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 THE TRUTH 
 ABOUT INDIAN OPIUM 
 
 BY 
 
 G. GRAHAM DIXON. 
 
 Printed for and issued by 
 
 THE INDUSTRIES AND OVERSEAS DEPARTMENT, 
 
 INDIA OFFICE, WHITEHALL, S.W. 1. 
 
 Printed by His MA.II.STVS STATIONERY OFFICE. 
 1922. 
 
(S- 
 
 THE TRUTH ABOUT INDIAN OPIUM. 
 
 DOCUMENT 
 
 DEPT. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. The Royal Commission on Opium in India 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. The Production of Opium in India - 4 
 
 CHAPTER III. The Consumption of Opium in India 
 
 CHAPTER IV. Opium Smoking in India proper and Burma 13 
 
 CHAPTER V. The Export of Opium from India - 16 
 
 CHAPTER VI. The Hague Convention 29 
 
 CHAPTER VII. The Position of India in relation to the World's 
 Opium Problem' 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 4i! 
 
 TABLES. 
 
 Acreage under poppy in British India and Indian States, with statistics 
 of opium production - - 7 S 
 
 Consumption of opium in British India, Excise Revenue, issue price of 
 excise opium, and quantities that individuals may possess - 
 
 Quantities of prepared opium that individuals may possess - 14 
 
 Number of chests and destinations of opium exported during the 
 period 1870-1920 - 
 
 Revenue from sales of opium for export 
 
 Comparative table showing opium revenue in relation to gross 
 revenues of British India - - - - - - 29 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT INDIAN OPIUM. 
 
 CB AFTER I. 
 
 THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON OPIUM IN INDIA. 
 
 In India, apart from Burma, which will be discussed 
 separately, opium is general]} 7 eaten in the form of pills, and 
 in some parts it is dissolved iiTwater and drunk. It is the 
 ordinary domestic medicine of the people, great numbers of 
 whom are unaccustomed to, or beyond the reach of, skilled 
 medical treatment, and it is a medicine of which they could 
 not be deprived without very great suffering. It is largely 
 used in the malarial tracts as a prophylactic against fever, 
 and is a great aid to endurance ; the fisherman swallows 
 his opium pill before entering the water, just as his European 
 brother carries his whisky flask, and the carrier eats opium 
 when on the march. The drug has been commonly employed 
 for hundreds of years, and abuse of its properties is rarer than 
 the abuse of alcohol in Western countries. 1 
 
 The danger of indulgence always exists, and for many 
 years it has been the policy of the Government of India to 
 guard against this in every possible way. It is the aim of 
 this paper to explain the steps which they have taken .and the 
 results which have been achieved. 
 
 Opium smoking, which is the common form of consumption 
 in other parter of the East,- is on a different footing in India. 
 It is a practice foreign to the country, and was introduced as a 
 form of social indulgence among the disreputable classes. It is 
 regarded as a vicious habit, much on a par with the consump- 
 tion of alcohol, and has been hedged round by Government 
 with restrictions which are little short of prohibition. 
 
 The consumption of opium in India dates probably from 
 the 16th century, and a monopoly of the purchase of opium from 
 the cultivators grew up in Bihar under the Mughal Empire. 
 At that time cultivation in other parts of India was apparently 
 unrestricted. The Empire lost hold of the monopoly daring 
 the anarchy of the 18th century, but it was carried on in 
 
 1 There is an essential difference between the drug: problem in India, and in 
 Europe and America. These latter countries are principally concerned with the 
 problems presented by the vicious consumption of cocaine and morphia, concen- 
 trated drugs far more potent than opium, and it is on the experience of the 
 abuse of these drugs tint much of the condemnation of Indian policy is based. 
 It may be said that the effects of the consumption of opium in Europe and 
 America are hardly less disastrous than those of morphia and cocaine. That is 
 so, but the reason is that to Americans and Europeans opium is an unaccustomed 
 stimulant. The habit being both new and strange, it is never used in moderation, 
 but invariably abused, and the results cannot be compared with the results of 
 moderate opium eating in India. Opium in the West is as dangerous as alcohol 
 in the East, and for the same reason. It has not been suggested that the evil 
 effects of alcohol in Africa afford a sound argument in favour of prohibition in 
 England. 
 
 4983 2000 4.22 A 2 
 
practice by a "ring" of Patmi merchants. When the East 
 India Company assumed responsibility for the collection of the 
 Bengal and Bihar revenues in 1765, its servants appropriated 
 the monopoly for their own private benefit, and the prevailing 
 corruption continued. Disturbances ensued, and Avlien 
 Warren Hastings was appointed Governor-General in 1773 
 .and given power to organise a proper system of government, 
 he found himself compelled, in pursuance of his policy of 
 depriving the Company's servants of the right of private trade, 
 to assume control of the opium monopoly. 
 
 At first the right to manufacture opium was farmed out on 
 contract, but this led to oppression of the cultivators, and the 
 system broke down, with the result that in 1797 Government 
 assumed the monopoly of manufacture. This measure, which 
 included restriction and prohibition of cultivation except under 
 licence, and extended to nearly all Northern India as it came into 
 British possession, resulted in smuggling and clandestine pro- 
 duction for local use, and attention was thus directed for the first 
 time to the demand for opium in India itself, which it was found 
 impossible to suppress. Accordingly there was passed in 1813 
 the first Bengal Regulation regarding consumption in India, 
 / the Government enunciating their policy of restricting the 
 f habit of opium eating by obtaining the maximum revenue from 
 the minimum consumption, and declaring that they were 
 desirous of countenancing only to the narrowest extent possible 
 a habrt which they found themselves unable to eradicate. 
 This policy has never been lost sight of. 
 
 As a result of the activities of the Society for the Sup- 
 pression of the Opium Trade, a Rcyal Commission was 
 appointed in 18&S to enquire into all the circumstances con- 
 nected with the production and sale of Indian opium, and the 
 Society itself recorded the opinion that the appointment consti- 
 tuted " the greatest and , most solid forward step that the 
 *' movement for the suppression of the opium trade has yet 
 " made," and considered that the Commission was "as fair- 
 u minded and impartial a tribunal as the Society could have 
 " desired to hear its case." 
 
 The results of the Commission's labours were published in 
 1895 in seven volumes, which can be procured by anyone who 
 flesires to acquaint himself with the real facts regarding opium 
 in India. Since 1895 consumption has declined, but the 
 findings of the Commission still stand as a complete justification 
 of the Government's policy. 
 
 The Commission examined with very great care the 
 question of the consumption of opium in India, and found that 
 in all provinces a limit was placed on the amount of opium, or 
 preparations of opium, which might be sold to any individual, 
 or of which a person might be legally in possession, at any 
 one time, and that the average annual consumption for the 
 whole of British India amounted to 27 grains per head. 
 
As regards the use of opium and its effects, the Commis- 
 sion stated that opium was universally believed in as a common 
 domestic medicine, special value being attached to its use in 
 cases of fever and as a protection against malaria. As a 
 stimulant, it was held in esteem as a specific against old 
 age, many men of failing health taking the drug for periods 
 varying from 15 to 50 years, and apparently obtaining benefit 
 from the habit. It was also habitually used in many parts of 
 India during the extremes of the winter months, and for the 
 purpose of resisting fatigue in the case of journeys and hard 
 physical labour. In Rajputana the use of opium in connection 
 Avith social and ceremonial functions had acquired a quasi- 
 religious sanction. 
 
 With reference to the consumption of opium in the Indian 
 army, the Commission concluded that the number of soldiers 
 accustomed to take opium to a harmful extent was insignificant, 
 that its use in the army was often beneficial, and that any 
 attempt to limit consumption would be highly unpopular. 
 
 As regards the general physical and moral effects of the 
 use of opium, the Commission found that hard work, energy 
 and thrift existed side by side with the opium habit ; that it 
 was unheard of for workmen to be dismissed on account of 
 opium excess, though alcoholic excess was a constant source of 
 trouble ; and that the largest Indian insurance company had 
 not found it necessary to impose any extra premium on the lives 
 of moderate opium consumers. They were of opinion that the 
 opium habit did not lead to insanity, crime, or suicide, and 
 they finally concluded that the use of opium among the people 
 in British Provinces was, as a rule a a moderate use, and was not 
 attended by injurious consequences. Excess was exceptional, 
 and condemned by public opinion. 
 
 The Commission were emphatic when they came to deal 
 with the suggestion that the use of opium in India could be 
 limited to strictly medical needs. They remarked that it was 
 generally admitted that the limitation of cultivation and the 
 monopoly of manufacture and wholesale supply, constituted the 
 most restrictive position, short of prohibition, which the Govern- 
 ment could adopt towards internal consumption. No distinct 
 line was drawn in popular opinion between the medical uses of 
 the drug and those which cannot be strictly so-called, and it 
 would be impracticable to issue opium only on the prescription 
 of medical practitioners. Further, the Commission were con- 
 vinced that the great mass of Indian opinion was opposed to 
 the proposal as an unnecessary restriction on ^individual liberty 
 and an interference with established customs and habits. Apart 
 from the religious question, Indians generally considered the 
 use of alcohol to be more open to objection in itself, more 
 injurious, and more disgraceful. 
 
