§ *MR. REESI beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the British Commercial Attaché in China has reported that the decline in the import of Indian opium into China is due, not to a decrease in the use of the drug, but to the fact that the production of native opium increases year by year without restriction, and that the taxation of indigenous opium produces a large revenue, all of which now goes to the Imperial instead of to Provincial Governments.
§ MR. MORLEYThe Answer to my hon. friend's Question is in the affirmative; but as I have said a moment ago I have reason to think that the inferences drawn in the Report to which he refers cannot be verified by statistics. I am without accurate information as to the allocation of the proceeds of the taxation of native opium.