§ MR. LAWRENCE (Liverpool, Abercromby)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether the system of requiring the opium seller in Bombay to sell a minimum quantity of opium in the year, subject to a pecuniary penalty, has been abolished?
MR. CURZONIt will have been seen from pages 106 and 109 of the recent opium Blue Book that the Government of India have ordered the cessation of the practice of requiring from licensed opium sellers in Bombay the sale of a minimum guaranteed quantity, the object of which was to check the sale of contraband opium; that the Secretary of State has approved these instructions; and that a Report on the effect of these orders has been requested.