olxxvii 



Since 1883-84 it will be seen that the revenue has increased by 

 37*31 lakhs or 64 per cent. 



25. The facts stated above will, I believe, place it beyond doubt 

 that the abkdri administration of this Presidency has for several years 

 past been conducted on sound principles. The revenue has doubtless 

 increased considerably, but it has been obtained by pushing up tax- 

 ation and reducing consumption and not by pushing up consumption. 

 The ascertainment of the limit, to which the taxation in the several 

 parts of the Presidency can be carried, is a tentative process and it 

 would be rash to assert that in no instance was a mistake committed. 

 On the whole, however, there is no reason to think that consumption 

 is now higher than it was 15 years ago, and there is distinct evidence 

 to show that in most parts of the Presidency it is very much less. 

 The assertion, which one sometimes hears to the contrary, is not the 

 result of a proper investigation of the conditions of the past or 

 study of comparative statistics, but of a newly awakened conscious- 

 ness to the evils of drinking in the abstract. It has been truly 

 remarked : " Those who have lately become conscious of certain facts 

 are apt to suppose that they have lately risen. After a changed 

 state of mind has made us observant of occurrences we were before 

 indifferent to, there often results the belief that such occurrences are 

 more common than they were." I believe that most of the difficulties 

 connected with abkdri administration have now been surmounted and 

 that very little remains to be done beyond persevering in the policy 

 hitherto pursued. The excise system and the tree-tax system must of 

 course be introduced into the remaining portions of the Presidency as 

 quickly as circumstances will permit, and when this has been done, 

 and the shops licensed have been reduced to the smallest number 

 possible, consistently with the requirements of the population to be 

 served, and the duty is enhanced from time to time in places where 

 the consumption shows a tendency to increase, the Government will 

 have done in the way of reducing consumption all that it is possible 

 for it to do. The consumption of liquor by the laboring classes 

 fluctuates with the state of the agricultural season from year to year 

 and in prosperous times shows a tendency to increase. This tendency 

 can be checked only by the diffusion of elementary education among 

 the lower classes. This being so, it is a question for consideration 

 whether a fixed percentage of the increase of revenue (nearly 38 lakhs 

 within the last 5 years) contributed chiefly by the working classes 

 should not be set apart for advancing elementary education. The 

 Government of India now take 75 per cent, of the revenue derived 

 from excise. 



26. There are three classes of persons who condemn the abkari 

 arrangements in this Presidency. The first comprises philanthropists 

 who, being impressed with the evils which the spread of drunkenness 

 has wrought in England, feel anxious lest a similar state of things 

 should be brought about by Government arrangements in India, more 

 especially as religious prejudices among large classes of the popula- 

 tion, which formerly told in favour of sobriety, are gradually wearing 

 away. Their fears, so far as this Presidency is concerned, are not 

 well-founded, and if they knew the facts they would doubtless be 

 ready to admit that Government is working in the same direction aa 



