1 SALT REVENUE DEPARTMENT FOR THE OFFICIAL YEAR 1897-98.
2 _ During the first three months of the year, there was severe REVIEW BYSECTIONS.
3 drought over the whole area within which crude saltpetre is INTERNAL BRANCH,
4 manufactured, and this rendered the nitrous soil of villages so e
5 poor in nitrate of potash that in a large number of cases it was
6 _ not profitable to work factories. 'The monsoon rainfall of 1897
7 was sufficient, but the export trade in saltpetre at Calcutta was
8 in a very depressed state and continued so to the close of the
9 year. Prices of saltpetre fell to rates which were hardly re-
10 munerative and demand was slack. Some refineries closed ; those
11 which remained open worked comparatively fecbly, and this
12 reacted upon the crude saltpetre industry to the extent des-
13 cribed.
14 Khari.—This substance is an impure form of sulphate of
15 soda. During the year there was an increase of 1,728 in the
16 number of licenses which issued, 4,416 having been taken out,
17 compared with only 2,688 during 1896-97. The following
18 table gives details of the issues in different areas :—
19 1896-97, 1897-98.
20 No. No.
21 North-Western Provinces and Oudh tee 319 308
22 Province of Behar .., Pers 2,369 4,108
23 Total we «62,688 4,416
24 There was very little difference in the number of licenses
25 which issued in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh during
26 the two years. Factories worked in the Bulandshahr, Etah,
27 Budaun, Mainpuri, Cawnpore, Fatehpur, Mirzapur, Jaunpur,
28 Unao, and Hardoi districts. Manufacture was carried on during
29 the first three months of the past year—the het season—, and
30 the sulphate of soda efflorescence was so poor, owing to the
31 great drought which prevailed, that the outturn was small.
32 Great care has to be taken in the supervision of these works,
33 owing to the presence of chloride of sodium in the efflorescence
34 utilized in the manufacture,
35 In Behar, there was an increase of 1,739 in the number of
36 licenses issued, as compared with 1896-97. Manufacture is
37 carried on by artificial heat, and this permitted of the utiliza-
38 tion of the efflorescence which appeared in abundance after the
39 monsoon rginfall of 1897, the increase in the number of factories
40 being due to the reaction which resulted from favourable con-
41 ditions after the comparative failure in manufacture during the
42 drought of 1896-97. The Muzaffarpur district is the centre of
43 this manufacture ; but itis also carried-on largely in the Saran
44 district, and to a less important extent in Champaran and Dar-
45 bhanga.
46 Khari (impure sulphate of soda) is used for curing hides,
47 and the produce of the works licensed is widely distributed
48 over Bengal and Northern India.
49 . Sajji.—This is an impure form of carbonate of soda pro-
50 duced by artificial heat. It is largely exported to Lower Ben-
51 gal, where it is used for washing clothes and other purposes,
52 and it is so easily manufactured that markets frequently
53 become over-stocked. The Ghazipur district is the centre of
54 this industry, and it is also carried on in the Azamgarh,
55 Benares, and Jaunpur districts. During the past four years,
56 there has been a steady decrease in the number of factories
57 worked owing to slackness in the demand for Sajji.
58 ( 61 )