 The Report of the Commission remains unchallenged on 
 points of fact, and evidence that the situation in India has not 
 
undergone retrograde developments is afforded by tlie fact that 
 in 1920 the per capita consumption of opium in the British 
 provinces was 26 grains, slightly less than the figure at which it 
 stood 30 years ago. Moreover, if it were possible to ascertain 
 the amount of opium used for veterinary purposes, this figure 
 would without doubt, be smaller still. There are 150 million 
 cattle and horses in British India. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PRODUCTION OF OPIUM IN INDIA. 
 
 The chief difficulty with which the Government of India 
 have had to cope in carrying out their policy of controlling 
 opium production and confining the use of the drug within the 
 narrowest possible limits, has been the fact that from the point 
 of view of administration India consists of two parts British 
 India, under the direct control of the Government of India, 
 comprising an area of a imTTion square miles and a population 
 of 24:7 millions, and the more or less autonomous Indian 
 States, with a total area of 675,000 square miles and a 
 population of 71,000,000. For over a century the Govern- 
 ment of India have been gradually acquiring control over 
 the production, transport and sale of opium throughout 
 this vast area. So far as British India is concerned, they 
 have concentrated cultivation within restricted areas, and 
 have included all the provinces in the same general system 
 in respect of transport ancf sale. As regards the Indian 
 States, the problem of production and internal consumption 
 could only be dealt with by negotiation, and several States have 
 agreed to prohibit poppy cultivation within their territories. 
 The opium produced by the others can only pass through 
 British India on behalf of the Government of India, or of 
 some other State which has received permission from the 
 Government of India to obtain a specified quantity for its internal 
 consumption. 
 
 Throughout the whole of British India (apart from certain 
 inaccessible tracts on the Burmese frontier) the cultivation of 
 opium is regulated by Act No. XIII. of 1857 (as amended by 
 Act No. I. of 1911), and Act No. I. of 1878. Under those Acts 
 the cultivation of the poppy within British India is permissible 
 only under a licence ; the total area to be sown is fixed by 
 the Government From year to year ; and the licence specifies 
 the exact area which the licensee may cultivate. With the 
 exception of the Punjab, where the people are allowed to plant 
 a small area with poppy and to sell the opium direct to 
 licensed vendors, the cultivator is bound to sell the whole of 
 his produce to the Government at a fixed rate. 
 
Advances of money are made to the cultivator in accordance 
 with the established practice at the time the production of 
 opium became a Government monopoly, but these amount at 
 the present day to about Us. a year in the case of each 
 cultivator. No cultivator grows poppy unless he wishes. If 
 he desires to raise some other crop he can obtain an advance of 
 money to assist him to do so. 
 
 The crude opium is sent to the Government factory at 
 Ghazipur, and is there made up into raw opium in two forms : 
 opium intended for export to foreign countries, known as 
 " provision " opium, owing to the fact that the proceeds of sale 
 were originally intended to provide funds for Indian trans- 
 actions with China, and opium intended for consumption in 
 India, known as " excise " opium. Provision opium is made 
 up in the form of balls or cakes, each weighing 3f ]bs., and is 
 packed in chests, each chest containing 40 cakes and weighing 
 140f Ibs. Excise opium is made up in cubical packets, each 
 weighing 2^V Ibs., 60 of which are packed in a case. A 
 notification is published annually, generally before the month 
 of October, stating the number of chests of export opium which 
 will be auctioned at Calcutta, in each month of the next 
 calendar year, and sales are conducted month by month by 
 the Government of Bengal. 
 
 Apart from the production of opium, the poppy is valuable 
 in other ways. The seed is exported in large quantities to 
 Belgium, France and the United Kingdom for the- expression 
 of oil, and is also used as an article of food. The crop is 
 sown in the autumn and gathered in the spring, usually 
 succeeding an autumn crop of Indian corn ; and in addition to 
 opium each acre yields about 260 Ibs. of seed and 80 Ibs. to 
 100 Ibs. of oil. The total area to be cultivated in any one }^ear 
 is decided by a calculation of the amount required for internal 
 consumption and the amount to be exported to foreign 
 countries. Production of the opium is controlled~~lT5r- w the 
 opium department, which had formerly two agencies, . one 
 stationed at Patna in the province of Bihar and Orissa, and the 
 other at Ghazipur, in the United Provinces. Consequent, how- 
 ever, on the large reductions made in the export trade, it was 
 found possible to combine the two agencies into one, and in 
 1911 the Patna agency was abolished. 
 
 The area cultivated under the Bengal monopoly system has 
 been reduced from 642,831 acres in 1903-04 to 163,125 acres in 1 
 1919-20, and the amount of opium produced has fallen from i 
 10,227,867 Ibs. in 1902-03 to 1,876,114 Ibs. in 1919-20. Since * 
 opium may only be grown for the Government, and the operations 
 from start to finish are rigidly supervised by Government 
 officers, the control exercised under this monopoly system is the 
 most restrictive, short of total prohibition, that it is possible to 
 devise. 
 
6 
 
 An increase in the area under cultivation does not 
 necessarily indicate an increased production of opium, and a 
 decrease in area usually represents a more than proportionate 
 decrease in production. The reason for this is that poppy 
 cultivation tends to desert the more fertile lands, with the 
 result that the quantity of juice obtained from each acre falls. 
 In former days an acre of poppy usually produced 16 Ibs. of 
 opium, but at the present time the figure is only 12 Ibs. The 
 diminution and final cessation of the trade to China led 
 the Government of India to decrease the area very rapidly, 
 and eventually it was found that the supply was beginning 
 to fall short of the demand. The seriousness of the position 
 was increased by the British Government's requirements 
 of opium for medical purposes in connection with the 
 war. This immediate demand was met partly by a diversion 
 of the allotment reserved for the ordinary trade and partly by 
 depleting . the reserve stocks kept in view of possible bad 
 seasons ; while the main shortage was partly met by the 
 purchase of some of the 60,000 chests of manufactured opium 
 left on the hands of the Feudatory States after the China markets 
 were finally closed, and by taking a certain supply of the raw 
 article from those States in accordance with arrangements 
 entered into with them, in order to compensate them in part 
 for their loss of the China trade. But this did not fill the gap, 
 and the Government therefore decided to enlarge the area 
 under cultivation. This phase came to an end in 1918, and 
 since that year the area cultivated under Government control 
 has considerably diminished, the deficiency being made up by 
 purchases from the States. 
 
 The principal States which produce opium (known in this 
 connection as the Malwa States) are the States of the Central 
 India and the Rajputana Agencies, and Baroda. These States, 
 in addition to producing opium for their own internal con- 
 sumption, exported large quantities to China until the 
 Government of India prohibited export to that country in 
 1913. It has been stated that the highest area ever cultivated 
 was 562,000 acres, and in the latter years of the 19th century 
 the yearly average was about 400,000 acres, producing some 
 54,000 chests of opium. From that time the area steadily 
 decreased, owing to the competition in China of enormous 
 quantities of Chinese grown opium, and this made it possible 
 to stop the trade with China with less dislocation and hardship 
 than would otherwise have been the case. But the States have 
 never been completely reconciled to a policy which has meant 
 serious financial loss to them, although the Government of 
 India have assisted by purchasing from them certain quantities 
 of opium upon their agreeing to bring into fresh cultivation 
 only the area required for that purpose. 
 
 The following table shows the area cultivated under Govern- 
 ment control since 1905-06, and the quantities of provision 
 
opium manufactured at the Ghazipur factory. It will be 
 remembered that a chest of provision or export opium contains 
 140| Ibs., arid a chest of excise opium, for consumption in 
 British India, 123-?- Ibs. :- 
 
 Chests of 
 Provision 
 Year. Acreage. Opium made. 
 
 1905-06 613,996 48,750 
 
 1906-07 564,585 38,126 
 
 1907-08 188,548 40,001 
 
 1908-09 361,832 28,125 
 
 1909-10 354,577 29,000 
 
 1910-11 362,868 15,000 
 
 1911-12 200,672 14,000 
 
 1912-13 178,263 7,000 
 
 ,1913-14 144,561 12,000 
 
 1914-15 164,911 10,000 
 
 1915-16 167,155 12,000 
 
 1916-17 204,186 12,000 
 
 1917-18 207,010 14,499 
 
 1918-19 - 177,124 12,500 
 
 1919-20 163,125 
 1920-21 (estimated) 143,750 
 
 Opium purchased from the Malwa States is used only for 
 the manufacture of excise opium, and is not exported. 60,000 
 chests of opium were left on the hands of the States when the 
 China trade came to an end, and in order to ease the 
 position the Government of India have bought the following 
 quantities : 
 
 Excise Chests of Excise Chests of 
 
 Year. 123f Ibs. Year. - 123f Ibs. 
 
