§ MR. REES (Montgomery Boroughs)To ask the Secretary of State for India whether, in view of the fact that the mortality from fever in India is so greatly in excess of that occasioned by other diseases, and of the fact that opium is a recognised specific, and an absolute necessity to certain races and tribes of Indians, for the treatment of this disease, he will, in arrangements that are made for reducing the cultivation of opium, safeguard the supply of sufficient quantities for use for medicinal purposes.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Morley) I have no doubt that in any further regulations which the Government of India may make for the restriction of the opium habit in India, the special circumstances of particular tribes or races, necessitating a supply of the drug for medicinal purposes, will receive due consideration.