1 REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NORTHERN INDIA
2 REVIEW BY SECTIONS. Further details of the figures of the year tinder review are
3 DIDWANA. these :—
4 Mds.
5 Stock balance on the 1st April 1897 oe one eas 6,14,661
6 Add— Mds.
7 Quantity manufactured during the year. jes 1,94,137
8 Excess found on heaps cleared during the year s 13,313 2,07,450
9 Total a ise 8,22,111
10 Deduct—
11 Sales of salt-~-
12 Uxcise duty paid = -« a es ve 2,38, 403
13 Delivered free of duty to the Jodhpur Darbar ate 40,000 + 2,78,403
14 Balance of stock on 31st of March 1898 a eee ad 5,43,708
15 _ The balance of stock in hand was smaller than at the close
16 of 1896-97, but was still large. There is little loss from.
17 storage in the dry climate of Didwana, but it appears to me that
18 it would be as well to reduce this stock, and the smaller quan-
19 tity of salt manufactured during the year under review indi-
20 cates chat steps are being taken to that end. Salt is made at
21 Didwana in solar evaporation pans from brine of high specific
22 gravity obtained from wells sunk in the bed of the Source.
23 The conditions are such that there can never be a failure in
24 manufacture, and salt can be produced in large quantities with
25 facility. The outturn of the past year, maunds 1,94,137, was:
26 obtained from the works between the ist of April and the 3rd
27 of May 1897.
28 The combined cost of manufacture and storage amounted to
29 5:51 pies a maund during the past year, compared with 5:34
30 pies during 1896-97. The cost of storage was less, having
31 been 2°43 pies a maund compared with 2°85 pies during 1896-97,
32 but the average rate paid for manufacture was 3:08 pies a
33 maund against 2°49 pies in 1896-97. This was owing toa
34 better class of salt having been produced during the year
35 under report, for which a higher value was paid.
36 Result of clearance of Five heaps of salt, manufactured during 1895-96 and
37 var 1896-97, were cleared by sale during the year. They were
38 estimated to contain maunds 2,40,367; the actual outturn
39 amounted to maunds 2,53,680, or an excess of maunds 13,313,
40 equivalent to 6°58 per cent. This resultis satisfactory. The
41 manufacturers are paid for every maund“of salt sold by the
42 Department, and they received the value of the excesses found
43 in the heaps cleared.
44 PACHBADRA.
45 , 49. The gross realizations, the fixed and contingent
46 se aad net charges, and the net revenue of the Pachbadra Salt Source
47 7 (including the Luni salt tract), will be found in the table
48 below, which gives statistics for the past four years :—
49 Rate paid for manufae-
50 ture and storage.
51 Gross realizations, Charges.
52 — Excise duty| Sale | Miscel- . Contin- revenue
53 on salt. | price. | laneous. Total. Fired. geut. Total, *
54 Rs Rs, Rs Rs. Ra. Rs, Res. Rs,
55 1894-95 ... | 17,438,295 | 78,783 | 8,381 | 18,30,409 | 47,286 |1,17,125 | 1,64,411] 16,645,998
56 1895-96 ... | 11,27,354 | 55,980 5,768 | 11,89,102 | 45,605 | 66,548 {1,12,153) 10,76,949
57 1896-97 w. | 12,59,579 | 60,291 6,740 | 18,26,610 | 44,296 ) 69,277 | 1,138,573 | 12,138,037
58 1897-98 ... | 10,62,067 | 55,765 5,749 | 11,283,581 | 44,201 | 56,276 | 1,00,476 | 10,23,105
59 Decrease in receipts ex- Owing toa failure of stocks at the Sambhar Lake, the price
60 plgnete of Sambhar salt during the opening months of 1894-95 stood
61 at eight annas a maund, and as this resulted in a special
62 demand for Pachbadra salt, the revenue of the Source for that
63 ( 48 )