1 SALT REVENUE DEPARTMENT FOR THE OFFICIAL YEAR 1900-1901.
2 asaving in the cost of establishment, of approximately Rs. .
3 3,000 a year, by abolishing the pass collectors and reduc-
4 ing the numberof peons employed on treasure and escort
5 duty. The saving actually effected amounts to Rs. 6,180
6 per annum. The charges of the division are still very high,
7 the percentage of charges on receipts during the year having
8 been 12°74 without including in the charges the inam
9 grants, and the possibility of reducing further the cost
10 of the preventive establishment is at present under consid-
11 eration.
12 48. Particulars relating to the sales of salt from the two
13 quarries of Guma and Drang, and to its distribution over
14 areas of consumption, are given in Appendix VIII. The sales
15 for the year show a falling off of maunds 15,665 compared
16 with the previous year, the quantity declared for British terri-
17 tory having been less by maunds 13,932, and the quantity
18 declared for Mandi and other States having been less by
19 maunds 1,733 than in. 1899-1900.
20 49. The trade in Mandi salt has been very steady for
21 some years, and the sudden falling off in the sales seems to
22 have been due, to some extent at any rate, to bad administra-
23 tion. The quarries are under the. management of the State
24 oiticials ; and at Guma in particular, which supplies most of the
25 salt intended for British territory, the stock of salt during the
26 year was constantly allowed to run short. The sales at Guma
27 were less than those of the previous year by maunds 30,625,
28 while the sales at Drang, which is at a greater distance from
29 Kangra and Kulu, were higher than those of 1899-1900 by
30 maunds 23,960.
31 Any area of consumption lost by Mandi salt is not likely
32 to be recovered. The Government of India have decided
33 that no case has at present been made out for a revision in
34 favour of the Raja*of the existing arrangement for division of
35 the 73 annas a maund realized as duty, and the decision was
36 communicated to the Government of the Punjab in the letter
37 from the Foreign Department, No. 292-I.A., dated 21st
38 Jaunary 1got. A loss of revenue to the Raja in the future
39 caused by mismanagement of the quarries will not constitute
40 any reasonable grievance.
41 50. The trade in Sultanpur salt further declined during
42 the year, and the quantity of salt excised amounted to maunds
43 KOHAT MINES,
44 (3)
45 MANDI MINES.
46 Sales and distribution
47 of the salt issued.
48 Appendix VIII.
49 Remarks on the fall.
50 ing off in the sales
51 during the year,
52 (4)
53 SULTANPUR SALT
54 WORKS.
55 64,552 only, compared with maunds 77,827 in 1899-1900, Gua nbity af salt oectacd
56 The works had a great opportunity, as the indifferent charac-
57 ter of the salt on sale at Sambhar ought to have stimulated
58 the demand for salt from Sultanpur, but they are evidently
59 doomed. The continued decline in the trade is attributed to
60 the fact that the Cawnpur salt merchants no longer finance
61 the manufacturers and push the sale of the salt.
62 Of the maunds 64,543 of salt issued, maunds 13,403
63 were consumed locally in the Delhi, Gurgaon and Rohtak
64 districts of the Punjab, and maunds 51,140 were exported to
65 the North-Western Provinces. There was a small increase
66 compared with 1899-1900 in the quantity of the salt con-
67 sumed locally. With the slackening of the demand in the
68 North-Western Provinces, the manufacturers have evidently
69 been driven to take what they can get locally for their produce.
70 In 1893-99 the quantity of Sultanpur salt consumed in
71 the Punjab was maunds 1,979 only.
72 and its distribution.
73 Appendices II and VI.
74 51. Thirty-six factories were licensed during the year manufacture,
75 against 35 in 1899-1900, an additional factory having been Appendix VI.
76 € 17 )