§ Mr. LLOYDasked the Under-Secretary of State for India, whether he will consider the necessity of special assistance being given to those smaller Native States whose revenues are being seriously crippled by the curtailment of the opium traffic?
§ Mr. MONTAGUThe reduction in the annual export in accordance with the 1908 agreement has been made almost wholly in respect of Bengal opium. The permissible export of Malwa opium for the three years 1911–12–13 has been fixed at an average amount which is within sixty chests of the average export in the three years immediately preceding the agreement, while the higher prices prevailing in China have enabled the Native Chiefs to enhance the dues levied by them on exported opium. There is, therefore, no necessity to consider a condition of affairs which does not exist.