1 SALT REVENUE DEPARTMENT FOR THE OFFICIAL YEAR 1899-1900.
2 actual price of salt. A rice or fish eating population consumes
3 a large quantity of salt.
4 65. The table below summarises the information given in
5 detailin Appendix VI, on the subject of the number of persons
6 arrested for offences against the salt law, the number discharged
7 by the Department after inquiry, and the number prosecuted
8 with the result of prosecutions: —
9 4
10 ed
11 y {Released by Percentage
12 Year. foliar the Depart- heen Acquitted | Convicted. | of convic-
13 ment. tions.
14 i$] aac a ee et
15 1898-99 tes 1,822 787 #565 23 540 95°91
16 1899-1900 Sas 1,307 665 642 46 592 92-79
17 Difference ae —15 ~92 +77 +423 +52 ~3-12
18 1
19 * Two persons absconded before trial.
20 ¢Three persons absconded before triat and the case of 1 person is pending.
21 Of 1,307 persons arrested during the year under report,
22 50°88 per cent. were released by the Department after inquiry
23 into the charges made against them, and 49°12 per cent. were
24 prosecuted.
25 There were 43 cases and 54 persons arrested during the
26 year in the czs-Indus Mines Division, compared with 19 cases
27 and 25 persons arrested during 1898-99. The reason for this
28 increase was the failure of the monsoon of 1899 and the
29 scarcity which followed in the country of the Salt Range, where
30 the extensive and numerous deposits of excellent rock salt and
31 the number of deserted mines and natural fissures passing
32 through salt offer great temptations to smugglers. In all, 75
33 attempts at removal of salt were made during the year ; theft
34 was prevented in 55 instances; and in 42 instances the offenders
35 were arrested. In 20 instances no trace could be obtained of
36 smugglers, who had removed a quantity of salt estimated at 7
37 maunds. In two instances the Departmental guards were
38 attacked at their posts by men whose object, in at least one
39 instance, was the robbery of the few articles of property the
40 men possessed. It is said that such cases have never before
41 occurred on the Range. In these circumstances the task of
42 guarding the salt outcrops in the gorges and broken country of
43 the Range; though successfully performed, has been attended
44 with more than ordinary difficulty. With a return of prosperity,
45 this outburst of offences against the salt law will doubtless
46 pass away.
47 In the Kohat Mines Division, 78 persons were arreated
48 compared with 54 in 1898-99. Inall itis reported that 90
49 attempts at thefts of salt from outcrops occurred during the
50 year, in which more than 150 persons are believed to have been
51 concerned, and in which a quantity of salt estimated at about
52 50 maunds was removed. The number of arrests is theretore
53 eomparatively small, but great difficulty is experienced in
54 guarding exposed rock salt in the wild and broken country
55 on the frontier, where smugglers are generally armed, and
56 fire-arms, spears, and knives are freely used, particularly at
57 night, to prevent arrest. The establishment is, however, re-
58 ported to have shown an improvement in vigilance during the
59 year, and the increase in the number of arrests seems to show
60 that this has been the case.
61 ( 41 )
62 PENAL ACTION OF
63 THE DEPARTMENT.
64 Arrests.
65 v