§ Mr. REMERasked the Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that the traffic in opium between India and China, previously prohibited overseas, is now extending to an alarming degree overland through British Burmah; and what steps he proposes to take to deal with this matter?
§ Mr. MONTAGUI am already in communication with the Government of India in this matter. I believe that any opium smuggled from Burma into China is grown almost exclusively in the frontier tract on the Chinese border. But my hon. Friend is aware that the border of Burma is wild and inaccessible and only partly under the direct control of the Burma Government. Any effective policy of prohibition would probably entail the assumption of direct administrative control and would involve heavy expenditure and possibly armed interference. I am, however, hopeful that without going to this length it may be found possible to introduce stricter measures of control than now exist.