Circular N. 4142 of the Territorial Department Revenue from the Officiating Secretary to the Government at Bombay Castle, Charles Edward Fraser Tytler, to the Resident in the Persian Gulf [‎22r] (33/44)

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lias deterred the smugglers incurring the hazard of late years, of frequenting the route they
formerly took, which "crossed the Runn a little to the north of Nuggur Parkur, from which
the contrabandists passed by a south-west course to the Indus, and thence to Kurrachee, from
which port the drug was shipped to Damaun." At present (letter from the Collector of
Continental Customs and Excise, dated the 14th August 1846) opium is sold in Damaun by
five or six licensed venders, at a price very little exceeding that for which it is sold in
Malwa. It is said to be brought from Nowsaree, Cambay, and Jumboosur, and perhaps
rom Khandeish, where it is obtained at a less price than in Malwa. The officer from whose
report this information is taken states that he cannot learn that the Damaun traffic has
revived. We should, however, so shape our measures as not to incur the risk of this trade
being by any means revived.
45. The information I have now furnished will probabty assist the Government of India
in determining whether any, and what, modifications are expedient in the existing system
under which the opium trade of this Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. is regulated. With the view of more
efficiently protecting the Bengal monopoly, and at the same time securing the considerable
revenue we now derive from Malwa opium, under the pass plan, and, if possible, augmenting
it, by checking still further the illicit trade, it is obvious that when the orders quoted in the
42nd paragraph of my minute were issued, the Government of India were not aware of the
extreme difficulty of preventing the contraband trade, if our efforts are exclusively confined
to British territory, and they do not appear to have been fully aware that our restrictions
were extended to the whole of the foreign territory subordinate to this Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. ; and that
although in some parts these have of late 3 r ears fallen into abeyance, in others they are
enforced up to the present day. In no case, moreover, have the original engagements
entered into in support of our attempts to protect the opium monopoly been formally
rescinded ; and I may add, that I am not aware that any of the evils noticed in the Govern
ment of India's letter of the 26th April 1845 have been found to result here from those
encasements.
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46. On this subject the Resident at Baroda has observed :—" The relaxation of former
Regulations being calculated to lead to the illicit export of opium, a prohibition should, I
think, be issued against its entering.the country at all, on the same principles that obtained
when His Highness' proclamation was in force. It ought to be enacted—His Highness the
Guicowar being a party to the arrangement—that every purchaser of opium in Malwa be
required to procure a pass from the Superintendent at Rutlam, to be produced when required
at every naka, at the risk of all his goods being declared contraband. Not only the Guicowar
Government, but the various Suwusthans [Native States], should also be requested to
acquiesce in these measures against illicit importation, for nothing will effect its entire
suppression, but a general system which shall have operation over all the country. If
vigorous measures such as these be pursued, and proper vigilance exercised on the part of
our local officers, the irregular sources of supply will no doubt be effectually cut off."
(Letter from Mr. Remington, Acting Resident at Baroda, dated the 10th February 1844; see
also on this subject Mr. Remington's letter dated the 16th January 1844.) With respect to
the Rewa Kanta, Mr. Remington remarks in the same letter:—" Any vigilance exercised
by us with a view to prevent smuggling through their districts could scarcely be felt as a
hardship." Even as-it is, the Barriah and Oodeepore routes are watched, and seizures have
been effected at Barriah without any objection on the part of that State. The Collector of
Surat remarks (letter dated the 31st May 1846) on the same subject:—" As the Native
Chiefs have a perfect right to deal as they please with smuggled goods detected within their
respective jurisdictions, there seems to be no obstacle to pursuing the course proposed in
regard to seizures of opium, nor are any objections to be anticipated on the part of the Chiefs
themselves to the disposal of the drug in the manner recommended."
47. The following extract from a letter from the Resident at Indore, dated the 9th
December 1845, indicates the necessity of our obtaining definite instructions from the