§ SIR H. COTTONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India what is the amount of duty, adjusted in sterling figures, levied by the Customs authorities on every chest of opium exported from India at the ports of the following countries where opium is consumed in the Far East, viz.: 52 Ceylon, Siam, Cochin China, Straits Sattlements, Netherlands, India, Natunas Islands, Sarawak, Labuan, the Philippines, Japan, and China.
§ MR. KEARLEYMy right hon. friend has asked me to reply to this Question. Opium is free of duty in Siam, the Straits Settlements, Sarawak and Labuan. Its importation is prohibited in Cochin China, and, except so far as regards Government importations, in Japan. The duties levied in the other places mentioned are as follows: Ceylon, 5s 4d per lb.; Netherlands India, 3s 5d per lb.; the Philippines, 7s 7d per lb. on crude opium, 9s 6d per lb. on opium manufactured or prepared; China, 2s 7d per lb. After 1st March next, the importation of opium into the Philippines, except by the Government and for medicinal purposes, will be prohibited. The Board of Trade have no information as regards the Natunas Islands, but presumably the duty would be the same as that stated for Netherlands' India. I understand that a chest of Indian opium weighs about 140 lbs.