§ SIR H. COTTON (Nottingham, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether the rate of duty levied on Malwa opium is still Rs.600 per chest; and whether, in view of the high average prices prevailing in Calcutta during the past three years, which are not less than Rs.1,400 a chest, he will consider the desirability of raising the Malwa rate to Rs.700 a chest.
The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Mr. Charles Hob house, Bristol, E.)The duty is still Rs.600 a chest, to which amount it was raised from Rs.500 in 1904, on the ground that the price of Bengal opium had advanced to Rs.1,393 a chest. The present price of Bengal opium is below this figure. The continuous decline in the exports of Malwa opium would seem to indicate that the present rate of duty is not unduly favourable to the opium production of Native States, and the Secretary of State sees no sufficient reason for intervening in the matter.
§ SIR H. COTTONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India if he can state the figures of the opium revenue 827 for the first ten months of the current year 1906–7; whether they are in excess of the Budget estimate; if so, by how much; and can he furnish any explanation of the excess, if any, of actuals over the estimates.
§ MR. CHARLES HOBHOUSEFigures for the ten months have not yet been received from India. The figures for nine months are:—Gross receipts, £4,253,200 against £3,653,333 estimated. Increase, £599,867. The excess is due to higher prices having been obtained at the sales than was taken for the estimates.
§ SIR H. COTTONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India what is the price per seer now paid by the Government of India to the cultivators for Bengal opium; when that rate was last increased; and whether there are any complaints among the cultivators of poppy that in view of the increased price of other articles of produce, the amount now paid to them for opium is an unremunerative price.
§ MR. HOBHOUSEThe present price is Rupees 6 the seer. It was raised to that figure in 1894. The Secretary of State is not aware that such complaints have been preferred. Cultivators are under no obligation to grow opium. If the price is unremunerative, they can cease to take out licences. Of late, owing to favourable seasons for opium, the tendency has been in the other direction.
§ MR. LUPTON (Lincolnshire, Sleaford)asked what steps were being taken to reduce the area of cultivation of the poppy.
§ MR. CHARLES HOBHOUSEsaid he understood that the Secretary of State had sent instructions to India to reduce, in the coming year, the area upon which opium would be cultivated.
§ SIR H. COTTONAre not complaints frequent among the cultivators?
§ MR. HOBHOUSEWe have no record of the fact at the India Office.