olxvii 



Area in 

 sq- miles. 



Population. 



Tracts under the 

 excise system 



Tracts in which the 

 excise system has been 

 ordered to be intro- 

 duced from 1st April 

 next ... 



Total ... 



106,000 25,425,000 



4,000 



473,000 



110,000 25,898,000 



restrictions as regards maximum and minimum prices, illicit dealings 

 in liquor have been suppressed, it is expected that the way will be 

 clear for equalizing the still-head duty throughout the country and 

 levelling it up to the import rate ; in other words, increasing the 

 fixed and decreasing the variable portion of the total taxation. The 

 intention is eventually to dispense altogether with middlemen, with 

 monopoly privileges for the sale of liquor also and to make the taxation 

 consist of the still-head duty and shop rents. This plan has been 

 adopted in towns, but as it is not possible to abolish middlemen all at 

 once in rural tracts, the size of the vend farms has been gradually 

 reduced in view to middlemen being finally got rid of. 



14. Since 1884 very considerable progress has been made in bring- 

 ing the improved excise system 

 into force throughout the Pre- 

 sidency ; it was of course intro- 

 duced at once into the districts 

 in which the '^guaranteed reve- 

 nue'^ system was in force ; it 

 was also extended to the Kurnool 

 district with the exception of the 

 Cumbum and Mdrkdpur taluks 



in 1885 86 ; to the upland taluks 



of the Kistna district in 1886 ; 

 to the five Municipal towns of the Malabar district in 1886-87 ; to the 

 inland taluks of the Vizagapatam district and into the Man galore taluk 

 of the South Canara district and into the taluks of Chirakal, Kottayam, 

 Calicut and Pdlghat of the Malabar district in 1888-89. It is under 

 contemplation to introduce it into Cumbum and Mdrkdpur taluks of 

 the Kurnool district and Gudivada, Yissanapet and Nuzvid taluks of 

 the Kistna district from next April. Within the next two or three 

 years it will probably be in force in all parts of the Presidency 

 excepting, of course, the Agency tracts. The diflficulty has hitherto 

 been to devise arrangements under which the excise system can be 

 worked in districts in which toddy spirit is consumed. In these districts 

 distillation is practised by almost every toddy-drawer and its suppres- 

 sion requires large preventive establishments. Toddy required for 

 distillation is, moreover, expensive to carry long distances and gets 

 spoilt if kept long. The plan introduced into the taluks of the Mala- 

 bar district at the suggestion of Mr. Galton may, however, be consi- 

 dered to have solved the problem. The plan is to establish distilleries 

 in central localities, where palm-trees are abundant, and to permit the 

 distiller to work subsidiary stills in the vicinity, from which weak 

 spirits could be passed by the distillery officer to the central distillery 

 for redistillation. Centralization of distillation of toddy spirit necessi- 

 tates the employment of strong preventive establishments and it is 

 found convenient to work it in connection with the tree-tax system (to 

 be noticed in connection with toddy arrangements) which likewise 

 requires strong establishments to work it. 



15. The number of distilleries in the tracts under the excise system 

 is 20, of which 17 are worked under the " free supply " and 3 under 

 the " monopoly supply " system. In all these distilleries spirit is 

 manufactured by the method of continuous " close distillation." It 

 was at one time feared that Messrs. Parry and Company, who work a 



