§ MR. REES (Montgomery Boroughs.)To ask the Secretary of State for India whether, in view of the recent communication made by His Majesty's Government to the Chinese Government accepting the proposal to decrease the export 64 of Indian opium to China year by year till it altogether ceases, any indication can be given of the sources from which revenue will be raised in the United Kingdom to recoup Indian revenues for the loss which will be occasioned by the transfer of the opium trade to other hands.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Morley.) It would be premature at the present preliminary stage of the negotiations, which import reciprocal conditions to be observed in China and in India, and have still to take the form of a precise agreement, to forecast their effect on the future revenues of India or the manner of dealing with the question of loss.