Talk:Government of India Resolution No. 1369 Ex. (1895)
Discussion page of Government of India Resolution No. 1369 Ex. (1895)
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Contemporary accounts checked against the text
Three contemporary accounts of the Resolution were read on 18 September 2026 and compared with the Resolution itself, which was read in full (NLS India Papers 74915572) with every passage below checked on its page images. The two British Medical Journal items were read on the page images of archive.org sim_british-medical-journal_january-june-1895_1; the Texas Medical Journal reprint was read on its PMC page images.
- British Medical Journal, 20 April 1895, p. 886, "The Hemp Drugs Commission". Its statement of policy is paragraph 46 almost word for word, with "the best course" for the Resolution's "the wisest course". It says the government "has expressed its entire concurrence" with the commission's policy of restriction and control, where paragraph 48 says the Governor General in Council "approves generally of the suggestions of the Commission". The Resolution departs from the commission on several points. The note's opening sentence says the Resolution "has been considered by the Governor-General in Council"; paragraph 1 says that of the report.
- British Medical Journal, 27 April 1895, p. 938, "The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission" (leading article).
- "taxation to the highest point compatible with the prevention of illicit production in British India, and of smuggling from the native States" is printed as a quotation but is not in the Resolution. The full text was searched for "compatible", "highest point", "smuggling" and "illicit production"; paragraphs 44–46 (p. 14) and 65–66 (p. 22) were read on the page images. The nearest wordings are paragraph 44's "taxed (and taxed as heavily as possible)"; paragraph 46's "as expensive as possible without driving people to resort to more noxious intoxicants than hemp"; and "as high a rate of duty as can be levied without inducing illicit practices", from the report's policy as quoted at paragraph 32. The phrase is not in the OCR text of the report's vol. I either.
- "local option as regards the number of ganja shops": paragraph 63(e) takes up local option and directs that in municipal towns no shop be opened "without consulting the Municipal Committee"; that in rural centres notice be given and objections considered; and that no shop be opened "unless there is a real demand for the drug".
- "the supply of the drugs to such sections of the community as are liable to abuse them": paragraph 63(d) prohibits sale "to children or insane persons". The leader's refusal of licences to "females" matches paragraph 63(d).
- "as many as 1 in 200 of the inhabitants of Bengal" is paragraph 17's "only 1 in 200 of the total population consume ganja", with the emphasis reversed. "Not more than 1 in 4,000 inhabitants exceeds the bounds of strict moderation" is not in the Resolution; it is the product of paragraph 17's two ratios, 1 in 200 consuming and "not more than 1 in 20 of the consumers are classed as excessive".
- The leader applies "no such marked ill-effects ... as there were popularly believed to be before the present inquiry was made" (paragraph 29) to "the few who use hemp drugs in excess". In the Resolution the sentence follows a passage on excessive use and is stated of "the use of hemp drugs".
- Three passages are in neither the Resolution nor the OCR text of the report's vol. I; their source is not traced. They are that hemp "is adapted to the constitution, occupations, and habits of Indian peoples"; that mill and mine work had "compelled the workers to resort to the 'fiercer stimulant of alcohol'"; and that moderate use had become "a part of the domestic, social, and even religious life of the people".
- Its other quotations match the Resolution, allowing for punctuation: "To a million people in India, ganja affords a harmless pleasure, and in some cases even a beneficial stimulant" (paragraph 37) and "moderate consumers are not offensive as a rule, and indeed are not distinguishable from total abstainers" (paragraph 29).
- Texas Medical Journal, September 1895, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 138–139, "The Indian Hemp Drug Commission". A reprint of the 27 April leading article, credited to the British Medical Journal, with small changes. It drops the article's reference to its own summary of the opium report "of April 13th"; it has "jails and mad-houses" for "gaols and madhouses", "frequent and due" for "frequently and directly due" and "Indian people" for "Indian peoples". Cite and quote the British Medical Journal.
The article's Reception section cites these accounts for what they report and sets the 20 April note's "entire concurrence" against paragraph 48. The 27 April leading article's departures from the text are recorded here only. Where these accounts and the Resolution differ, quote the Resolution. Éloise 15:28, 18 September 2026 (+07)