§ MR. O'DONNELLasked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether his attention has been called to the large number of criminal prosecutions, by the Madras Government, of extremely poor persons, on the charge of being in illegal possession of small quantities of salt for domestic use, or the use of cattle, or for use in the curing of fish and other perishable articles of food; whether he has seen that a number of poor persons have been severely punished for the crime of using saltish earth as a partial substitute for salt, and for attempting to obtain salt for their domestic wants by evaporating sea water, and that the excuse that their extreme poverty prevented them from using the Government taxed salt was rejected; and, whether he can inform the House what are the 474 legal penalties and punishments for the illegal use or consumption of salt in India?
§ MR. J. K. CROSSYes, Sir; a large number of prosecutions for offences against the Salt Revenue Law take place in Madras, and the Madras Government has been directed to watch carefully the operations of Act 1 of 1882, which deals with these offences. Salt smuggling has been very prevalent in Madras, and has caused great loss to the Revenue. In 1881, 188 cases were detected, and two tons of smuggled salt were seized in a single district in two days. It was therefore thought necessary to pass the Act 1 of 1882, for the better protection of the salt revenue. The maximum penalty for offences under the Act is imprisonment for three months, or fine of 500 rupees, with confiscation of the smuggled salt; but, under the Departmental rules, first offenders are dismissed with a warning.
§ MR. O'KELLYasked, as salt was a necessary of life, would the Government take steps to carry out Free Trade in salt?
§ [No answer was given to this Question.]