1 REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NORTHERN INDIA
2 SAMBHARLAKE. concentration proceeded, the bad quality of the brine showed
3 itself; a large proportion of inferior sait was present, and
4 chloride of sodium was forced out in very smal] crystals and
5 in an impure state. A large quantity of the salt which formed
6 in the works was on this account of no commercial value, and
7 the quality of the salt shown as having been collected for sale
8 is very poor.
9 Lake edge pans. Lake edge pans.--In years of good rainfall the brine
10 utilized on these works is obtained from the Lake, and in a
11 year of ordinary drought brine is found a few feet below the
12 bed of the Lake and along its shore. No Lake brine could be
13 obtained during the past year and great difficulties were expe-
14 rienced in connection with subterranean brine. The brine
15 level having fallen, wells had to be sunk deeper than ustal,
16 and the bed of the Lake was so dry that brine run into evapo-
17 rating pans percolated through their beds and was absorbed.
18 Every effort was made to obtain as much salt as possible from
19 these works, but the outturn was disappointingly small. The
20 salt manufactured was saleable, but inferior.
21 Spontaneous salt. Spontaneous salt.—The accumulation of brine in the Lake
22 was so Small that at only one locality, near Gudha on the
23 northern shore, was any attempt made to produce this kind of
24 salt. In an enclosure in the Lake bed there, brine was collect-
25 ed to a depth sufficient in a good year to have produced a
26 fairly large crop of large crystalled salt; but, owing to the
27 impurity of the brine, the salt which formed was of such an
28 inferior description that it was of no value and was not worth
29 collecting.
30 Cost of manufacture, Expenditure on the manufacture of salt during the year
31 amounted to Rs. 52,072, and the incidence of cost on the out-
32 turn of maunds 16,38,910 was 6°10 pies a maund. Deducting
33 a sum of Rs. 8,563 expended on original works, the incidence
34 of cost of manufacture, storage, upkeep of works, etc., amounted
35 to 5-09 pies a maund. The corresponding figures of 1898-99
36 were 5°02 pies and 472 pies a maund respectively. The cost
37 of extraction and storage of salt during the past two years was
38 as follows :—
39 1898-99. 1899-1900.
40 Pies per maund. Pies per maund.
41 Salt of walled enclosures ose 3°43 2-76
42 Salt of Lake edge pans ese -_ 549 7°86
43 Spontaneous salt eee aes 6:97 ”
44 If the cost of maintenance and repair of the works and the
45 interest on the capital expended on their construction (which
46 amounted to Rs. 52,446 in 1898-99 and to Rs. 43,721 in
47 the year under report) be taken into account, the cost of the
48 salt obtained from the walled enclosures during the two years
49 amounted to 5°71 pies a maund and 8°49 pies a maund respect-
50 ively. As explained in the report of 1898-99, the incidence
51 of cost of manufacture is always high during a vear of unfa-
52 vourable manufacturing conditions, when the outturn of salt
53 is comparatively small and production is attended with diffi-
54 culty.
55 Supply of water fram 12. The Lake is dependent for its supply upon streams
56 streams entering the which carry into it the drainage of the surrounding country,
57 ; and it is essential to the existence of the Lake that these
58 feeder streams shall remain unobstructed. It was ascertained
59 during the year under report that a large dam was being con-
60 structed as a famine work in the Ajmer district at Ontra across
61 a branch of the Rupnagar Nadi, a stream which runs into the
62 Lake from the south-westward and is one of its principal
63 ( 8)