1 SALT REVENUE DEPARTMENT POR THE OFFICIAL YEAR 19g00-IgOt.
2 The credit balance at the close of the year was higher
3 than it was at the close of the previous year by Rs. 1,15,434,
4 bnt the stock balance of salt was reduced irom maunds
5 29,07,758 to maunds 5,53,742. Taking the value of the
6 stock for the two years at 4 annas a maund the real result of
7 the year’s operations was a loss of Rs. 4,73,070.
8 22, Maunds 1,34,510 of salt were made and stored at
9 the Didwana Source during April 1900 at a cost of 5°07 pies
10 per maund. The payments made tothe Deswals or salt-
11 makers for salt delivered at the pan edge varied from 2 pies
12 to 3 pies a maund according to quality, and the cost of stor-
13 age’averaged 2°5 piesa maund. No salt was made during
14 the manfacturing season in 1900-1go1, as the quantity of salt
15 In stock at the commencement of the season, v7z., maunds
16 3,44,093, was more than sufficient to meet the trade demand
17 for a year.
18 23. The small stimulus, which was given to the trade in
19 Didwana salt by the reduction of the sale price from 1 anna
20 to 9 pies per maund with effect fromthe 14th December
21 1898, was of short duration, and the sales from the Source of
22 salt paying duty fell from maunds 2,67,g01 in 1899-1900 to
23 maunds 2,16,887 during the year, a decrease of maunds
24 51,014. For the first four months of the year there was a
25 scarcity of carriage; and when the rains set in, the favour-
26 able character of the season tempted carriers to undertake
27 ‘agricultural work. Towards the close of the year the trade
28 revived, and has since been comparatively brisk. The Source
29 is heavily handicapped by its distance from the railway, and
30 the salt produced is consumed within a very limited area in
31 the Punjab and Rajputana, The salt sold and issued free of
32 duty to the Jodhpur Darbar for consumption within the State
33 also fell from maunds 26,382 in 1899-1909 to maunds 15,386
34 during the year. The issues and sales of salt at this Source
35 do not differ much. Work is light and salt is cleared without
36 difficulty as soon as it is sold.
37 24. Of the maunds 2,15,929 of duty paying salt issued,
38 maunds 1,11,!61 were sent to the Railway Stations of Mak-
39 rana and Kuchawan road on the Jodhpur-Bikaner and Raj-
40 putana- Malwa Railways for despatch to Bhiwani, Delhi and
41 other markets if the Punjab and North-Western Provinces ;
42 and maunds 75,486 were removed by road for the Hissar
43 District of the Punjab, maunds 16,425 for Jaipur, maunds
44 11,803 for Bikaner and maunds 1,054 for the Kotah State.
45 25. The preventive establishment employed at Didwana
46 was maintained without alteration from 1879 until the year
47 under report. Thefts of salt at the Source are very rare. No
48 case occurred during the year, and inthe ro years which ended
49 on the 31st March 1900 there were only eight cases, and only
50 one of the eight was of any importance. In these circumstances
51 the subordinate preventive establishment was reduced during
52 the year, and an eventual saving of Rs. 1,200 a year was there-
53 by effected.
54 26. The resources of the Pachbadra Source were heavily
55 taxed during the year, the demand for the salt in the North-
56 Western Provinces having been strong owing to the inferior
57 quality of the salt on sale at Sambhar. The sales of salt
58 paying the full duty in 1899-1900 (maunds 10,02,996) ex-
59 ceeded those of any ‘previous year, except 1893-94, since the
60 lease of the Source in 1879, but the sales in tne current year
61 were higher. by maunds 1,10,950. The transfer of business
62 ( 9 )
63 ,
64 SAMBHAR.
65 DIDWANA.
66 Manufacture and
67 stocks.
68 Appendix V.
69 .
70 Sales and issues.
71 Appendix III.
72 Territorial distribu-
73 tion of the salt issued,
74 Appendix VI.
75 Reduction of estab-
76 lishment,
77 (3)
78 PACHBADRA.
79 Sales and issues,
80 Appendices [I and IIL