1 REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NORTHERN INDIA
2 - CIS-INDUS MINES. The improvement in the trade of the Division during the
3 ' year is almost entirely due to an increase in the demand for
4 rock salt from the eastern districts of the North-Western
5 Provinces. A small but satisfactory. increase is also noticeable
6 in the quantity of salt consigned to Baluchistan.
7 Effect of the abolition of 81. The Indus Preventive Line, which formed part of the
8 the Indus Preventive ¢zs-Indus Mines Division, was abolished at the close of 1897-
9 eee 98 under the orders of the Government of India, and it will be
10 of interest to describe briefly in this place the effect which
11 its abolition has had upon the trade in Kohdt and c7s-Indus
12 (including Kélabdgh) salt along the line of the Indus. The
13 difference between the duty on Kohat salt (Rs. 2 a Kohat
14 maund of 1023Zlbs.) and salt paying the cis-[ndus rate of
15 duty (Rs. 2-8-0 a British maund of 822lbs.) is (excluding
16 a small fraction) 14 annas and 4 pies a British maund; and
17 the line along which the two kinds of salt compete, extends
18 from Oghi in Northern Hazéra, by the line of the Indus, down
19 to the junction of the Satlej with that river. During the
20 first half of the year under report the trade in Kohat salt
21 was slack and .cis-Indus salt not only maintained its hold
22 upon the markets on the left bank of the Indus, but pushed
23 across to the right bank near Oghi and occupied in the south
24 a considerable tract of trans-Indus country comprised within
25 the Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan dittricts. During
26 the latter half of the year, owing to the trans-Indus trade
27 being brisk during the cold season, Kohat salt recovered to
28 some extent the ground which it had lost in the Derajdt and
29 the northern trans-Indus country. It did not, however,
30 cross the Indus in any appreciable quantity, and czs-Indus
31 salt still held entirely the southern part of the Dera Ghazi
32 Khan district from Muhammadpur (12 miles south of Jimpur)
33 to Shdhwdli, and competed with Kohat salt at Dera Ghazi
34 Khén itself and the adjoining parts of the district. Cis-Indus
35 salt was also said to be the only salt consumed by the indepen-
36 dent tribes beyond the northern frontier of the Hazara district.
37 At Dera Ismail Khan andin part of that district czs-{ndus
38 salt was displaced by Kohat salt, though a small quantity of
39 the former salt was still consumed in Dera Ismail Khan itself
40 by the wealthier classes. From the Amb jafigr to Kalabigh
41 in the Bannu district, there was practically no consumption of
42 cis-Indus salt in ¢rans-Indus country, except in, the Peshawar
43 cantonment and at Khairabad opposite Attock ; bit at the town
44 of Kalabigh, and at some places in its vicinity, cis-Indus salt
45 was finding a market, notwithstanding that it was dearer than
46 Kohat salt by 12 annas a British maund.
47 Cis-Indus salt will apparently hold its own against Kohat
48 salt, even at a considerable difference in price; but it is not
49 possible to say whether the enhancement of the duty on Kohat
50 salt has been sufficient to place the two kinds of salt on an
51 equality, as the trade in the latter salt has been restricted by
52 the legal prohibition of its importation and transport cis-
53 Indus in any quantity in excess of five seers.
54 32. The Department assumed charge of the Koh&t Salt
55 Mines with effect from the Ist of January 1899. The receipts
56 and charges at these mines during the past two years are
57 given below in an abstract form, and information in detail will
58 be found in Appendix I :—
59 (2)
60 XOHAT MINES:
61 Keccipts and charges,
62 ( 22 )