§ MR. KIMBER (Wandsworth)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the testimony given to the inuocuousness of the moderate use of opium by men of long experience in India, including members of the medical profession, he will bring in a measure, or support such a measure if brought in, for the purpose of removing opium and its preparations from the operation of the Pharmacy Act, and allow it to be sold freely by licensed persons, without being marked poison, as is permitted in India, the opium bearing the stamp of Her Majesty the Empress of India? I will also ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether, in view of the strict enactments of the Pharmacy Act, by which opium and its preparations are prohibited from being sold in this country, unless prominently labelled poison, and the sale of which is otherwise carefully guarded, he will state if it is intended, in the interest of Her 1593 Majesty's subjects in India, to put the sale of that poison under similar restrictions?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. GEORGE RUSSELL,) North Beds.The two questions of the hon. Member may be answered together. Her Majesty's Government have no intention of introducing or supporting any measure for the purpose described in the first question; nor have they decided to request the Government of India to place the sale of opium in that country under the restrictions mentioned in the second question.