1 J
2 +
3 SALT REVENUE DEPARTMENT FOR THE OFFICIAL YEAR 1902-03.
4 59,420), and, as already noted, there was an increase in the
5 quantity excised. The salt which refiners destrdyed in
6 preference to paying the duty upon it increased in quantity
7 from maunds 5,144 in I90I-o2 to maunds 7,265 during the
8 year under report. Maunds 8,912 of sztéa (impure saltpetre
9 , Salt) were excised on payment of a fee of one rupee a maund,
10 compared with maunds 7,668 in tgo!-o2. This sztéa is largely
11 used for curing beef for export to Burma, three to four sers
12 being required to cure a maund of beef. Accurate statistics
13 are not available, but it is said that about 30,000 maunds of
14 beef cured with sz¢#a were exported from Northern India,
15 during the year and consigned to Burma.
16 *73. Compared with 1901-02 the imports of saltpetre
17 into the Calcutta market rose from maunds 5,12, 764 to maunds
18 8,36,929, an increase of maunds 24,165. The consignments
19 from Behar were smaller, but larger quantities were received
20 from the United Provinces and the Punjab. The internal
21 trade issuing from Calcutta is- not of importance, but it
22 improved slightly. Exports by sea were larger by maunds
23 74,478, maunds 5,53,775 against maunds 4,79,297, and
24 the greater activity in refining operations described in para-
25 graph 72 was apparently due to an improvement in the
26 demand from abroad. The total exports of saltpetre from
27 British India during the year under report, recorded by the
28 Statistical Bureau, amounted to 410,622 cwt. compared with
29 a maximum of 397,385 cwt. and a minimum of 346,388 cwt.
30 during the previous four years.
31 74, The discussion of the questions (1) of increasing
32 the use of saltpetre as manure, and (2) of the possibility of
33 solving the problem of cheap salt for cattle by encouraging
34 the production of saltpetre salt, which was commenced in
35 1gof-02, was continued during the year. At the request of
36 the Inspector-General of Agriculture, I have arranged with a
37 firm of saltpetre refiners in the Farrukhabad District for the sup-
38 ply of crude saltpetre and szééa (impure saltpetre salt) for ex-
39 perimental purposes, Quantities, varying from 10 to 50 maunds
40 of crude saltpetre containing about 60 per cent. of nitrate of
41 potash, have been sent to the Government Farms at Nagpur,
42 Surat,’ Nadiad and Kirkee, and a consignment of the value of
43 three hundred rupees has been sent to the Director of Agri«
44 culture in Bengal. Five maunds of s¢é#a have also been supplied
45 to each of the.Government Farms at Siripur, Kirkee, Charodi,
46 Nagpur and Hissar for experimental use as cattle food. At
47 the request of the Inspector-General, the séé#a supplied con-
48 tained about 80 per cent. of common salt, and special treatment
49 was necessary toeproduce sitéa of this quality. The seta
50 ordinarily excised by this Department does not contain
51 more than 50 or 60 per cent. of salt. The results of these
52 experiments may be awaited. The reduction of the salt duty
53 diminishes to some extent the urgency of the demand of ‘the
54 Department of Agriculture for cheap salt for cattle.
55 45. The prices of salt for March have hitherto been showne
56 in an appendix, but it is useless to compare the prices record-
57 ed in ‘March 1903, which were naturally affected by the
58 reduction of the duty, with those of the same month in the pre-
59 vious year. The appendix has therefore this year been omitted.
60 46. The North-West Soap Company at Meerut received
61 a refund during the year of Rs. 2,932-14-6 on account of
62 maunds 1,173-6-8 of salt used in the manufacture of soap.
63 The duty refunded during the previous year amounted to
64 Rs, 1,718-9-0 on maunds 687-17 of salt. The Company
65 duly observed the conditions of the concession it holds.) The
66 ( 29 )
67 ry
68 INTERNAL
69 BRANCH.
70 Import and export trade
71 of Calcutta in salt-
72 petre,
73 Appendix XIII.
74 Use of saltpetre as a
75 manure and the con-
76 sumption of siffa by
77 eattle.
78 Prices of salt before the
79 reduction of duty.
80 Refunds of duty on salt
81 used for industrial
82 purposes,