1 Z
2 ois-INDUS MINES.
3 Sales and issues com-
4 pared.
5 Distribution of salt over
6 areas of consumption,
7 Effect of the abolition of
8 the Indus preventive
9 line.
10 REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NORTHERN INDIA
11 A comparison of the sales and the actual issues of salt
12 from the different depdts gives the following results :—
13 1899-1900.
14 pads inse ra meas 7
15 Sales, Clearances,
16 Mds. Mds,
17 Khewra Pry nee oes w. 21,21,744 21,837,107
18 Nurpur cos ose FP iee wet 8,221 8,221
19 Warcha fee pe ase we» _:1, 05,508 1,02,044
20 Kalabagh aa - we —-1,60,766 153,228
21 Total ws 28,91,289 93,95,595,
22 The small excess of clearances over sales is due to the
23 clearance of salt sold in the past year. The prompt manner
24 in which salt is cleared and issued is very satisfactory and is
25 creditable to the administration of the division. The manner
26 in which issues keep pace with sales indicates also a healtny
27 condition of the trade. The salt which issued was removed
28 in the following manner :—
29 Mads.
30 By railway eae on asa aoe eee 22,380,660
31 By road and river ... iat ooo ors ws =1,64,985
32 Total eos 23,95,595
33 | ee |
34 Of the quantity, maunds 21,37,107 cleared from the Khewra
35 (Warthganj) Depét, maunds 21,10,858 were removed by railway
36 and maunds 26,249 by road. The Nurpur salt is removed
37 entirely by road. The Warcha salt is removed from the depét
38 by road, but a large proportion of it is eventually despatched
39 to areas of consumption by the railway, which runs at a dis-
40 tance of nine miles from the mine, and by boat down the river
41 Jhelum. Of the salt cleared from the Kélabagh Depot, maunds
42 1,19,802 were removed by railway, maunds 8,258 by road, and
43 maunds 25,163 by boats on the river Indus.
44 ¢ 37. The distribution over areas of consumption of the salt
45 issued is shown below :—
46 1898-99, 1899-1900, Difference.
47 Mds. Mds. ds.
48 The Panjab (including feudatory States) 18,55,538 19,77,843 +1,22,805
49 and Kashmir,
50 North-Western Provinces and Oudh, 2,30,507 2,68,205 +-37,698
51 Bengal eee aa? eee 1,27 760 1,33,880 +6,120
52 Sindh on ou hae. 11,445 14,366 +2,921
53 Balochistan Pan vee 1,880 1,301 —579
54 Total ww 227,130 23,95,595 1,68 465
55 The improvement in the trade, except with Baluchistan,
56 was general. The decrease in the quantity of salt exported.
57 to Baluchistan is unsatisfactory. As noted in last year’s
58 report the consumption of salt paying the full rate of duty
59 in this Province is very small.
60 38. No cases came to light during the year of Kohat salt
61 having crossed the Indus into czs-Indus country, and it may
62 be confidently asserted that the salt revenue has not suffered
63 to any appreciable extent by the abolition of the preventive line
64 along the left bank of the river. As stated last year, however,
65 it is not possible to say whether the enhancemnt of duty on
66 Kohat salt has been sufficient to place it upon an equality with
67 salt paying the czs-Indus rate of duty, as the legal restrictions
68 on the trade in the former have sufficed to prevent it from
69 crossing the river. Kohat salt has recovered a good deal of
70 the ground which it lost temporarily in the Derajat; and this
71 fact tends to prove the necessity for maintaining the existing
72 restrictions on the transport and possession of the salt in the
73 cis-Indus country.
74 ( 22 )