Officer Clearing Despatch (1 results)

No Binding. Condition: Good. An extremely rare permit issued under British India's highly lucrative, highly oppressive salt tax. Single pink paper leaf 34x22cm, printed in English, Urdu and Hindi to both sides, with official ink stamp, ms entries in English and Hindi, and signatures. Good, folded into quarters, some ink smudging, and minor roughness along the top edge where presumably it was pulled from a permit book. The printer's code dates the form to 28-2-[18]88, with ms entries dated December 1888 to January 1889. The British applied strict controls on Indian salt manufacture to protect its own industry back home. In 1879, they took control of the Sambhar Salt Lake in Rajasthan, enabling them to tax salt at the point of manufacture. The India Salt Act (1882) enforced a Government monopoly under which salt could only be made, handled and taxed at official salt depots. This system replaced the 2,500 mile long Internal Customs Line (most of which was the densely planted "Great Hedge") to prevent salt being smuggled in from areas then not under British control. The form contains the large circular ink stamp of the Sambhur (Sambhar) Inland Customs, and signatures of the Assistant Commissioner, Northern India Salt Reserve (NISR), the Officer weighing the despatch, and Officer clearing the despatch. The front contains a 10 column table with the ms entries given in brackets where legible as follows: Number (13069); Date of issue (31 12 88); Trader's and consignee's names (?); Description of carriage (6 camels); Quantity of Salt (45 Maunds, 0 Seers); Price realised at (4) annas per Maund (Rs 11, 4 Annas, 0 Pice); Duty realised (Rs 112, 8 Annas, 0 Pice); Place and date of payment: Name of treasury (Sambhur), Number and Date of Receipt (No. 230D / 29 12 88); Destination of the salt and route by which proceeding (Jamb---(?)); and Remarks (Hira Lall). A "Salt from Store No." field has not been filled. The back contains the "Endorsement of Weightment and Clearance of the Salt Entered in the Rawanna", both signed and dated 4/1/89.