PRODUCTION OF CHAN 1 HO IN SIND. 292 



i 



Mr. R. E. Gibson, I.C.S., Collector of Haidarabad, who sent 

 me the four specimens of grades of chaniho from the Haidarabad 

 bazaar mentioned above, informs me that the bazaar prices were 

 in 1919 :— 



Ks. 



Grado I 14 



Grade II 12 



Grade III 8 



Grade IV 4 



The retail price of chaniho has therefore, like that of all other 

 commodities, risen during the war. 



Sind however consumes but a fraction of the total chaniho 

 produced, and for the remainder which is exported wholesale rates 

 at a very much lower scale are obtained. Mr. E. L. Thurley informs 

 me that the price wholesale in Karachi, appears to fluctuate, as 

 far as he can ascertain, between Re. 1-8 and Rs. 2 per maund, but 

 he says that his information was given him casually in conversation 

 and, not being based on accurate study of figures, may not have been 

 quite reliable. His figures are lower than those in Table XIV 

 where chaniho is valued at Rs. 6 per cwt. or Rs. 4-6 per maund. 

 The prices quoted by Mr. Thurley are more likely to be the prices 

 paid at the dhands, where the chaniho is bought by Bombay 

 merchants, who export it to Karachi and Bombay. The usual 

 practice appears to be purchase at the dhands themselves by the 

 merchants from Bombay or elsewhere who require it. They then 

 export the chaniho, without resale in Karachi. 



Mr. Mackie 1 states that the average selling price during the 

 seasons 1915-16 and 1916-17 was Re. 1-7 per maund in Karachi 



and Sukkur. 



At Akanwari dhand the chaniho was said to fetch about Rs. 9 

 to Rs. 10 per mani, or Re. 1 to Re. 1-2 per maund, but the best 

 quality has fetched as much as Re. 1-14. 



The " pit's mouth," or rather " dhand-shove " value lies 

 apparently between Re. 1 and Re. 1-14 at the present time. 



The right to excavate chaniho is put up to auction every year 

 in Nawabshah. Last year a bid of over Rs. 7,000 was received, 

 the average total production in the last two preceding seasons 

 having been 7,495 maunds. Re. 1 per maund is therefore a minimum 

 sale-price at which the lessee could normally sell without loss. 



1 Letier tio. 3039 Rev. Dopt., dated 15th October 1917, from A. W. Maokio, 

 fclsq., I.C.S., Collector of Nawabshah District, to the Commissioner in Sind. 



