1 REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NORTHERN INDIA
2 PENAL ACTION OF THE The figures for the Internal Branch are 1,067 arrests in 1893-94
3 ; and 1,190 in 1894-95, increase 128 cases, due to the greater
4 number of crude saltpetre factories at work in the upper dis-
5 tricts of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, where the svil
6 is more saline than it is lower down country and the tempta-
7 tions to break the law are stronger.
8 Departmental releases, 77. Details of the discharges made at the time and place
9 after local enquiry by departmental officers are given below for
10 the past two years. The headings of the columns show the
11 reasons for discharge :—
12 For making or ie proof of ignor-
13 Infirm persons being in posses- 3 o
14 Year. pregnant women | sion of lesa than Seas ee Total. |
15 and children, | one seer of illicit { “° . ft -
16 salt, want of proof.
17 ees _ 2s qui cies He eS ee
18 1898-94 a 4 09 | 59. 872
19 1894-95 ae 4 800 | 81 885
20 Tunishments awarded by 78. The abstract included in this paragraph shows the
21 Criminal Courts,
22 punishments awarded by Criminal Courts, full details of which
23 are supplied in Appendix V. The punishments awarded are
24 adequate, and the department has again to acknowledge the
25 assistance given to it by Magistrates :—
26 Number impri- :
27 soned in default {Average period of Number who paid
28 " Y Average Amount.
29 Cars of payment imprisonment. fines. of fines,
30 of fines,
31 Number... Month. days. Number, Rs.
32 1893-94 me 194 1 4 391 7-23
33 1894-95 ae 166 1 | 14 861 8:90
34 Summary of the chief 79. The following is a brief narrative of some o fthe princi-
35 eae daring the al seizures which occurred during the year :—
36 Punjab Mines Division —(1) A village chaukidir seized 43
37 maunds of earth salt in the Dera Ghézi Khan district in the
38 possession of a man hawking it forsale. The salt was manu-
39 factured through the want of vigilance on the part of the Salt
40 Revenue establishment posted in the district. The possessor
41 of the salt was punished with 6 months’ rigorous imprisonment,
42 and the salt and the camel it was being conveyed upon were
43 confiscated. The chaukidar was rewarded.
44 . (2) Inspector Altaf Ali (since promoted for his good work
45 in the Indus Preventive Line in North Hazara) and his party
46 were watching at 11 0’clock at night for smugglers near Oghi,
47 where the Darband-Oghi road enters British territory from the
48 Amb Jaghir, when four smugglers carrying beadloads of Kohat
49 salt, aggregating 31 maunds, approached. Three were seen
50 and promptly tackled. .The fourth man was some way behind
51 and escaped when he heard the noise, leaving his salt, which
52 was afterwards found, behind. The three men seen showed
53 fight and began by throwing their loads of salt on top of our
54 men, and then running away. ‘They were pursued, and one of
55 them when being caught, struck the jamaddr of the party
56 heavily on the head with a club, while a second in the struggle
57 ( 64 )