Annual Administration Report of the Cooch Behar State (1891–92)

The Annual Administration Report of the Cooch Behar State for the Year 1891-92

Publication

Author	The State Council of Cooch Behar, with departmental reports annexed
Language	English
Composed	1892 (the annexed reports are dated August 1892)
Publisher	Cooch Behar State Press
Place	Cooch Behar
Volumes	1

Cannabis Content

Volume	(single volume)
Pages	The State Council's report, pp. 9 and 12 (§§44–45, 58); appendix, p. xxii
Chapter	The State Council's paragraph headed "Excise" (§44)
Plates	none
Regions documented	Cooch Behar State
Preparations	Ganja
Uses documented	Excise settlement; stock in the State's golahs; police powers under the excise law

Access

Digital facsimile	View the Internet Archive scan

The Annual Administration Report of the Cooch Behar State for the Year 1891-92 is the volume of the annual administration reports of the princely state of Cooch Behar for the year 1891–92. It opens with the State Council's report to the Maharaja, followed by reports on general administration, revenue administration, judicial work and registration.^{: title page; Council's report, p. 9} The State Council's paragraphs on excise record a bad crop of ganja, the writing off of ganja found short in the State's warehouses and the excise powers given to the State police.^{: Council's report, pp. 9, 12}

Written by the State's own government for its ruler, the volume is evidence of how that administration reasoned about its revenue from intoxicants as much as it is a record of cannabis.

The volume

The reports annexed to the State Council's are dated August 1892. The Superintendent of the State (E. E. Lowis) and the Dewan (Rai Calica Doss Dutt Bahadur) addressed theirs to the Maharaja in Council, the Dewan's on 29 August. The Registrar of Deeds, Jadub Chundra Chuckerbutty, addressed his to the President of the State Council on 10 August.^{: covering letters of the annexed reports}

The Government of Bengal recorded remarks on the State's reports. In those on the report for 1890–91 it took special notice of the large outstanding balance of land revenue, a subject the Dewan's report for 1891–92 takes up.^{: Dewan's report, p. 5}

Ganja in the excise accounts

The State Council's report records a decrease of Rs. 200-4 in the monthly demand for taxes and licence fees at the excise settlement, compared with the previous year. It explains that "the increase for the year before last was due to speculative competition and could not be maintained" and adds: "The out-turn of the last gunja crop was also very bad." Sanction was given for writing off 2 maunds 36 seers 7 chittacks of ganja found short in the State's golahs (its warehouses) and for destroying 4 maunds 27 seers 15 chittacks of refuse ganja found unfit for use.^{: Council's report, p. 9}

The same report states that the State police were invested with the powers of excise officers under section 41 of "the Excise Act (Act VIII B. C. of 1878) as revised by Act I of 1883".^{: Council's report, p. 12} A "Ganja Gollah" appears among the civil buildings in the Public Works Department's statement of expenditure on repairs.^{: appendix, p. xxii}

See also

• Annual Administration Report of the Cooch Behar State (1883)
• Annual Administration Report of the Cooch Behar State (1893–94)
• Annual Report on the General Administration of the Cooch Behar State (1934–35)
• Cannabis in Cooch Behar State

References

Cooch Behar State Ganja Excise Government report Annual administration report