§ Colonel DAYasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether any legislation exists outside the Punjab and the United Provinces prohibiting the smoking of opium?
§ Earl WINTERTONUnder rules made by local Governments under the Opium Act the sale of prepared opium is prohibited and low limits are fixed to the amount, which may be legally in the possession of an individual at any one time, but the actual smoking of opium by persons legally in possession of it is not prohibited. The provisions of the Punjab Act referred to in the reply given to the hon. Member for Mile End on 29th July have been extended to the North-West Frontier Province and Delhi.
§ Colonel DAYasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether all the opium cultivated in the Punjab is treated in Government-owned and operated factories; how many such factories there are; and what proportion of the entire crop is dealt with in each?
§ Earl WINTERTONThe answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. There are no such factories in the Punjab. The third part of the question therefore does not arise.
§ Colonel DAYasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he will inform 3004W the House of the number of opium factories in India, where these factories are situated, and how many of them are owned and operated by the Government of India?
§ Earl WINTERTONThere is one opium factory at Ghazipur owned and operated by the Government of India, to deal with all the opium grown in British India, except in a few wild and inhospitable tracts; it also deals with part of the product of the Indian States.