332 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. XVI.

forms of the drugs without the others, and to meet the demand for one form
without allowing the sale of the other forms of the drug."

(b) Separate sale of shops.

681. As to the question whether the licenses for different shops should be
sold separately or collectively for any given tract, the
Commission are not prepared to generalize. The
latter system affords a better guarantee for the respectability of the licensee, and
has the mt of simplicity. But where auction bids are affected by combina-
tions, the separate system may be desirable. The matter is one that must be
left to the discretion of Local Governments and Administrations.

(c) Grant of retail licenses to
wholesale vendors.

682. The Commission are averse, as a rule, to the grant of retail licenses to
wholesale vendors, and there is a good deal of evid-
ence against the practice. It is not desirable to
insist on the wholesale vendors becoming also the retail vendors, and diversity
of practice tends to produc complications. If both functions reside in the same
person, he has too extensiv a monopoly, and will command the market to an
undesirable extent. It cannot be too strongly insisted upon that uniformity
and simplicity of system are essential to providing the means for ascertaining
whether the drugs are sufficiently xed; and when some of the shops are held by
the wholesale vendors, and others by separate retail vendors, it is more difficult to
gauge accurately the effect of the system. At the same time the Commission are
aware that the practice of allowing wholesale vendors to hold retail licenses is
very general, and they are unable to recommend that it should be authoritatively
put a stop to. The subject is one which they would commend to the notice
of Local Governments with reference to the above remarks.

(d) Licensing of shops.

683. A separate license should be granted for each shop. This is ordinarily
the practice, but there are exceptions. None should
be permitted. The District Officer should watch the
auction bids and refuse to renew licenses if they only amount to a nominal figure.
The principle should be to supply a real demand, not to create one; and if the
demand only exists to a very limited extent, the danger of stimulating it must
prevail against the convenience of the very limited number of consumers. The
number of the population per retail license in the different provinces in 1892-93
was as follows:