1 €
2 REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NORTHERN INDIA
3 mc /S-INDUS MINES. ‘to the taste, as the people miss the sharp flavour and dietetic
4 Excavation of salt,
5 Appendix V,
6 YWork dore 4a the Mayo
7 Mine —
8 properties of the inferior salts, which other varieties have in ad-
9 mixture, In Baluchistan rcck salt has to compete with earth
10 salt of local manufacture, and the figures I have given show that
11 the trade in the former is insignificant. Earth salt has becn
12 taxed during the year in Baluchistan to the extent of one rupee
13 and one rupee eight annas a maund. I obtained four samples
14 of it, and analysis showed it to be of poor quality as compared
15 with rock salt. The proportions of chloride of sodium varied
16 from 89°53 to 87°63 per cent. and of sulphate of sodium from
17 ‘7°4 to 2°7 per cent. The percentage of sodic chloride in rock
18 salt is about 97°28. The Government of India having express-
19 ed a desire in letter No. 2170-E.A.-of the 31st December 1gor,
20 {from the Foreign Department to the Hon’ble the Agent tothe _
21 Governor General in Baluchistan, that rock salt might be -
22 cheapened in that Province, I asked the Traffic Superintendent
23 of the North-Western Railway for the freight rates between
24 Khewrah and Quetta, and enquired if they could not be lower-
25 ed in order to stimulate the trade between those two places.
26 The information I asked for was not supplied, and it was stat-
27 ed that it was doubtful whether it would benefit the railway to
28 encourage the trade from Khewrah. It appears from this that
29 the railway is not disposed to stimulate the trade in rock salt
30 with Baluchistan at the expense of the trade from Karachi. I
31 find that difficulties of this kind exist elsewhere also, some
32 descriptions of salt being specially favoured for the reason that
33 greater profits accrue to railways from their, carriage. I have
34 mentioned an instance in paragraph 12 in connection with
35 Baragara salt.
36 36. No difficulty is ever experienced in meeting the trade
37 demand at these mines. Labour is always available, and the
38 arrangements for mining salt and placing it in the hands of
39 traders are as efficient as it is possible to make them. Maunds
40 24,290,797 of tock salt were excavated during the year as com-
41 pared with maunds 23,51,642 in 1900-01, or an increase of
42 maunds 78,155. The excavation of the salt of the Mayo Mine
43 was paid for at the rate of 10} pies a cubic foot, and the out-
44 turn in weight amounted to 13569 maunds a cubic foot as com-
45 pared with 135 maunds in 1900-01, At Warcha, Nurpur and
46 Kalabagh the miners are paid for the quantity of salt actually
47 cleared by the trade, the rate at the first two places being Rs.
48 3-12 per 100 maunds, and at the Kalabagh quarries, where
49 the sait has to be carried some distance to the bank of the
50 Indus, Rs. 4-2 per 100 maunds. At the Mayo Mine the year
51 closed with the balance of maunds 4,45,094 of salt available
52 for issue, as compared with maunds 4,45,447 at the end of
53 1900-01, and this was ample to meet trade demands, as mining
54 was in active progress at the commencement of the current
55 year, The balances at the Warcha and Kalabagh depéts, which
56 were maunds 7,449 and maunds 11,123, respectively, as com-
57 pared with maunds 4,800 and maunds Ic,ooo at the end of
58 1900-01, were also sufficient to meet the demand. The Nurpur
59 Mine supplies a petty local trade, and it is not necessary to
60 keep any stock, salt being excavated there as it is required.
61 37. Work in the Mayo Mine progressed steadily during
62 the year. 15,89,750 cubic feet of salt were excavated, 1,465
63 cubic feet of marl were removed in the construction of addi-
64 tional loading stations on the tramway in the mine, anda
65 length of 604 lineal feet of tunnelling was done. The explora-
66 tion tunnels in working blocks Nos, 12 and 22 of the Pharwala
67 seam were pushed forward 323 and 35 feet, respectively, and
68 ( 14 )