1 SALT REVENUE DEPARTMENT FOR THE OFFICIAL YEAR 1899-1900.
2 39. An abstract of the receipts and charges of the Kohat
3 Mines Division is given below :—
4 1898-99. Se didi ae
5 Se
6 a Rs. 8.
7 Recetpts—
8 Duty on salt oe we 725,294 5,98686 —1,26,608
9 Miscellaneous revenue ... ow 14 506 +292
10 ' Total vee 725,808 598,992 —~1,26,316
11 Charges— ,
12 Establishment ate ie 60,296 65,064 +4,768
13 Contingencies aoe ae 23,030 9,746 —13,284
14 Total dae 83,326 74,810 —8,516
15 Net revenue : oe 6,41,982 5,24,182 —1,17,800
16 Maunds 3,73,269 of salt only were excised during the past
17 year, compared with maunds 4,62,375 during 1898-99, the
18 decrease amounting to 89,106 maunds. There was therefore a
19 considerable falling off in .the receipts.
20 - The cost of establishment was greater during the year,
21 owing principally to the appointment of Superintendents and As-
22 sistant Superintendents to the charge of the salt depots. Under
23 contingencies the expenditure was less than in 1898-99,
24 owing partly toa decrease in the cost of construction and
25 repairs of buildings and roads, the purchase and repair of tents,
26 and a number of minor items, and partly to the fact that a
27 sum of Rs. 7,823 was paid in 1898-99 to miners as compen-
28 sation for the closure of the Nadri salt quarries which was not
29 a recurring item of expenditure. The past was the first
30 complete year- of the administration of the mines by this
31 Department.
32 40. The following figures show the quantities of salt
33 which were sold during the past two years at the different
34 depéts of the Kohat mines. There has been no change in the
35 system of issuing salt. After paying the duty of two rupees
36 a Kohati maund to the credit of the Department, traders make
37 their own arrangements with the miners of the different quar-
38 ries for the salt they require; and the average price paid is
39 said to be something under an anna a maund :—
40 1898-99. 1899-1900. Difference.
41 Mds. Mds. Mads.
42 Jatta em ws 198,117 1,69,895 —28,222
43 Malgin tee be 1,25,216 1,02,778 ~—22,438
44 Karak ox 2 yee 55,669 48,573 —7,096
45 Bahadur Khel... ane 83,373 52,023 —31,350
46 Total aoe 4,62,375 3,738,269 — 89,106
47 ee eet ree
48 No accidents occurred at the quarries during the year.
49 The circumstances of the past year affected the trade adverse-
50 ly. The whole of the salt which is issued from the mines
51 is removed on pack animals, and the scarcity of fodder during
52 the year in the trans-Indus region had the effect of contract-
53 ing salestoa considerable extent. The trade with Afghanis-
54 tan also fell off greatly, as the Amir has now prohibited alto-
55 gether the import of Kohat salt into his dominions, and fewer
56 Ghilzai traders consequently visited the mines. Finally the
57 change which was made in the system of payment of the duty
58 had some slight temporary adverse effect upon the trade,
59 though only towards the end of the year. Formerly the duty
60 was paid in cash to the officials at the depéts, and so long as
61 the duty was low a change in this procedure was not impera-
62 tively called for, as the sums collected were comparatively
63 small. But when the duty was raised to two rupees a Kohdti
64 maund, large sums of money were collected at the depéts and
65 ( 23 )
66 (2)
67 KOHAT MINES:
68 Receipts and charges.
69 Fluctuations in revenue
70 and expenditure exe
71 plained.
72 Trade: sales and issues
73 of salt.
74 Sal es.