§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)asked the Under Secretary of 840 State for India, Whether the Government of Madras planted cinchona for the purpose of obtaining a febrifuge for the Native classes; whether it is the fact that sales of Government bark are advertised in London papers; that the bark comes to Europe for the manufacture of quinine; and which drug being retailed at an average of some 300 per cent above the wholesale price (which to-day is 2s. 8d. per ounce for the best) puts it wholly and totally beyond the means of the classes the Madras Government intended to benefit; and, whether the present method of selling its bark in the open market in Madras is contrary to the understanding arrived at when the Government ceased to export bark on its own account?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)One of the objects, but not the only one, of planting cinchona, was that stated. Government bark is advertised for sale in London, and comes to England for the manufacture of quinine. Government gets quinine for its Medical Departments at wholesale prices, and makes the "Red Bark" into an effective febrifuge cheap enough to be within the reach of all classes. I do not understand what is the "understanding arrived at" mentioned in the last paragraph.