fr °m Rs.il
consumers
te wag 1 '
Aden.
Chap. V.
FINANCIAL
BEVIEW.
8 to Rs. l^o,
et from Marc
cause combin
Rui,
f Rg.
Jased by
^ in Rataagiii
sh cured m \
to 56,414 bu:
lc ial results si
i-e., ?18 ki
al Salt, 246 i
’ell from 213 fc
utier.
; as
General.
Changes in
administration.
extent of Rs,l
not only k
, There wasi
be minimum at
s. Depots ffl
t any great at:
i some extent.
is Frontier tlr
Frontier, by i
1. The quantity o£ gait produced rose by 4,028 maunds to 88,247 maunds. Of this 62,607 Salt in Aden,
maunds were exported into the interior of Arabia and 25,639 maunds were consumed in British’
limits. Keceipts rose to Rs. 17,650 and expenditure fell to Rs. 1,848.
2. The exports of salt from the Italian factory An East India Company trading post. at Shaikh Othman rose by 25,370 tons Italian Salt Works
to 80,934 tons, owing to increased demand from Calcutta and Penang.
10. Excise.
For details see the Annual Report of the Excise Department for 1903-1904 and tables
under V—Excise—appended to the Financial and Commercial Statistics of British India.
1. The Abkari year now ends with the financial year on March 31st.
2. The new separate shop system of country liquor sale, noted last year as being tried in
Relgaum, was introduced into Poona, Satara and Khdndesh Districts. In the case of the last
named district it was slightly modified, the shops or groups of shops being disposed of by a
system of tender of minimum guarantee of duty instead of the license fees being fixed by auctions.
The chief points about the new system are that it does away with the old monopoly system of
havino* one contractor only for a very large number of shops and that no fixed maximum retail
price is laid down by Government. In Poona, Satara and Belgaum prices ranged from Re. 1 to
Rs. 1-8-0 per bottle against the fixed price of 13 or 14 annas, under the old system and the
result was a decrease in the consumption and the partial ousting of country liquor by cheap
imported spirits and Indian rum excised at tariff rates. In Khandesh on the other hand there
was a large increase in consumption.
The Ddngs were transferred from the Khandesh to the Surat District for A'bkari
management.
Arrangements have been made with Native States to secure the effective control of hemp
drugs. Cocaine has been held to be an intoxicating drug and its sale, except under a license,
prohibited.
3. Still-head duty increased by nearly 5£ Mkhs to Rs. 67,34,627. The total increase is Country spirit,
258 807 ballons and it is visible in all districts save those abovementioned and points to
improved 5 prosperity. Surat (70,142 gallons) and Khdndesh (66,596 gallons) show the largest
increases. License fees for the sale of country spirits in Bombay, Belgaum, Poona and batara
realised Rs. 9,44,986. There was a slight increase in the amount of toddy spirit distilled.
alt Works f
salt i
nsumed,^
jvious ye ar '
year.
. 6,29,3 m
B*p>
to
4. The revenue from toddy amounted to Bs. 15,52,000, an increase of more than one and
a half laths. About Rs, 9| lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees were realised as fees for tapping of various kinds. While tees
for the sale of toddy realised more than Rs. 5| lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees or nearly one lakh One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees more than last year.
An experiment in manufacturing jagii from toddy was made but proved hardly a
success. Fewer licenses for domestic consumption were given, this form of license being
considered to be specially liable to abuse. The consumption of toddy increased by over 7 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees
of gallons.
5. The noticeable feature is the large increase in the quantity of rum distilled near Poona
which was excised at tariff rates and which owing to the high pnee of country liquor found a
market in Poona and Satdra. 10,711 gallons as against 406 in 1902-1903 were put on sale
in foreign liquor shops and 14,618 gallons was diluted to 25° U. P. and supplied to the country
liquor vendors in Sdtara.
6. There was a large increase in the amount of Ganja produced and a small one m that
of Bhang. 163 licenses were granted for the sale of cocaine.
7 The total stock of opium for home consumption was 1,161 chests (including 72 chests
imported free of duty by Native States) as against 1,032 chests in the Previous year, and^the
amount of duty realised increased by nearly Rs. 70,000 to s. > > • 'ri ie increase was
the quantity sold was 81,616 lbs., an increase of 8,000 lbs. on 1902-1903. liie increase was
general in the selection diswiets-Sholdpur, Khandesh, Ahmednagar and Ahmedabad all having
increases of over 1,000 lbs. In the non-selection districts, that is, \ he . r ® ^ X fil d XimuS
is in force, there was a general decrease in consumption due to the abolition °£ the fixed ma
price and the high prices charged in consequence. To the Native States opium e xt ent
of 48,231 lbs. duty paid and 9,800 lbs. duty free was supplied against 2 h ; 08 7 ^^nd 4 015 jb^
resnectivelv in the eiffht months of the previous year. The proportionate consumption in
Native States increased especially in Kathidwdr, Pdlanpur and Catch,
elsewhere, is attributable to reviving prosperity. In Baroda e i P
produced increased by over 1,200 lbs. to 23,302 lbs.
8. The total excise receipts exceeded those of 1902-1903 by over ll|yhhs amounting to
106 tekhs. The chief increase is under “ country spirit which increased by 8 2 M 7
78 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees , but the increase is general, “toddy ' improving by 1 4 Idkhs and opu y y
Rs. 90,000 to 7^ lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees .
Toddy,
Foreign liquor and
Indian liquor excised
at tariff rates.
Intoxicating drugs
other than opium.
Opium.
Excise revenue.