MR. HERBERTI beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether sanction has been given to the appointment by the Chinese Government of a Chinese official to reside in India and check the exports of opium from India to China in order to ensure that the obligation of the Indian Government to reduce the exports by one-tenth annually is carried out; whether any similar official has been appointed by the British Government in China to check the area under crop in the poppy growing districts in China, in order to ensure that the reciprocal obligation of the Chinese Government for concurrent reduction of the production of opium is carried out; and, if not, whether such official will be appointed without delay.
§ SIR EDWARD GREYAn agreement has been come to between the Chinese Government and His Majesty's Government whereby a Chinese official may be stationed at Calcutta to watch the sales and export of opium, but with no power of interference of any description. The Chinese Government have not so far notified us of any appointment. No similar official has been appointed by His Majesty's Government to reside in China, nor is it their intention to make such an appointment. But His Majesty's Consular officers have standing instructions to report any available information as to the diminution of the cultivation of opium.