1 SALT REVENUE DEPARTMENT FOR THE OFFICIAL YEAR [9021903.
2 54. The sales and issues of salt at the two quarries of
3 Guma and Drang amounted to maunds 1,29,862 compared
4 with maunds 1,39,230 in 1901-02, and a decrease therefore
5 occurred of maunds 9,368. Sales were better than those of
6 the previous year down to December 1902, but commenced
7 to decline in January 1903 and continued to do so down to
8 the close of the year. The falling off appears to have been
9 due mainly to the severity of the latter part of the winter;
10 snow fell repeatedly during January and February, and there
11 was much hail and rain in March. Some of the salt too,
12 which was issued from the Guma quarry during the last two
13 months of the year, is said to have been of a quality inferior
14 to the ordinary produce of the mines. ;
15 » 55. The falling off in the trade was about equally distri-
16 _ buted between British territory and Native States. The
17 quantity of salt consigned to British territory was maunds
18 67,674 against maunds 71,946 in 1go!-o2, a decrease of
19 maunds 4,272. Trafficwith the Kangra Valley and the Simla °
20 ~ District was fairly well’maintained and feil off only slightly,
21 but. consignments to Kulu were smaller by mauinds 3,365
22 (maunds 18,545 against maunds 21,910). It is probable that
23 stocks had accumulated in Kula in consequence of the large
24 imports of 1901-02, as the imports of the three previous years
25 were 18,186, 18,486 and 17,595 maunds, respectively. Trade
26 with Native States decreased by maunds 5,096 (maunds
27 62,188 against maunds 67,284). There was a falling off of
28 maunds 6,038 in the bookings tb the Mandi State, but else-
29 where the differences were not large.
30 56. The demands of the trade were fully met from the
31 quarries during the year. Some difficulties in connection
32 with excavation were experienced at Guma, where there was
33 danger of the workings being buried under landslips, and a
34 new quarry had to be opened. A tramway was laid down at
35 Guma during the year by the State officials to facilitate the
36 removal of débris from the quarries. Subsequently the line
37 was utilised for the carrjage of salt from the quarries to the
38 depot. A fatal accident occurred on this tramway, a labourer
39 having been critshed to death between the trucks. The
40 trucks were at first without brakes, but these have now been
41 provided. The construction of a tram line at Drang has also
42 been undertaken.
43 57. The remarks in the’ Report for 1901-02 about the
44 increased consumption of Mandi salt in the Kangra District
45 and the attempts made by the Mandi State officials to force
46 the export of salt into British territory were made under a mis-
47 apprehension. The year 1900-01 was a bad one for Mandi salt,
48 the decrease in the sales having (as was explained in the’ Annual
49 Report) been due in part at any rate to bad administration at
50 the quarry. The sales in 1901-02 for British districts amounted
51 to maunds 71,946 compared with an annual average of maunds
52 71,344 for the three years ending with 1899-1900, and the sales
53 for Native States were maunds 67,284 compared with an
54 annual average forthe same three years of maunds 54,751. The
55 increase in sales, which took place in 1got-o2 compared
56 with the four préceding years, was therefore practically
57 * confined to the sales for Native States. When proposing in
58 January 1900 the appointment of Inspectors with charge
59 allowances, instead of a Superintendent and Inspectors
60 ( 23 )
61 ; (2)
62 MANDI MINES.
63 Sales and issues of salt,
64 Appendix II.
65 Distribution of trade.
66 Appendix VIII.
67 Excavation of salt.
68 Export of Mandi. salt
69 into British territory.