 1912-13 4,163 1916-17 - 5,257 
 
 1913-14 7,001 1917-18 - 4,916 
 
 1914-15 9,034 1918-19 - 5,314 
 
 1915-16 - 13,990 
 
 There also has to be taken into account the produce of the 
 area specially cultivated in order to supply the deficiency in the 
 United Provinces output. The acreage cultivated under these 
 arrangements has been as follows : 
 
 Production in Excise 
 Year. Acres. Chests of 123'- Ibs. 
 
 1916-17 
 1917-18 
 1918-19 
 1919-20 
 1920-21 
 
 14,695 2,223 
 
 26,479 2,315 
 
 10,350 1,200 
 
 30,813 1,803 
 
 84,000 (about) 2,835 
 
 All these sources have contributed to maintain the supply 
 of excise opium at the necessary level during recent, years. 
 
I 
 
 8 
 
 The number of chests manufactured to supply the demands 
 of British India since 1905-00 are shown below : 
 
 Kxcise Chests of Excise Chests of 
 
 Year. I2f Ibs. Year. 123f Ibs. 
 
 1905-06 5,635 1912-13 9,947 
 
 1906-07 6,263 1913-14 - 8,307 
 
 1907-08 11,229 1914-1 f> 8,943 
 
 1908-09 5,770 1915-16 8,391 
 
 1909-10 7,172 1916-17 8,732 
 
 1910-11 8,611 1917-18 <S,567 
 
 1911-12 9,126 1918-19 8,512 
 
 The Indian States of course continue to produce opium for 
 their internal requirements, but the effect of the cessation of 
 export to China can be seen from the following figures, which 
 represent the total area under cultivation, inclusive in the 
 later years of the acreage cultivated on account of the Govern- 
 ment of India : 
 
 Acres under 
 cultivation in 
 Indian States. 
 
 12,277 
 15,320 
 10,568 
 46,441 
 54,341 
 24.871 
 56,934 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE CONSUMPTION OF OPIUM IN INDIA. 
 
 The attitude of the Government of India towards the 
 general question of opium consumption was well expressed by 
 the following passage in a Despatch addressed to the Secretary 
 of State by Lord Hardinge's Government in 1911 : l 
 
 " The prohibition of opium-eating in India we regard as 
 impossible, and any attempt at it as fraught with the most 
 serious consequences to the people and the Government. We 
 take our stand unhesitatingly on the conclusion of the Royal 
 Commission which reported in 1895, viz., that the opium habit 
 as a vice scarcely exists in India, that opium is extensively used 
 for non-medical and quasi-medical purposes, in some cases with 
 benefit, and for the most part without injurious consequences ; 
 that the non-medical uses are so interwoven with the medical 
 
 1 This passage was quoted in the Despatch from the Government of India, 
 dated the 24th March 1921, which was published in the supplement to the Gazette 
 of India, dated the 17th September 1921. 
 
 
 Acres under 
 
 
 
 cultivation in 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 Indian States. 
 
 Year. 
 
 1905-06 
 
 - 146,677 
 
 J 913-14 
 
 1906-07 
 
 - 246,911 
 
 1914-15 
 
 1907- 08 
 
 191,714 
 
 1915-16 
 
 1908-09 
 
 - 134,629 
 
 1916-17 
 
 1909-10 
 
 - 108,973 
 
 1917-18 
 
 1910-11 
 
 - 147,262 
 
 1918-19 
 
 1911-12 
 
 71,983 
 
 1919-20 
 
 1912-13 
 
 47,143 
 
 
9 
 
 uses that it would not be practicable to draw a distinction 
 between them in the distribution and sale of the drug : and 
 that it is not necessary that the growth of the poppy and the 
 manufacture and sale of opium in British India should be pro- 
 hibited except for medical purposes. Whatever may be the 
 case in other countries, centuries of inherited experience have 
 taught the people of India, discretion in the use of the drug, 
 and its misuse is a negligible feature in Indian Hfe. Even if it 
 were possible to suppress the cultivation of opium in India, 
 geographical and political limitations would place it beyond 
 our power to prevent illicit import and consumption on. a serious 
 scale " ; and again : " The great majority of Indian opium-eaters 
 are not slaves to the habit. They take small doses as required 
 and can and do give up the allowance when the need of it is 
 past. Opium is in virtually universal use throughout India as 
 the commonest and most treasured of the household remedies 
 accessible to the people. It is taken to avert or lessen fatigue, 
 as a specific in bowel complaints, as a prophylactic against 
 malaria (for which its relatively high anarcotine content makes 
 it specially valuable), to lessen the quantity of sugar in diabetes, 
 and generally to allay pain in sufferers of all ages. The vast 
 bulk of the Indian population, it '. must be remembered, are 
 strangers to the ministrations of qualified doctors or druggists. 
 They are dependent almost entirely on the herbal simples of the 
 country; distance and * the patient acceptance of hardships 
 standing in the way of prompt access to skilled medical relief. 
 In these circumstances the use of opium in small quantities is 
 one of the most important aids in the treatment of children's 
 sufferings. It is also a frequent help to the aged and infirm, 
 and an alleviation in diseases and accidents which are accepted 
 as incurable. To prevent the sale of opium except under regular 
 medical prescription would be a mockery ; to many millions it 
 would be sheer inhumanity." 
 
 Ever since the logic of events compelled the Government 
 of India over a hundred years ago to recognise that opium- eating 
 could not be entirely suppressed, and that it was a necessary 
 element in the lives of the population, they have steadily 
 pursued a policy of restricting the habit within the narrowest 
 possible limits. The system they have built up is primarily based 
 upon the principle of restricting the consumption to legitimate 
 needs. The abuse of opium is prevented by limiting the 
 amount of opium which an individual may possess at any one 
 time, and by a continuous process of raising the price at which 
 opium is sold to the consumer, only stopping short of the 
 point at which the object in view would be defeated by the 
 attraction of smuggling. 
 
 The Opium Act, 1878, prohibits the manufacture, posses- 
 sion, transport, import, export and sale of opium, except as 
 permitted by rules framed under the Act, and provides for the 
 confiscation of any opium in regard to which an offence is 
 committed. Officers of the Excise, Police, Customs, Salt, Opium 
 
10 
 
 and Revenue Departments of the proper rank are given powers 
 of search, seizure and detention. There is also a special ride 
 prescribing that in prosecutions for breaches of the Act it shall 
 be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that all opium for 
 which an accused person is unable to account satisfactorily is 
 opium in respect to which he has committed an offence under 
 the Act. The main provisions of the rules made by the different 
 provinces are uniform. The produce of the poppy cultivated 
 on Government account must all be delivered to the Govern- 
 ment Opium Department, and such opium can, therefore, only 
 be obtained from Government. The produce of the poppy 
 cultivated by licensed cultivators in the Punjab can only be 
 sold to licensed vendors and cannot be obtained direct by the 
 ordinary consumer. Government, or " excise," opium, is issued 
 only to licensed wholesale or retail vendors. The wholesale 
 vendor may sell such opium, or opium obtained from a licensed 
 cultivator, only to other licensed vendors or to licensed drug- 
 gists ; the retail vendor and the licensed druggist may sell to 
 
 , individuals. Thus the individual can obtain opium produced 
 in India only from a licensed retail vendor or a licensed drug- 
 gist. Each stage of the distribution down to the retail vendor 
 is safeguarded by an elaborate system of transport passes, while 
 the conditions governing the licence of a retail vendor are most 
 stringent. He may not sell to any one person at one time more 
 than the quantity of opium which an individual may lawfully 
 possess ; he may sell only for cash and only on premises for 
 which he is licensed ; he must not allow consumption on such 
 premises, and he must keep correct daily accounts of his sales, 
 which shall be open at all times to inspection by Excise officers. 
 The number of licensed shops in an area is fixed so as not to 
 exceed what is necessary to satisfy the moderate needs of 
 legitimate consumers, and is constantly being reduced as 
 improvements in communications or other changes in local 
 circumstances render centralisation of supply more easy. In 
 the year 1892-93 there were 9,531 opium shops in British India. 
 
