1 2
2 SALT REVENUE DEPARTMENT FOR THE OFFICIAL YEAR 1901-1902,
3 was anticipated during the year, but towards its close trade’
4 was checked by a persistent rumour that the duty was about
5 to be reduced. The plague in the Punjab also affected the
6 trade with that province prejudicially to some extent.
7 The sales from the different depéts were as follows :—
8 Warthganj, maunds 21,57,468 as compared with maunds
9 21,75 403 in 1900-01; Warcha, maunds 1,06,220 against
10 maunds 94,759; Nurpur, maunds 3,713 against maunds 3,221;
11 and Kalabagh, maunds 1,58,977 against maunds 1,32,077.
12 The salt from the Mayo Mine formed 88°88 per cent. of the,
13 total sales of the division, as compared with go'44 per cent.
14 in fgoo-01, The small decrease in the sales of the Warth-
15 ganj dep6t appears to have been owing partly to the rumour
16 ‘of a reduction of duty, and partly to some marts, which
17 formerly obtained salt from it, having sent for their supplies
18 from Kalabagh v7@ the Mari-Attock Railway. Nearly the
19 whole of the trade of Warthganj is through traffic, and the
20 tumour above referred to would affect it more than that of
21 other dep6ts, as traders of distant marts, whose salt takes
22 some time to reach them, would, under the circumstances, be
23 reluctant to send for larger consignments than they actually
24 required. The increase at Warcha was probably the result of
25 trade fluctuations. Nurpur supplies local wants only, and the
26 improvement in sales there was owing to favourable conditions
27 of agriculture on the Salt Range. The increase at Kalabagh
28 was owing to the opening of the Mari-Attock Railway, as
29 salt from that depdt now goes in considerable quantities vd
30 Attock to marts on the main line between Attock and Rawal-
31 pindi.
32 _ The differeuce between sales and issues is always slight
33 in this division, maunds 24,48,270 having been cleared
34 against maunds 24,01,418 in 1g00-ol. ‘
35 35. The greater part of this salt is consumed in the cts-
36 Indus Punjab, including the Feudatory States and Kashmir.
37 There was practically no difference in the quantity booked
38 to this area during the past two years (maunds 19,44,153
39 in the past year against maunds 19,45,272 in 1g00-0t),
40 Consignments to the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh
41 were heavier by maunds 36,300 (maunds 3,44,225 against
42 maunds 3,07,925) and to the Province of Behar in Bengal
43 by maunds 4,552 (maunds 1,56,880 against maunds 1,32,328).
44 Exports to the country ¢vavs-Indus fell off by maunds 2,101
45 (maunds 620 against maunds 2,721), but British Baluchistan
46 took a slightly larger quantity (maunds 1,336 against maunds
47 1,142) and clearances for Sindh increased from maunds 11,330
48 to maunds 21,056. :
49 It is not clear as yet whether the increase in the trade
50 with the United Provinces and Behar has resulted from the re-
51 duction of freight rates on the North-Western Railway, allud-
52 ed to by Mr. Dane in paragraph 36 of his Report for 1g00-o1,
53 or if it was due, in the case of the first area, to the inferiority of
54 Sambhar salt which rock salt displaced, and to fluctuations in
55 prices of salt at Calcutta in the case of the second. The rates
56 did not influence the trade favourably on the section of the
57 Delhi-Kalka line between Umballa and Delhi, as there was a
58 decrease in bookings to intermediate stations of goo maunds,
59 and no salt was booked direct to Deihi against maunds §35 in
60 1900-01. ‘There was also a decrease of maunds 2,8€0 in con-
61 signments to Saharanpur and Meerut. Rock salt is most in
62 favour in the camp country of the eastern districts of the Unit-
63 ed Provinces and Behar. Elsewhere it is considered too sweet
64 € 3 )
65 CIS-INDUS MINES,
66 Territorial distribution
67 of trade.
68 Appendix VI.