the muttadars; but the out-still system is in force in some of the muttas.
In all parts of the Agency in which neither of the aforementioned systems is in force, the arrack revenue is managed on the out-still system, whereby the right both to make and to sell arrack in licensed premises is sold annually by auction.
In Bhadráchalam the arrack is distilled from the flowers of the ippa (Bassia latifolia) tree, but elsewhere in the Agency from toddy.
In the plains, the toddy revenue is now managed on the usual tree-tax system, under which a tax is levied on every tree tapped and the right to open retail shops is sold every year to the highest bidder. The toddy is nearly all drawn from date and palmyra palms, the number of each of these which is tapped being about equal. Date toddy is used from October to the end of January and from July to September, when palmyra toddy is scarce. The toddy-drawers are generally of the Idiga and Gamalla castes.
A fair number of trees are tapped for sweet juice in the delta taluks, since the demand for jaggery at the Samalkot distillery and sugar factory is very large. Many more are tapped in the western delta lately transferred to the Kistna district. Licenses have to be taken out for tapping for sweet juice. The low price of jaggery formerly retarded the industry; but recently (probably owing to the effect of the countervailing duties on sugar) the price has risen from Rs. 14 per candy of 500 lb. to Rs. 21 or Rs. 22, and this may result in an extension of sweet-juice tapping. The tappers, however, are very usually in debt to capitalists from whom they have received advances, and are perhaps not likely to benefit much themselves.
In the Agency, the tree-tax system is in force in the 30 villages already mentioned where the excise system of arrack administration has been introduced, but elsewhere no separate revenue is derived from toddy. Toddy is drawn by the hill people from date, palmyra and sago (Caryota urens) palm trees.
Six taverns have been opened in Rajahmundry and Cocanada for the sale of foreign liquor to be consumed on the premises. The right to sell in them is disposed of annually by auction. In the Agency, a few shops have been opened on payment of fixed fees.
The sale of opium, preparations of the hemp plant and poppy-heads is controlled under the system usual elsewhere. Supplies are obtained from the Government storehouses. There is an opium storehouse at Rajahmundry, the only one in the Presidency outside Madras. Licenses for wholesale