 \ By 1907-08 these had been reduced to 8,136 ; and the figure now 
 stands at 6,394. The amount of opium of which an individual 
 may be in possession varies according to circumstances in the 
 different provinces, but in most places is either 360 or 540 grains. 
 Equally strict control is maintained over the supply of 
 Indian grown opium obtainable from a licensed druggist and 
 the supply of imported opium. A notification under the Sea 
 Customs Act, 1878, No. 720-79, dated the 4th February 1911, 
 prohibits absolutely the import of opium by sea or by land by 
 means of the post, and restricts its import by other means to 
 cases in which it is imported by persons permitted to import it 
 by a Local Government or Administration. The rules as to 
 import made by Local Governments vary considerably in detail, 
 but generally speaking it may be said that only licensed drug- 
 gists and medical practitioners are permitted to import opium, 
 in quantities of which they may lawfully be in possession by 
 
11 
 
 means of a special permit or licence. Exceptions are made in 
 the case of visitors of distinction from countries- outside India 
 and foreign horse-dealers, who are allowed to import small 
 quantities for the personal use of themselves and their attendants 
 or for their horses. In the Punjab licensed vendors are also 
 permitted to import on passes opium produced in the Simla Hill 
 States and the Hill States of Chamba, Mandi, Suket and Sirmur. 
 Similarly, in Ajmer-Merwara licensed wholesale and retail 
 vendors may import Malwa opium on pass. The further distri- 
 bution of opium thus obtained from Indian States is regulated 
 in exactly the same manner as the distribution of excise opium 
 described above. Imports by licensed druggists and supplies 
 obtained by them from licensed vendors can only be sold for 
 medicinal purposes, in quantities not in excess of the amount 
 which. the purchaser may legalty possess, and correct accounts 
 must be maintained showing the amount of opium in the 
 possession of the licensee from day to day. 
 
 The following statistics form a striking commentary on the 
 success of the Government's policy : 
 
 Excise Revenue (Licence 
 Consumption, Fees and Duty) converted 
 Excise Chests into sterling at Rs. 15 
 
 Year. of 123f Ibs. to the . 
 
 
 
 1911-12 8,334 1,010,133 
 
 1912-13 8,490 1,150,466 
 
 11)13-14 8,610 1,356,060 
 
 1914-15 8,311 1,372,666 
 
 1915-16 8,066 1.424,600 
 
 1916-17 8,099 1,373,066 
 
 1917-18 8,262 1,457,200 
 
 1918-19 7,893 1,587,733 
 
 1919-20 7,480 1,676,333 
 
 During the same period the issue price of excise opium 
 has been raised as shown below : 
 
 Issue Price Ks. per seer (2*2 Ibs.). 
 Province. 1911-12. 1921. 
 
 Madras - - 28 60 
 Bombay - 24 and 27 45 
 Bengal 29 to 35 50 
 Burma 35 to 72i 70 to 106 j 
 Bihar and Orissa - - . 17 to 35 55 
 United Provinces - 18 to 20 55 
 Punjab 13 to 37 50 
 North-West Frontier Pro- 
 vince 18 to 2fi 50 
 Delhi 13 to 37 50 
 Central Provinces - 23 1 45 
 Assam - 37 and" 40 50 
 Coorg 30 50 
 Baluchistan 16 35 
 
is 
 
 and in nearly all provinces the amounts of raw opium which 
 may be in the possession of an individual at any one time have 
 been considerably reduced, as will be seen from the following 
 table : 
 
 Limit of private Possession of Raw Opium. 
 
 1911-12. 1920-21. 
 
 Tolas (180 grains). Tolas (180 grains). 
 
 Madras - - 6 (a) and 1 (b) 3 (a) and 1 (6) 
 
 Bombay - 10 (c) and 4 (d) 3 (c) and 1 (d) 
 
 Bengal - 5 3 
 
 Burma - 3 3 
 
 Bihar and Orissa 5 3 
 
 United Provinces 3 3 
 
 Punjab - 3 2 
 North- West Frontier 
 
 Province 3 2 
 Delhi - 
 
 Central Provinces 3 2 
 
 Assam - 53 and 2 
 
 Ajmer-Merwara 5 3 
 
 Coorg - 31 
 
 Baluchistan - 3 2 
 
 The population has risen from 244,267,542 in 1911 to 
 247,111,563 in 1921, yet it will be noticed that the total 
 consumption over a 10 years' period shows a slight decrease. 
 f In view of the fact that the price has been raised 50 per cent, 
 in the same period, the failure of consumption to decline 
 materially is proof that the Government have succeeded in 
 their policy of confining it to a practical minimum. It may be 
 remarked that the annual per capita consumption is at present 
 26 grains, slightly less than the figure arrived at by the Royal 
 Commission in 1893, and little more than half the per capita 
 [consumption of the United States of America, as estimated 
 by responsible American authority. Indian opium is not 
 exported to the United States. So far as other Eastern countries 
 are concerned, the comparison is more favourable still to India. 
 As regards many of the Far Eastern countries for which 
 statistical information exists, the Indian figure is only a third, 
 a tenth, a thirtieth or a fortieth part of the per capita consump- 
 tion in one of these countries. These ratios do not pretend to 
 be strictly accurate, but for purposes of comparison they may be 
 taken as approximately correct. It should also be noted that 
 they take into account only the amounts of opium imported 
 into such countries from India. Many of these countries also 
 obtain opium from Persia and Turkey, and if their imports 
 
 (rt) Ganjam, Vizagapatam, Grodavari. 
 
 (b) Rest of the Province. 
 
 (c) Portion of the Thar and Parkar District, east of the Eastern Kara Canal. 
 
 (d) Best of the Presidency. 
 
from India were cut off, would have no difficulty in supplying 
 the deficiency from these sources. At the same time, as will be 
 explained in Chapter V., it is the policy of the Government of 
 India to regulate the quantities exported from India to these 
 countries according to the demands made by their Governments 
 for legitimate requirements. 
 
 In the face of comparison it is impossible to understand 
 why the finger of criticism should be pointed at opium con- 
 sumption in India. No estimate can be given as regards China. 
 That country has never ceased to produce opium, though the 
 Indian product was excluded from her shores on account of her 
 alleged determination entirely to extirpate native cultivation, arid 
 she has now returned to the position she occupied in the early 
 years of the present century, that of the greatest opium 
 producer and consumer in the world. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OPIUM SMOKING IN INDIA PROPER AND BURMA. 
 
 It has already been stated that opium smoking is not a 
 custom indigenous to India, It came to India as a foreign 
 habit, took the form of social indulgence among the lower and 
 dissipated classes, and has accordingly been the object of 
 severe repression. 
 
 There is no difficulty in prohibiting opium smoking in a 
 country where the consumption of opium in any form is 
 prohibited except for medical purposes, but the fact that opium- 
 eating is allowed in India rendered it very difficult to prohibit 
 the actual act of smoking, as any attempt to enforce such a 
 prohibition Avould obviously have involved domiciliary visits 
 and interference with the private lives of the people. Short of 
 this, however, the Government of India have done everything 
 possible to stamp out the practice, encircling it with restrictions 
 thatjall very little short of complete prohibition. By provincial 
 rules made under the Opium Act, the manufacture of smoking 
 preparations is forbidden, except by an individual for his own 
 use from opium lawfully in his possession, and the sale of 
 prepared opium is absolutely prohibited. In addition, limits 
 were prescribed for the private possession of preparations of 
 opium considerably less than those fixed in the case of raw 
 opium, and as smoking is extremely wasteful and consumes a 
 far greater quantity of the drug than eating, this made 
 excessive indulgence out of the question. Since 1912 the 
 issue price at which opium is sold to the consumer has been 
 raised to a considerable extent in every province in India, and 
 the maximum limit of private possession of both raw and prepared 
 opium has been reduced. 
 
The extent to which the price of opium has been raised 
 and the limit of private possession of raw opium reduced was 
 shown in Chapter III. The following table shows the narrow 
 limits and the drastic reductions imposed in each province of 
 India in the case of prepared opium. 
 
 Province. 
 
 LIMIT OF PRIVATE POSSESSION OF OPIUM- 
 SMOKING ^REPARATIONS. 
 
 In the case of 
 individuals. 
 
 In the case of personsf 
 
 assembled for 
 purpose of smoking. 
 
 1911-12. 
 
 1920-21. 1911-12. 
 
 1920-21 
 
 Tolas (180 grains). 
 
 Madras 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 Bombay 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 2 
 
 Bengal 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 Burma 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 Bihar and Orissa 
 
 1 
 
 JL 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 2i 
 
 United Provinces 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 $ 
 
 -:;:- " 
 
 Punjab 
 
 1 
 
 
 -:;: 
 
 1 
 
 North- West Frontier 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 ::- 
 
 1 
 
 Province. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Delhi 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 tjl 
 
 1 
 
 Central Provinces 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 2" 
 
 $ 
 
 1 
 
 Assam - 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 A j mer-Merwara 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
 # 
 
 1 
 
 Coorg - 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
 :\- 
 
 1 
 
 Baluchistan 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 * 
 
 1 
 
 * Not specially provided for. 
 
 f The 'figures in the 3rd and 4th columns represent the maximum amount of 
 opium for smoking allowed to an assembly of persons, howevei large. The total 
 of the individual allowances of the persons assembled is the governing maximum 
 until the figures shown in these columns are reached. 
 
