42. Evidence of BABU NAVIN KRISHNA BANERJI, Brahman, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Puralia, District Manbhurn.

1. My father, the late Babu Mathura Nath Banerji, was for many years, till the time of his death in October 1870, the Excise Deputy Collector of Rajshahi, and as such had the ganja cultivation under his charge. I was for some three months employed as Excise Deputy Collector of Calcutta. I had during my service to hold temporary charge of Excise Deputy Collector's duties. My experience therefore on the whole is limited.

2. The three products are known by the name given by Dr. Prain, the only difference being that bhang or siddhi is also called sabji at different places.

3. Rajshahi and Jessore.

4. See answer to question 2.

5. Wild hemp grows in rather alluvial and moist, but not brackish, soil.

6. Generally dense.

7. In Rajsha,hi.
(a) Yes.
(b) Yes.
(c) Yes.
((1) Not hnown to me.

15. (A) Ganja is smoked with tobacco leaves and prepared tobacco, after having Leen well moistened, cut, and then broken up by pressure of the thumb on the palm of the hand. Well-to-do persons moisten it with a sprinkling of rose-water when being rubbed on the palm of the hand.
(B) Ganja is not eaten, but siddhi or bhang is.
(C) Bhang, when well prepared, is made from wild hemp leaves boiled in a mixture of milk and water and then dried. It is well kneaded with anise seed and pepper, generally in a stone pot by a nim sonta or stick. It is then mixed with a good quantity of water and drunk. With a view to make it agreeable to taste, milk, sugar, spices and sprinkling of rose-water are also mixed up with it before being drunk. The addition of sugar, however, increases its intoxicating power. Most of the lower classes of up-country men drink siddhi. They say it cools the stomach and prevents diarrhcea. Charas is mixed up with prepared tobacco and smoked. Siddhi is also drunk at times by respectable people during the bot season.

16. Formerly, before bhang was included as an exciseable article, it was prepared by the people at their own houses. Siddhi is prepared from the leaves of the male hemp plants. Ganja and charas are never prepared from the wild hemp plant known as siddhi.

18. Siddhi with occasional exposure to the sun may be preserved without deterioration for about two years. The same may be said with regard to ganja. Dampness and insects spoil them.

19. I have seen ganja being placed in cocoanut oil and high-boiled for application in cases of skin diseases of children.

20. The Bagdis, Dulias, Baistavs, garwans, sanyasis, fakirs and hard-working menial class smoke ganja. About one-twentieth of the people at least of almost all localities smoke ganja ; charas is seldom smoked. It is generally smoked by the uneducated gentry, specially on the occasion of a public fair and entertainment, etc.

21. Round aanja is almost universally pre- ferred for smoking, as it contains more of the resinous matter than in any other kind of it. Poor people for cheapness generally buy the flat ganja.

22. Charas is generally brought by licensed vendors from Calcutta.

23. I have never heard of LI:tang-smoking.
Bhang is generally drunk. It is chewed with betel in rare cases of diarrhcea. Majnm, a preparation of siddhi with sweet, is also eaten. It is sold in tablets It is very seldom sold or used.

25. Ganja-smoking is still on the increase among the lower classes where country liquor is not cheap. The smoking of charas is much on the decline. The drinking of siddhi may be said to be rather stationary.

26.                Ganja.    Siddhi.
Per cent.    Per cent.
(a)         •        .    75    50
(b)     •    •    •    .5    1
(e)    .            .    15    48
(d)        •    •    5    1

27. Hard-working people smoke ganja to give them relief in their work and to pr. tect them from the effects of the climate. People with sufficient means and no work become excessive consumers of the drug. Sanyasis and fakirs who have little or no work and often travel unprotect. ed in different climates cailnot do without ganja.

28. Three pice worth of ganja and half pice worth of siddhi is sufficient for a habitual mode. rate consumer of the drugs. A chillum of ganja cannot be smoked till it is entirely done with. It must be smoked with intervals of a minute or two. When there is no company it must be allowed to he consumed by the fire during the necessary in terval. Where there is company it is smoked in-turn by all present, and so full use of the ehillum is made. Ganja-smoking people generally assemble in numbers of two, three or four people and smoke together. Retail ganja is soll at six annas a tola. Three pice ganja generally admits of three chillums being made out of the same. When ganja is smoked in company two pice of ganja may be sufficient for a moderate consumer per diem.

