retail vendors are fixed by Government and embodied in the terms of the contract. The contract is held at present by Messrs. Parry & Co., Managers of the Deccan Sugar and Abkári Co.'s distillery at Samalkot,1[1] who make the spirit at that distillery from molasses.
The consumption of arrack in Gódávari, when compared with that in other districts in which the still-head duty is the same (Rs. 4-6 per gallon of proof spirit), is moderate. In 1903-04 the average incidence of the arrack revenue per head of population in the district as formerly constituted was as. 2-7 against as. 3-11 in the then Kistna district, as. 2-1 in Nellore, and 3 annas in the Presidency as a whole.
Up to 1900 the arrack consumed in the district was made from toddy and on the out-still system. The change to the spirit made from molasses in the distillery, which was dearer than the other and had a less popular flavour, caused a fall in the consumption and revenue (which however was more than counterbalanced by a rise in the revenue from toddy) and also offered a strong temptation to illicit distillation. The consumption of the molasses arrack, however, is now steadily increasing, and it would seem that the vigilance of the protective staff of the Salt and Abkári department has resulted in the transition from the one system to the other being safely tided over.
In the Agency, the arrack revenue is differently administered. Three systems are in force; namely, the ordinary excise system, the nominal fee system, and the out-still and shop system.
The Abkári Act I of 1886 has been extended to 47 villages in Yellavaram, Chódavaram and Pólavaram — chiefly the more civilized villages near the plains — and the excise system has been introduced into 30 of these — two in Yellavaram, four in Chódavaram and 24 in Pólavaram.
In the rest of the Agency only the old Abkári Act (III of 1864) is in operation, and the abkári administration is in the hands of the Revenue officials. Outside Chódavaram, the second of the two systems above mentioned is in force in the Kóya and Reddi villages, the inhabitants of which are allowed to make arrack for their own consumption on payment of a nominal fee of two annas a head per annum for every male over fourteen years of age. The rules require that the village headman should take out the license and make and supply arrack to the Kóya and Reddi residents, but in practice no actual license is granted. In Chódavaram little abkári revenue is derived from the muttas, since a toddy tax (chigunipannu) is supposed to be included in the quit-rent levied from
- ↑ 1 See Chapter VI, p. iii.