 The Government of India have always before them the 
 ideal of unqualified and direct prohibition, and have carried 
 out a progressive campaign in this direction. As a result of 
 the recent change in the Government of India Act, the matter 
 has become one for the discretion of Provincial Governments in 
 the first instance, who are showing a keen interest in the question. 
 This has strengthened the hands of the Government of India, and 
 Provincial Governments, who already had before them a pro- 
 posal, cutting at the heart of what is essentially a social practice, 
 to declare illegal any assembly of three or more persons for the 
 purpose of smoking opium, even if that asse nbly consists of 
 members of the same family, have been asked to consider the 
 practicability o entirely prohibiting opium smoking. Replies 
 have already been received from two Governments, those of 
 Madras and the Punjab. The Government of Madras 
 
15 
 
 decided against any measure of prohibition, stating that the 
 amount of local smoking is negligible, but the Government of 
 the Punjab state that they have under consideration legislation 
 to prohibit the practice of smoking in municipal and cantonment 
 areas. 
 
 This account of the regulations on the subject of opium 
 smoking in India needs to be qualified with reference to the 
 case of Burma, which has for many years presented a special 
 and difficult problem. 
 
 In Burma, as in China and the Malay Peninsula, opium is 
 more commonly smoked than eaten. Consumption is permitted 
 only to non-Bur mans, and to a limited number of Burmese 
 specially registered as opium consumers in Lower Burma. In 
 Upper Burma the sale to, or possession of, opium by Burmese, 
 except for medical purposes, was absolutely prohibited on the 
 annexation of the country in 1886. 
 
 It was accepted in 1893 that the consumption of opium 
 was harmful to people of the Burman race ; and in January 
 1894 the Government entered upon a campaign for the 
 progressive suppression of smoking in Lower Burma, which 
 can only be paralleled, and that on a far smaller scale, 
 by the achievement of the United States of America in the 
 Philippines. It was made penal for Burmans who had not 
 registered themselves as habitual consumers to possess or 
 consume opium, and the issue price of opium was placed 
 at a figure nearly double that fixed in any other province. 
 These restrictions, however, resulted in a large increase in 
 smuggling and illicit consumption in Burma, and it was 
 decided in 1900 to revise the arrangements. The steps taken 
 were (1) to increase the number of licensed opium shops in 
 Lower Burma ; (2) to grant licences for the sale of opium to 
 selected candidates instead of putting them up to auction ; 
 (3) to re-open temporarily the lists of registered Burraan 
 consumers for the addition of actual consumers who were over 
 25 years of age in 1893 ; (4) to organise further efforts against 
 opium smuggling through the agency of the preventive staff 
 and the police. 
 
 These measures were brought into effect in April 1902. 
 The result of their working was not found entirely satisfactory. 
 Under the 1894 arrangement 14,600 smokers were registered ; 
 to these 20,000 were now added. In the last year of the old 
 system 51.428 Ibs. of Government opium were consumed in 
 Lower Burma, and the opium receipts were about Rs. 20,00,000. 
 In 1904-05 the receipts were Rs. 46,00,000, and the con- 
 sumption 144,000 Ibs. The Government of Burma 'considered 
 that this merely indicated the supplanting of contraband opium 
 by Government opium, and that the total consumption had not 
 materially increased. 
 
 The rules were recast and ifjade more stringent in 1910, 
 while amendments of the law, made in the preceding year, 
 
 4933 li 
 
16 
 
 gave increased powers in the matter of dealing with persons 
 suspected of unlawfully trafficking in opium anil as regards 
 arresting and searching for the drug. Finally, with effect 
 from the 1st April 1921, the Government of Burma have 
 prohibited the sale of prepared opium. By the end of 1911-12 
 the numbers of Burmans registered as smokers had fallen to 
 14,049, and is now 5,405. With the extinction of these there 
 will be absolute prohibition of opium to Burmans, except for 
 medical purposes, in the whole of Burma. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 THE EXPORT OF OPIUM FROM INDIA. 
 
 India now exports no opium to China, but the old trade 
 to China cannot be passed over in silence. Great interest 
 attaches to its origin and growth, to the agreement for the 
 progressive reduction of Indian exports side by side with the 
 suppression of cultivation in China, and to the dramatic- 
 stoppage of exports by the Government of India in 1913, an 
 action that involved Indian revenues in an annual loss of 
 4,000,OOOZ. sterling, and that has unfortunately entirely failed 
 to benefit China. 
 
 The first reference to the manufacture of opium in China 
 occurs in the 15th century, the knowledge of the drug having 
 no doubt been introduced to the Chinese, as to the Indians, by 
 the Arabs. When, at the beginning of the 16th century, the 
 Portuguese first entered the China Seas, they found opium an 
 important article of the trade carried on by Indian and Arab 
 merchants. 
 
 During the 17th century, Dutch, French, English and 
 Danish merchants purchased Bengal opium from the Mughal 
 Government for export, and when in the early part of the 
 18th century the Mughal monopoly fell into disuse, the 
 Europeans drew their supplies from the ring of native 
 merchants at Patna. 
 
 The establishment of a monopoly in Bengal opium by the 
 East India Company has already been referred to. In 1775 it 
 was decided that the monopoly should be a revenue measure 
 for the benefit of India, and that all opium delivered at 
 Calcutta, apart from a fixed number of chests disposed of to 
 the Dutch, French and Danish companies, should be sold at 
 auction for export only. 
 
 Import duties on opium are entered in the Chinese trade 
 books of the years 1589, 1615 and 1687, and in the Hoppo book of 
 1753. 1 According to the historical note compiled by Dr. Edkins, 
 of the Chinese Customs Service, in 1889, a Chinese author 
 
 1 A compilation 1 of tariffs, of which an interesting account is given by 
 Dr. Edkins in his Historical Note (see Bibliography). 
 
 
17 
 
 writes that " In the Ming dynasty, 1360-1644, the pill called 
 " golden elixir came into use, and was found to be very 
 " deleterious if much was taken." But it was not until the 
 practice of smoking opium began to spread throughout China 
 that Indian opium began to be imported in large quantities. 
 Tobacco was imported into China from the Philippines in 1620, 
 and early in the 18th century the Chinese had progressed from 
 the Javan and Formosan habit of smoking opium impregnated 
 tobacco to smoking opium itself. The habit spread from 
 China to the Shan States of Burma, and cultivation in China 
 itself began to increase rapidly in the West. 
 
 In 1729 a severe Imperial edict was issued against opium 
 smoking, and from that time onwards raw opium from India 
 was often seized as contraband, though it was free to be 
 imported as foreign medicine. More usually it was passed by 
 the Canton mandarins on payment of a bribe, and as the same 
 procedure continued when the Emperor in 1796 began to 
 prohibit import, it is not surprising that the foreign merchants 
 failed to be impressed by the reforming intentions of the 
 Chinese Government, and indulged in smuggling on such a 
 scale as to precipitate the conflict that was bound to occur 
 sooner or later in view of the intense dislike of the Chinese for 
 foreigners. 
 
 By 1790 opium smoking had reached Peking, and the 
 demand had become so great that foreign merchants had hit on 
 the device of paying for their purchases in opium, a ready 
 substitute for coinage. As the demand went on increasing, the 
 balance of trade turned against China, and silver began to flow 
 out of the country. The Imperial Government viewed this 
 state of affairs with alarm, and an edict was issued in 1796 
 prohibiting the import of opium, and referring to the drain of 
 silver as the reason. The East India Company at once forbade 
 any opium to be carried on their ships, though they imposed 
 no conditions regarding the cargoes of private traders, to whom 
 they gave licences for the China trade. 
 
 The trade in opium continued to increase, and in 1816 
 the Select Committee of the East India Company stated " that 
 the officers of Government (the Chinese Government) are 
 :< never sincere in their declared intentions of suppressing illicit 
 il traffic, more particularly the trade in opium, as it is con- 
 " sidered one of the principal advantages of their situations. 
 While it remains notorious that the Imperial edicts for the 
 " prevention of this trade are annually issued by China with 
 one hand while large bribes are received by the other, it can 
 " never be imagined that any new regulations are framed with 
 " a view to the injury of such a trade, or that they for one 
 " moment consider the moral habits and welfare of the people." 
 The close of the East India Company's monopoly of the 
 China trade in 1834 gave a great impulse to the trade in opium 
 as well as in other goods. In the period 1830-35 the total 
 
 B 2 
 
18 
 
 average combined exports of Bengal and Malwa opium (to China 
 and other countries) amounted to something between 20,000 and 
 25,000 chests a year, and the period 1835-36 to 1843-44 showed 
 an average annual export from India of about 34,000 chests. In 
 1847-48 the figure had risen to 46,000 chests, two-thirds of 
 which was Bengal, and for the three years 1852-55 the average 
 figure was 73,000 chests. After this date there was little 
 change for 38 years ; Chinese-produced opium having begun 
 to catch up with the demand and beginning to compete with 
 Malwa, though not with Government Bengal opium. From 1895 
 onwards China produced so much opium that the Indian export 
 figure fell steadily, until it reached the figure of 50,000 chests. 
 
