1 REPORT CN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NORTHERN INDIA
2 SAMBHAR. =: in February. This seriously retarded the formation of salt, and
3 it was impossible to begin extraction from the kyars until
4 the end of February. Maunds 7,43,396 of kyar salt were
5 extracted before the close of the year, and maunds 31,50,558
6 more were extracted before manufacture closed for the season
7 on the 6th June rgct. The yield of kyar salt per acre during
8 the season has been small. The salt manufactured, specially
9 at Nawa, was fair to good in the early part of the season, but
10 as the hot weather advanced, it perceptibly deteriorated. On
11 the whole, however, it is much superior to that made in the
12 two previous seasons.
13 Pan salt, Contracts were given out for the construction of 3,628
14 .pans for the production of salt upon the lake edge, and an
15 abundant supply of fairly good brine was at the outset avail-
16 able. The rain which fell in December and January was, how-
17 ever, disastrous for the contractors, and three times destroyed
18 salt which had formed in the pans and damaged the pans so
19 much that they had to be reconstructed. The contractors in
20 the Sambhar manufacturing section in particular suffered con-
21 siderable losses, as these men depend entirely on the lake
22 brine ; and later in the season, when the weather was favour-
23 able, this brine had beconfe so dense that when taken into the
24 pans it yielded only fine and unsaleable salt. At Nawa and
25 Gudha, where the pan contractors have wells and were con-
26 sequently able to dilute the strong lake brine with well brine,
27 the manufacturing operations were more successful. Alto
28 gether maunds 11,8+,684 of fair saleable pan salt were made
29 during the season, maunds 1,71,369 up to the end of the
30 financial year ayd maunds to,10,315 between the 31st March
31 1901 and the Be of the season.
32 Lake salt. No spontaneous lake salt was collected. A small quan-
33 tity formed in an enclosure in the lake bed near the shore at
34 Gudha, but was too indifferent in quality te be worth ex-
35 traction; and as the supply of labour and carriage was defi-
36 cient owing to the famine, the efforts of the manufacturing
37 officers were mainly devoted to the production of kyar and
38 pan salt.
39 The total quantity of salt made during the season was
40 maunds 43,32,242, of which maunds 9,14,765 were made in
41 February and March 1901 and the balance was made after
42 the close of the financial year.
43 Cost of manufacture 15. The expenditure on the extraction and storage of
44 Fie ae as kyar salt during the year amounted to Rs. 13,125, the cost
45 of maintenance and of repairs of the kyars to Rs. 27,358 and
46 the interest on the capital cost of construction of the kyars
47 to Rs. 28,725, making a total of Rs. 69,208. The total quan-
48 tity of kyar salt extracted during the year was maunds 7,43,396,
49 and the cost of extraction amounted therefore to 587 pies @
50 maund. Expenditure on cleansing the kyar pans and on the
51 repair of the kyar embankments was heavy during the year.
52 When the stone pitching of these embankments, which is now
53 in progress, has been completed, the annual expenditure on
54 repairs will be considerably reduced.
55 The rate paid to contractors for pan salt during the year
56 was 5°11 pies per maund and the expenditure on the storage
57 of the maunds 6,35,547 delivered by the contractors during the
58 year was 3°03 pies per maund. The cost of pan salt amounted
59 therefore to 814 pies a maund as compared with 5°87 pies 2
60 maund for kyar salt.
61 Revouratie. aie a 16, Mr. Lyon, though in failing health, spared no effort
62 . Lyon, the Assist- . . :
63 gat Co RGilone to increase the outturn of salt during the season, and refrained
64 ( 6 )