§ MR. CROPPERasked the Under Secretary of State for India, If his attention has been drawn to a telegram published in The Times of March 17th, stating that Sir Auckland Colvin, in his Financial Statement, say as follows:— 872
That the Government is indebted to Mr Rivett Carnac, opium agent at Benares, for some successful experiments in the preparation of Malwa opium into a form suited for local consumption, experiments which, in 1882, set free 1,372 chests, and, in 1883, 3,000 chests, of provision opium (or opium available for export), at a profit to the Government of 194,845 rupees in the former, and of 756,347 rupees in the latter year;whether the Indian Government did, during the last two years, purchase a quantity of opium produced in the Native States of India, and prepare it, in the Government factories, for sale in British India; whether this new form of the opium trade has the approval of Her Majesty's Government; whether any limit is to be put to the quantity of Malwa opium which may thus be purchased and prepared for local consumption, or whether it is to be increased indefinitely; and, whether this system of purchasing Malwa opium, for preparation in the Government factories, is to be confined to opium for local consumption in India, or extended to the preparation of the Malwa opium into the form suitable for exportation to China?
§ MR. J. K. CROSSI have read the telegram referred to. Two thousand maunds of Malwa opium were purchased in 1882 under circumstances referred to in Sir Evelyn Baring's Financial Statement for 1883–4, paragraph 202; and a further quantity was purchased in 1883. The, export demand is as much as the present production of Bengal can usually supply; and it has been thought better to set free the Bengal production to meet this export demand, supplying the local consumption of Bengal by Malwa opium, rather than to extend the cultivation of the poppy in Bengal. The Malwa opium, so purchased, is not intended for export, but will be confined to local consumption. The Secretary of State sees no reason to disapprove of this arrangement.