 It is interesting to note that in 1830 and 1833 a Select 
 Committee of the House of Commons examined the subject of 
 the East India Company's China trade, affirming in J830 that 
 the prohibition edicts were disregarded by the Chinese people, 
 and in 1833 approving the Indian revenue' from the export of 
 opium. 
 
 In 1836 a memorial to the Emperor from the Vice President 
 of the Chinese Sacrificial Court begged that, the trade might be 
 legalised on a foundation of barter, as notwithstanding the fact 
 that opium smokers were liable to be punished with trans- 
 portation and death, the practice had spread through the whole 
 Empire, and the rise in the value of silver owing to its export 
 led to acute economic disorganisation. The memorial was 
 concurred in by other higher officials, who also suggested that 
 the foreign opium should be combated by relaxation of the 
 prohibition of cultivation in China. They were clearly more 
 concerned for silver than for morals. In fact, as Captain 
 Elliot (the British representative) pointed out, the Chinese were 
 far more anxious about the coast missions and the dissemination 
 of tracts than about opium as such. 
 
 A Chinese statesman had stated that Yunnan alone pro- 
 duced annually several thousand chests of opium, but that passed 
 unheeded. The silver crisis had become acute, and the Chinese 
 regarded the arrogance of the foreigners, now free traders, not 
 under the influence of the East India Company, as intolerable. 
 The strangers demanded diplomatic relations, contrary to " cus- 
 tom " ; they were outside the law, except as regards homicide ; 
 their missionaries claimed to protect converts, and were an 
 offence ; they brought foreign women to Canton, employed native 
 servants, and rode in sedan chairs. Conflict was inevitable, and 
 as opium formed three-fifths of the imports, it was bound to 
 occur over opium. A strong prohibition edict was issued in 
 1837, and in 1839 a strong Viceroy was sent to Canton. He 
 seized the British representative and the Canton merchants, 
 confiscated and burnt 20,283 chests of opium which Captain 
 Elliot had collected and surrendered in order to save the lives 
 of the Europeans, and in spite of Elliot's proposals for a 
 complete abandonment of the opium trade, let loose war junks 
 
19 
 
 on British vessels. China had decided to teach the foreigner 
 his place. "Britain declared war in 1840. 
 
 The history given above should prove that the war was not 
 undertaken to force opium on China, and a few sentences from 
 Lord Palmeraton's instructions to the British representatives at 
 the peace negotiations of 1841 show that the result of the war 
 was not to compel China to take Indian opium : " . 
 You will state that the admission of opium into China as an 
 article of legal trade is not one of the demands which you 
 have been instructed to make . . . . It is evident that 
 no exertions of the Chinese authorities can put down the 
 trade .... It is equally clear that it is wholly out of 
 the power of the British Government to prevent opium from 
 being carried to China ; because even if none were grown in 
 any part of the British territories plenty of it would be 
 produced in other countries." It was, therefore, suggested 
 that the trade should be legalised. In fact, opium was not 
 mentioned in the Nankin Treaty, which closed the war, and 
 remained a prohibited and flourishing business. 
 
 The war of 1857 had no connection with opium, but when at 
 the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858 (finally ratified in 1860) a new 
 tariff was drawn up, the Chinese voluntarily legalised the trade by 
 entering opium in the tariff at an import duty of 30 taels per picul 
 or chest, double that on other articles, and subject to local transit 
 duty in addition. The following extracts make the responsi- 
 bility for the legalisation quits clear. Mr. Long, the Chinese 
 Secretary to Lord Elgin's Mission, wrote to the Times on the 
 22nd October 1880 : " When I came to opium, I enquired what 
 "course they proposed to take in respect to it. The answer 
 " was : ' We have resolved to put it into the tariff as foreign 
 " medicine.' I urged a moderate duty in view of the cost of 
 " collection, which was agreed to. This represents, with strict 
 " economy, the amount of 'extortion ' resorted to. The Chinese 
 " Government admitted opium as a legal article of import, not 
 ' under constraint, but of their own free will deliberately. 
 Mr. Long's statement was confirmed by Mr. Laurence Oliphant, 
 Secretary to Elgin's Mission, in a letter to the Times on the 
 25th of the same month. The latter further stated : " When 
 we came to the article 'opium,' I informed the Commissioner 
 " that I had received instructions from Lord Elgin not to insist 
 " on the insertion of the drug in the tariff, should the Chinese 
 " Government wish to omit it." 
 
 In 1885 an additional Article to the Chefoo Convention 
 consolidated the import and transit duties into a lump sum of 
 100 taels per chest, payable before the opium went out of bond, 
 with the further stipulation that foreign opium should not be 
 subject to any taxation that was not levied on native opium. 
 
 In the negotiations preceding the Chefoo Convention, it 
 had become clear that the Chinese Government had ceased to 
 wish to prohibit import of opium, and had discovered the 
 
20 
 
 possibilities of an opium revenue. They plainly said that 
 opium smoking could not now be eradicated, a statement fully 
 borne out by the observations of Vice-Consul Spence regarding 
 cultivation in South- West China in 1882. Spence considered 
 the arguments of the Anti-Opium Society regarding opium 
 cultivation in China, the attitude of the Imperial Government, 
 and the effect of opium smoking to be " absolutely untrue," 
 and for the following reasons. The cultivation of poppy wn.s 
 carried on in nearly every district of Szechuan. In country 
 hamlets almost every second house was an opium shop, and in 
 the whole region Indian opium was unknown. In face of this, 
 the people were healthy, well housed, well fed, and well clad, 
 though probably six-tenths of the adult male population were 
 opium smokers. The production of Szechuan, Yunnan, 
 Kueichow and South-West Hupei, Ichang Fu, and Sliih Nan Fu 
 came to 224,000 piculs, or 29,866,666 Ibs., from 850,000 acres. 
 This was 2 times the whole Indian import into China. 
 
 Here it may be noted that in view of the present conditions 
 in China, and the recent recorded prices of the native drug, 
 it looks as if, by depriving China of Bengal opium, we have 
 prohibited champagne, but not affected gin. By 1905 one 
 Chinese province showed a production two or three limes the 
 total Indian imports, and for many years before the stoppage 
 of export in 1914 Malwa opium was suffering heavily from the 
 competition of the China crop. 
 
 Spence added that Shensi was producing top grade opium 
 in the very year that the Governor -was reporting that he had 
 uprooted the poppy everywhere in his jurisdiction. He 
 concluded his report with the following prophetic remarks : 
 
 " The right of the people to grow and smoke opium has 
 been for years unquestioned by their officials : to compel them to 
 surrender the right now, would be to provoke a rebellion. Even 
 if the Government were willing to incur this risk, and determined 
 coute que coute to be rid of opium, which it would be at present 
 nonsensical to affirm, success would require a vigorous executive, 
 free from venality and opium smoking, having under its orders 
 armies of constables equally free from these faults. But China 
 has no such executive and no such armies. Of the local official 
 class, their attendants, hangers-on and constables, it may truly 
 be said that if there is one quality more conspicuous than their 
 venality, it is their love of opium smoking. Even were the 
 prospect of a bona fide effort not a chimera its success would be 
 impossible. 
 
 " What, under the circumstances, would be the practical 
 effect of the rigorous prohibition of opium cultivation in India, 
 and the attempted exclusion by China of foreign opium, it is 
 easy to see. Its effect on opium smoking in Yunnan, Kueichow, 
 Szechuan, Kansuh, Shenshi and Western Hupei, where Indian 
 and foreign opium are all but unknown, would be nil. 
 Amongst the poor smokers in the East, who now use the 
 
21 
 
 native drug, its effect would be equally nil. Many who now use 
 Indian opium would take to native, and one effect would be to 
 give a great stimulus to production in tlie West. But well- 
 to-do smokers in the East and seaboard provinces, amongst 
 whom I include all who at present spend 1 Od. a day on Indian 
 opium, would everywhere seek for a high-class smuggled 
 opium. Smuggling would be organised all along the coast, 
 Chinese desperadoes would find willing associates in running 
 foreign opium into the country in European and American 
 adventurers, the Maritime Customs service would have to 
 become an armed force, quiet seaports would be turned into 
 hells of disorder, and international relations between China and 
 foreign Powers would be embittered to an intolerable degree. 
 The opium which could not be grown in India would come in 
 part from Turkey and Persia ; new fields for its growth would 
 be opened in Mozambique and similar latitudes in Africa ; and 
 , the profits of the trade, instead of passing, as they do now, to 
 the support of our beneficent rule and civilisation in India, 
 would become the incentive to, and the reward of, lawlessness, 
 disorder and crime." 
 