29. (a) See answer to question 15.
I do not know of any case of dhatura being mixed with genja or siddhi. Dhatura generally brings on insanity. I do not kuow what a bhang massala is.

30. All the three drugs are generally taken in company. Females very seldom use them ; children do not use them. These drugs are used after the sixteenth or seventeenth year.

31. Those who mix in low company easily form the habit of smoking ganja. Lazy and rich people as well as young folks are apt to run to excess in ganja and charas smoking. Hardly people go into excess in siddhi-drinking. I do not think that ganja-smokiug can easily be given up.

32. On Bijaya Dasami a little siddhi mixed with water is taken by Hindu male adult people,—generally a handful is taken. This creates neither any intoxication nor any tendency to take it after the occasion is over.

33. Ganja-smokers are looked down upon. They are generally believed to be intemperate in their language and are credited with little intellect. There is no religious prohibition to the use of these drugs. The sanyasis offer the chillum of ganja after it is ready to god Siva or Mahadeb.

34. The privation from charas-smoking likely creates no injury. Habitual ganja-smoker is apt to get dysentery when he is suddenly compelled to give up smoking it. Nothing serious likely happens in giving up siddhi-drinking, though the general health of the drinker may suffer from total abstinence from it.

35. (a) No.
(b) Yes.
(c) By raising the duty.
(d) Yes.
(e) No.
(1) Not likely in all cases.

36. Generally not yet.

37. Charas is much milder than ganja.

38. Round ganja containing in full all the flower with its resinous matter gives more intoxication than flat or chur ganja.

41. (a) Bhang is believed to be digestive. (b) and (c) Ganja.
Moderate habitual use.

42. Bhang and charas may be harmless, but ganja not so. Ganja-smokers generally fall a prey to dysentery and bronchial complaints.

43. Generally so, except in rare cases.

44. (a) Refreshment.
(b) Yes.
(e) Nominal.
(d) Partially.
(g) Ganja smokers generally die from dysentery and bronchial complaints.
(h) Yes; a great longing and uneasiness in the case of ganja-smokers, who become moody and unwell for want of the drug.

45. (a) There is physical improvement. The use of ganja and charas also causes mental and moral debasement.
(b) No.
(c) No.
(d) Yes, saving in the case of siddhi and charas.
(e) Yes,    ditto    siddhi only.
(f) Yes,    ditto    ditto.
At first the insanity is of a temporary nature. It gradually takes a permanent hold when ganjasmoking is continued after plain manifestations of insanity. Yes, the symptoms may be reinduced by use of the drug after liberation from restraint. In lucid moments insanes confess to the use of the drug.
(g) I cannot say.
When a boy I saw an old Brahman get almost stark insane. He was carefully tended by his wife and prevented from use of the drug—ganja. He got well and gave up ganja-smoking.
About the year 18m9, when Subdivisional Officer of Diamond Harbour, a Muhammadan having taken excess of ganja became insane. He appropriated the uniform of the police-officer of Geonkhally and came to Diamond Harbour by steamer without a ticket. He was prosecuted. It appeared that ganja-smoking brought on fits of temporary insanity. He was sent to the lunatic asylum and came back all right. He was a strong man of middle age.

47. No.

51. Ganja-smoking hardens the sensibilities of the smoker.

54. Yes, I have heard of this.

58. The duty on ganja is being gradually increased. It has already become bard for the poor labouring classes who take it as an alleviation against hard work, and a protective against exposure, to meet their wants. The duty should not be raised higher than what it is now.

62. No.

66. Yes, according to intoxicating power, or rather on the quantity of the actual flowers existing in several sorts of the g,anjas.

67. In marshy, jungly, terai and pestilential places the taxation ought to be smaller than in towns and healthy places.

69. I cannot say whether the wishes of the people are considered, but they ought to be.