SELECTIONS FROM THE RECORDS OF THE BENGAL GOVERNMENT. Published by Authority. N°. I. ON THE POPPY CULTIVATION, AND THE BENARES OPIUM ACENCY. BY W. C. B. EATWELL, M. D. Calcutta: W. PALMER, MILITARY ORPHAN PRESS. ON THE SYSTEM OF CULTIVATING THE POPPY AND OF PREPARING OPIUM IN THE BENARES OPIUM AGENCY, WITH A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE DEPARTMENT. vation in British India. THE cultivation of the Poppy in British India is confined to the Boundaries of Poppy culti- large central Gangetic tract, about six hundred miles in length, and two hundred miles in depth, which is bounded on the North by Goruckpore, on the South by Hazareebaugh, on the East by Dinagepore, and on the West by Agra. This large extent of country is divided into two Agencies, the Behar and the Benares, the former being presided over by an Agent stationed at Patna, at which station is the central or Sudder Factory of the Agency, the latter being under the control of an Agent residing at Ghazeepore, which station contains the Sudder Factory of the Benares Agency. Finally, the control of the entire department is vested in the Board of Customs, Salt and Opium, located in Calcutta. Of the two Agencies, the Behar is the larger and more important, sending to the market about treble the quantity of drug turned out by the Benares Agency. Opium Board. The Benares Agency comprises eight divisions, namely, the Benares Benares Agency, Divi- and Mirzapore, the Ghazeepore, the Azimghur, the Juanpore, the Selimpore, the Goruckpore, the Cawnpore, and the Futtehpore. In these eight divisions, the aggre sions in. B gate amount of land under Poppy cultivation in the season 1849-50, was 1,07,823 beegahs. Each division is under the management of a Sub-Deputy Opium Agent, who resides at a central Factory, at which Sub-Deputy Opium Agents. the yearly produce of his division is collected, and whence it is forwarded to the Sudder Factory at Ghazeepore. In addition to these officers, the Collectors of all the districts in which Sub-Deputy Agents are stationed are Deputy Opium Agents. Ex-officio Deputy Opium Agents, and each exercises a general control over the Sub-Deputy Agent stationed in his district. All correspondence between the Agent and the SubDeputy Agent, passes through the hands of the Deputy Opium Agent, he is answerable that no monies on account of expenses for the department are placed at the disposal of the Sub-Deputy Opium Agent without the previous sanction of the Agent, he is charged with the investigation of all suits which may arise out of matters connected with the department, and whilst it is his duty to uphold in every proper way the authority of the Sub-Deputy Agent, it is likewise incumbent upon him to be ever alive to the welfare and interests of the cultivators, and to see that no undue influence is used to induce them to cultivate contrary to their wishes. In the divisions in which there are no Deputy Opium Agents, the above control is exerted by the Agent in person. However, although the abovementioned control over the proceedings of the Sub-Deputy Opium Agent exists, the actual management of the affairs of his district is nevertheless entirely in his own hands. As it would be, however, impossible for him to exert personal supervision over the whole of the details of the business of his division, he has under him a number of responsible executive Native Officers called Gomashtas, who are entrusted with special and important duties, the nature of which shall be described shortly. Gomashtas. Each division is separated into a certain number of sub-divisions, called Kotee Illaquas, each being of such extent that a single responsible officer can exert an efficient control over all the operations conducted in it, and each of these Kotee Illaquas is under the immediate management of a Gomashta. The Gomashta has his headquarters at the Kotee, which is a building having Kotees. some centrical situation, and in it he has his treasury under the custody of a Tehvildar or Treasurer, and an establishment sufficient to enable him duly to keep and render the accounts of his Illaqua to the Sub-Deputy Agent. Jemadars and Zilladars. The Sub-Deputy Agent having concluded his agreements with the cultivators, it is the Gomashta's duty to measure their lands, and to ascertain that they are equal in extent to the area which each has agreed to cultivate, and the correctness of the Gomashta's measurements is again tested by the Sub-Deputy Agent in person, who moves through his district during the cold season, and makes test measurements of certain portions of his cultivation. The Gomashta's further duty is to pay to the cultivators of his Illaqua their advances, which he receives from the SubDeputy Agent, and finally he receives and weighs their produce, for the safe delivery of which, at the Sudder Factory at Ghazeepore, he is held responsible. To assist the Gomashta in his intercourse with, and supervision of the cultivators, there are individuals employed, called Jemadars and Zilladars, and it is the duty of these subordinates to overlook personally the cultivators, and to watch the various steps of the cultivation. In addition to the above native officials, there is in each division a trustworthy native officer called a Mohotomim, who exerts a sort of general supervision of every thing that is transacting in the division, making frequent reports to the Agent or to the Sub-Deputy Agent, as the case may be, of the progress of affairs in the district. It will be gleaned from what has been already stated, that the number of native officials employed in the Benares Agency is very considerable. Of native officers of the first class the number amounts to nearly one hundred and fifty, whilst of subordinate officials and paid servants in constant employ, the number reaches very nearly to twelve hundred. In addition to this permanent establishment, there is during the manufacturing season a temporary establishment of upwards of six hundred individuals employed in the Ghazeepore Sudder Factory alone, including three or four European assistants and some twelve or fifteen European and Christian boys. The number of persons actually employed in cultivating the Poppy in the Agency, is very great. The number of Number of Lumberdars and Lumberdars, who signed agreements to cultivate in 1849-50, amounted to 21,549, and the total number of under cultivators was 1,06,147; when it is further under cultivators. |