 The attitude of the British Government towards China 
 during these years was well expressed in the declaration in 
 Parliament of Sir J. Fergusson on 10th April 1891, that, " if the 
 " Chinese Government thought proper to raise the duty on 
 " opium to a prohibitive extent, or to shut out the article 
 " altogether, this country would not expend II. on powder and 
 " shot, or lose the life of a soldier in an attempt to force the 
 u opium trade on the Chinese," and in Mr. Gladstone's state- 
 ment of the 30th June 189,3, that " we have left that matter to 
 " China herself. . . . The opium which we allow to be 
 u exported ... is sent to that country to be received by 
 " China if she chooses to receive it." 
 
 In section I. (c) of their findings, the Royal Commission of 
 1893-95 stated that, in their opinion, it was not found that 
 satisfactory reasons existed for unsolicited action by the British 
 Government for the destruction of the trade in Indian opium 
 with China, and they agreed in not recommending any action 
 that would have Vhat effect. If at any future time the Chinese 
 Government declared a wish to prohibit import, however, they 
 thought that the question would be changed and should be 
 reconsidered. 
 
 The question changed in 1906, when, for the first time 
 since 1858, the Government of China decided to prohibit the 
 cultivation and consumption of opium. 
 
 Whatever the real causes of the anti-opium movement 
 in China, and however badly that movement has failed, it 
 seems true that both the Imperial Government in 1906 
 and the young China party in the best days of the Republic 
 were earnest in thejr desire to suppress the importation, 
 cultivation and use of opium ; and when the British Government 
 
22 
 
 were approached by China with a view to the reduction and 
 ultimate extinction of the Indian import, there were no two 
 courses open. 
 
 The result was the conclusion of an agreement at the 
 
 I beginning of 1JJQS, by which, with effect from the 1st January 
 1908, the Government of India undertook to diminish progres- 
 sively the total amount of opium sold at Calcutta by 5,100 chests 
 a year for a period of three years, which it was expected would 
 indirectly diminish the amount imported into China ; and if 
 the Chinese fulfilled their share of the agreement to reduce 
 ^ cultivation in China to a similar extent, they further agreed to 
 continue annual reductions of 5,100 chests until the total export 
 reached the figure of 16,000 chests. Over the five year period 
 1901-05 the average annual export to all countries was 67,000 
 chests, of which China took 51,000, so that progressive annual 
 reductions of 5,100 chests would have brought export to 
 China to an end in 1917, the limitation having begun in 1908, 
 when the total export to all countries was 61,900 chests. The 
 difficulty presented by the Malwa trade was overcome by a 
 decision to throw the greater part of the burden of reduction 
 upon the Bengal monopoly, and the situation was further eased 
 by the fact that owing to bad seasons and the competition 
 of the native Chinese drug cultivation had for a long time 
 been declining in the Indian States. The net result was a 
 very great diminution in Indian cultivation. 
 
 Mr. Leach, Councillor to the Peking Legation, reporting to 
 Sir J. Jordan in November 1907, stated that the appreciable 
 amount of success obtained up to that date by the Chinese 
 Government in their " stupendous task of attempting by 
 " legislation to eradicate a national and popular vice in 
 " a country whose population is generally estimated at 
 " 400,000,000," showed that the task could be fulfilled, and 
 that the Chinese people in general considered opium smoking 
 a vice. In a further report, transmitted to London by 
 Sir J. Jordan in June 1908, Mr. Leach remarked that since 
 his previous report the chief feature of the situation had been 
 the continued energy of the Central Government and the 
 growing apathy of provincial officials, but he produced 
 gratifying evidence of a reduction in cultivation from many 
 provinces. In November 1908 Sir Alexander Hosie reported 
 that there was no question as to the continued sincerity and 
 zeal of the Central Government, which was backed by public 
 opinion and a young but growing patriotism, and Sir J. Jordan 
 agreed that, " considering the magnitude of the task, the success 
 " which has so far attended the movement is as great as could 
 " reasonably be expected." In October 1909 Mr. Max Muller, 
 Councillor to the Peking Legation, reported that distinct 
 progress had been made, especially in Sharisi and Yunnan, arid 
 considered that the great test would arise in the case of 
 Szechuan, the chief opium province, where sowing in the 
 
23 
 
 autumn of 1909 had been prohibited. In April 1910 it was 
 reported that cultivation in Szechuan had been greatly checked, 
 and it was then arranged for Sir Alexander Hosie to make an 
 extensive tour of inspection during the 1910 season. In March 
 1911 Sir A. Hosie reported that cultivation has been suppressed 
 in Szechuan " for the present " ; that there had been a 
 reduction of 75 per cent, in the prod-action of Yunnan % where 
 raw opium had risen to six times its value in 1907 ; that in 
 Kansu production had increased in some districts and had been 
 energetically diminished in others; that very little decrease 
 had been effected in Shensi, but that cultivation had been 
 entirely suppressed in Shan si. 
 
 Negotiations were begun at Peking in the latter half of 
 1910 for a continuance of the 1908 arrangement, the Govern- 
 ment of India agreeing that there was sufficient general 
 evidence that cultivation had been substantially reduced in 
 China to warrant their waiving statistical proof, and a new 
 agreement was drawn up and signed on the 8th May 1911. 
 ruder the terms of this agreement the Government of India 
 agreed (.1) to the payment of an import duty three times the 
 existing amount in return for the promised abolition of pro- 
 vincial taxes ; (2 s ) to the partial closure of China to Indian opium 
 by provinces, including not only stoppage of transit passes, but 
 also treaty port closure, Shanghai and Canton excepted ; (3) to 
 the total extinction of trade before 1917 on proof of total 
 cessation of opium production in China ; and (4) to revision 
 of the agreement on due notice by either party. On her side 
 China agreed, amongst other things, to reduce production in 
 China pari passu with the reduction of exports from India. 
 
 In addition to the limit to the China trade imposed by the 
 agreement, the Government of India agreed, in order to lessen 
 the danger of smuggling into China, and as an earnest of their 
 desire to assist that country, strictly to confine the remainder 
 of the Indian exports to the legitimate demands of the non- 
 China markets. The figure arrived at for these markets, the 
 result of elaborate calculations based on Board of Trade 
 statistics and the average exports for the period 1905-09, when 
 no inducement for smuggling to China had existed, was 14,000 
 chests ; the Government of India cut down their non-China 
 exports to this figure in 1911, and in order to make assurance 
 doubly sure, spontaneously reduced this to 13,200 chests in 
 1912. The whole of the very large revenue from the China 
 trade was now lost to India, as well as the revenue from that 
 part of the exports to non-China markets which was sacrificed 
 as an unsolicited and indirect contribution to China's success. 
 
 Then followed the revolution in China, Szechuan being 
 among the first provinces to revolt. Poppy began to be grown 
 again everywhere. Cultivation in Yunnan was reported to be 
 continuing as early as November 1911, and in the Cheng Tu 
 
24 
 
 district of Szeclman in January 1912. In May and August 
 1912 the matter was the subject of questions in the House CH 
 Commons, but the Government declared its determination to 
 carry out the British side of the 1911 agreement irrespective 
 of events in China, in the hope that when a settled Government 
 emerged in China it would take up the work of suppression 
 where it had been left by the Manchus. 
 
 The hoped for change came towards the end of 1912, when 
 the Republican Government was at last firmly in the saddle, 
 and began to surpass the rigours of the Manchu rulers in the 
 suppression of the opium habit. The movement had, as might 
 have been foreseen, become indiscriminate, a hatred of native 
 opium being accompanied by a hatred of imported, and the 
 conditions of the 1911 agreement were lost sight of in the 
 fervour of the moment. 
 
 This movement, holding up the stocks at Shanghai, led to 
 an accumulation of 30,000 chests at that port. The situation 
 became serious, and in April 1913 the Government of India 
 stopped export to China. On the 7th May 1913, Mr. Montagu, 
 at that time Under Secretary for India, stated that " we are 
 " prepared not to send any more opium to China not only this 
 " year, not only while the stocks are being absorbed, but never 
 " again, with the single exception that we desire to be satisfied 
 "that China .... is steadfast in the pursuit of her 
 " present policy and determined to get rid of her indigenous 
 ' poppy." 
 
 The closure of provinces now, of course, only affected the 
 disposal of stocks at Shanghai and the general situation as far 
 as it was affected by the stocks question, and the remainder of 
 the history of the poppy in China is of academic interest only, 
 so far as the 1911 Agreement is concerned. Throughout 1913 
 the suppression of cultivation went on, marked by violent 
 methods of intimidation and repression, which were directed as 
 much against the purchases of Indian opium as against the 
 native cultivators and dealers, and by this time probably nobody 
 except the Anti-Opium Society believed that poppy cultivation 
 could be permanently suppressed in China. In 1917 the 
 Chinese Government closed the whole of China to Indian 
 opium, holding that the 1911 Agreement had automatically 
 expired. 
 
