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3 REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NORTHERN INDIA
4 prventive establishment should be concentrated at a few
5 centres in each Beat. The concentration was carried out,
6 and asthe outlying outcrops of salt were left entirely unpro-
7 tected, great temptation was offered to Waziri and other
8 thieves to remove the salt. In the Bahadur Khel Beat a
9 particularly bold raid on the outcrops in the vicinity of the
10 depdt was made by a large body of men, who managed to
11 collect about 65 maunds of salt. The establishment, however,
12 turned out in time and succeeded in recovering the salt, but
13 the thieves made good their escape. The western portion of
14 the Manzalai Beat on the Waziri border was also raided three
15 times by large gangs of thieves. In two cases considerable
16 quantities of salt, amounting to nearly 28 maunds, were
17 removed successfully, but in the third case the smugglers were
18 beaten off and the removal of salt was prevented. The outly-
19 ing guard posts were re-occupied in the month of March’
20 1901.
21 At the Sambhar Lake 49 persons were arrested compared
22 with 72 in 1899-1900. Salt formed over only a very limited
23 portion of the Lake during the year, and attempts made to re-
24 move it were consequently fewer than in the previous year.
25 The number of cases is, however, much in excess of the annual
26 average, v2z., 18, of persons arrested during the five years
27 ending on the 31st March 1899; and the increase of crime
28 appears to have been due to the pressure of scarcity. None
29 of the cases were of any importance.
30 In the Pachbadra Division 94 persons were arrested for
31 thefts or attempts at thefts of salt during the year, 78 of
32 whom were arrested in the Luni Tract. The number shows a
33 decrease of 40 compared with 1899-1900, but it is still high
34 compared with 1898-99. The majority of the cases, however,
35 occurred during the first few months of the year when the
36 famine was very severe in this part of Rajputana. No prose-
37 cutions were instituted in cases in which the persons arrested
38 appeared to have been impelled to crime by starvation; and
39 27 such persons were released departmentally. One case of
40 some importance occurred at Pachbadra. Eight Banjara
41 traders succeeded in abstracting 24 maunds 274 seers of
42 salt from pits in which samples had been brought up for
43 inspection. The theft was discovered and the salt was
44 found buried in the Banjaras’ camp. The offenders were
45 convicted and sentenced to fines ranging from Rs. 10 to
46 Rs. 30.
47 No case occurred at Didwana. One attempt was made
48 to steal salt from the Sultanpur Salt Works, but the offenders
49 were arrested and the theft prevented.
50 1,244 persons were arrested in the Internal Branch during
51 the year under report against 972 persons in 1899-1900. 407
52 of the persons arrested were charged with the illicit manu-
53 facture of salt on salt factories and 595 with the manufac-
54 ture or separation of salt on crude saltpetre works. 11 per-
55 sons were arrested for manufacturing Khari and 31 for manu-
56 facturing crude saltpetre without a license, 22 for refining salt-
57 petre on crude works and 3 for manufacturing Khari on such
58 works. Of the remaining 175 persons, 66 were charged with
59 the illegal importation and 104 with the illegal possession of
60 salt, and 5 with smuggling from licensed refineries. The
61 quantity of illicit salt seized amounted to maunds 303 against
62 maunds 136 in 1899-1900. Of the 1,244 persons arrested
63 during the year, 557 were released departmentally and 687
64 were sent up for trial. The cases of 621 persons have been
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