 On the 17th October 1918 it was stated in the House of 
 Commons that no official information had been received of any 
 increase in the production of opium in China since 1917, but 
 civil war and the breakdown of the machinery of central 
 control were soon to lead to a change, in which native opium 
 came to be regarded as the chief means of raising money for 
 troops. 
 
 In 1918 considerable recrudescence of growing took place 
 in five provinces, and in Kansu the price of opium had fallen 
 50 per cent. Large quantities of the drug were also produced 
 
25 
 
 in Russian territory and imported into China, thousands of 
 Chinese themselves crossing the border to grow the crop. 
 
 Further reports of planting and harvesting were received 
 in April 191.9, together with confirmation of the fact that 
 cultivation in Fukien was connived at by the local officials. 
 Fukien, hoAvever, being in the hands of the Southern Govern- 
 ment, Sir J. Jordan considered it useless to protest to the 
 Chinese Foreign Office at Peking. In May information was 
 received of extensive growing, with official support, in Szechuan 
 and Shensi, cultivation being permitted on payment of a tax, 
 and Sir J. Jordan admitted that his representations would be 
 likely to have little effect. It is worth noting that the Chinese 
 armies were credited with reintroducing the opium smoking 
 habit in all districts they occupied, and that the military 
 governors and commanders were saddled with the responsibility 
 of fostering the cultivation and consumption of the drug. 
 
 In June 1919 a remarkable letter was received from Sir J. 
 Jordan, in which he said that Mr. Easte, travelling to take up 
 his duties at Chengtu, reported that 30 to 50 per cent, of the 
 fields in his line of march through Szechuan were full of poppy, 
 and added that there appeared never to .have been any real 
 effort at eradication. 
 
 In spite of a formal protest to the Chinese Foreign Office, 
 warning them that the continued and growing cultivation 
 constituted a -"grave infringement of the solemn pledge 
 " entered into by the Chinese Government by the 1911 
 " Agreement," reports received in July 1919 more than con- 
 firmed all that had gone before, and it was estimated that in 
 1918 the acreage under poppy in Kirin Province (North 
 Manchuria) alone was 40,500. Affairs were rapidly returning 
 to the position of affairs at the time when Vice-Consul Spence 
 wrote his report in 1882. 
 
 The year 1920 continued the tale of flourishing cultivation, 
 on the profits and extortions from which most of the armies in 
 China appeared to be subsisting, while in spite of heavy 
 taxation the price of opium remained generally only half the 
 rates that had obtained in 1918. In Chinese Turkestan it had 
 fallen from 45 taels 1to 15 taels per lb., and in Yunnan it was 
 stated to be selling at 30 cents an ounce, less than the cost of 
 production in India. 
 
 The reports of His Majesty's Consular officers, corroborated 
 and strengthened by missionaries, private firms of standing, 
 shipping companies, and the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, 
 point conclusively to the fact that China is now much the greatest 
 opium-producing country of the world. 
 
 The end of the China trade reduced the Indian export 
 trade to extremely small proportions. Smuggling to China 
 was guarded against by the imposition of a voluntary limit on 
 exports, as has been stated above. It was decided in 1911, 
 after a systematic examination of all. the available data, to 
 
26 
 
 accept the lowest estimate of the legitimate requirements of the 
 non-China markets, namely, , 11,000 chests annually, although 
 evidence was produced to the effect that 16,000 chssts would 
 not be too high a figure, and to refuse to permit exports in 
 excess of that amount. In 101.2 the number of chests was cut 
 down to ] 3,200. 
 
 In 1915 the Government of India embarked upon a policy 
 of entering into agreements with the Governments of importing 
 countries for the direct supply of the bulk of the opium 
 requirements of those countries. These Governments are thus 
 made publicly responsible for limiting their imports to the 
 legitimate requirements of the territories under their control, 
 and for the prevention of re-export. The system has the further 
 advantage of eliminating the possibility of smuggling in respect 
 of the greater part of Indian exports. Agreements of this kind 
 are now in force with Hong Kong, the Straits Settlements 
 (whose requirements include the Federated Malay States), 
 British North Borneo, Ceylon, the Dutch East Indies and Siam. 
 Efforts are at present being made to extend the system to the 
 remaining importers of Indian opium, Japan, French Lndo- 
 China and Portugal (for Macao), and, if these al tempts are 
 
 ! successful, the disposal of opium by public auction at Calcutta 
 will in all probability cease. The agreements contain a clause 
 that the importing Government is not bound to take a minimum 
 quantity of opium. Exports to the Portuguese Colony of 
 Macao are at present regulated by a Treaty of 1913 with 
 Portugal, prescribing maximum limits for the amount of 
 Indian opium which may be imported by the opium farmer 
 at Macao, but this Treaty was denounced on behalf of His 
 Majesty's Government by the British Minister at Lisbon on the 
 4th February 1922. The denunciation takes effect one year 
 from that date, when the amount of Indian opium which may 
 be annually exported to Macao will be subjected to a lower 
 limit than the present one of 500 chests. 
 
 More than three-quarters of the total exports are now sent 
 
 I direct to responsible Governments, and the amount of opium 
 sold by auction at Calcutta, which was 48, 000 chests in 1901. fell 
 
 1 to 19,840 in 1912, and in 1921 amounted to 705 chests only. 
 Even in respect of this small quantity importing Governments 
 have full power of control, and the Government of India would 
 willingly co-operate in any measures suggested by those 
 Governments in order to make that control more effective. 
 
 The table on page 27 gives details of exports to a number of 
 countries since the year 1870, and shows both the enormous 
 diminution of the trade and its present exiguous proportions. 
 The column for China includes also Hong Kong and Macao, and 
 the figures for the years 1914-20 represent exports to those 
 Colonies. As stated above, no Indian opium has been exported 
 to China proper since 1913. The increasing figures for the 
 United Kingdom from 1913 onwards represent medicinal needs 
 

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28 
 
 caused by the war. At a later stage, in response to urgent 
 appeals, the Government of India sent large quantities of 
 medical opium direct to the Home Government. These are not 
 recorded in the table, but amounted to 10,476 chests in all. 
 No Indian opium has been exported to Great Britain by private 
 merchants since 1.916. 
 
 The principal importers recorded under the head " Other 
 Countries" in the table are Japan, Siam and British- North 
 Borneo. No opium is exported from India to the United States 
 of America or to Great Britain The Governments of British 
 North Borneo and Siam both entered into agreements for the 
 direct supply of opium in 1918. During the three calendar 
 years 1918-20 the former has taken 120, 120 and 192 chests, 
 while Siam has imported 1,700 chests annually. Japan, who 
 has not }^et entered into an agreement with the Government of 
 India, and therefore purchases at the Calcutta auctions, began 
 to import opium from India in 1911, and has taken the following 
 quantities since that time : 
 
 Year. No. of Chests. Year. Xo. of Chests. 
 
 1911-12 - - 425 1916-17 - 963 
 
 1912-13 - 950 L917-18 - - 971 
 
 1913-14 - - 799 1918-19 - - 1,936 
 
 1914-15 - 900 1919-20 - 980 
 
 1915-16 - - 1,080 
 
 As it has been asserted that India is administered on the 
 proceeds of opium, and that the policy of the Government of 
 India is biassed by consideration for the opium revenues, a table 
 is appended which shows the gross revenue derived from sales 
 of opium for export during the period 1910-21 : 
 
 Year. Year. < 
 
 1010-11 - 7,240,407 1916-17 - 2,455,442 
 
 1911-12 - 4,898,151 1917-18 - 2,135,810 
 
 1912-13 - 3,320,349 1918-19 - 2,454,321 
 
 1913-14 - 1,279,478 1919-20 - 2,386,305 
 
 1914-15 - 1,230,486 1920-21 1,953,167 
 
 1915-16 - 1,500,215 ^ 
 
 The effect of the cessation of the China trade in 1913 is 
 strikingly shown by these figures, which effectively prove that 
 the policy of the Government of India in opium matters is not 
 swayed by considerations of revenue. The increase in revenue 
 since 1915-16 is clue to the rise in the price of opium. 
 
 The revenue obtained from licence fees and the excise 
 duty on opium is under the control of Provincial Governments, 
 but for purposes of comparison the excise revenue figures, 
 which were given in Chapter III., may be added to those given 
 above, and the total may be compared with the gross 
 
29 
 
 revenue of British India. In every case rupees are converted 
 into sterling at the rate of 15 to the pound. 
 
 Excise Revenue 
 
 plus Sales Gross Revenue of 
 
 Vear. for Export. British India. 
 
 1910-11 
 1911-12 
 1912-13 
 1913-14 
 1914-15 
 1915-16 
 1916-17 
 1917-18 
 1918-19 
 
 
 
 8,216,540 
 5,908,284 
 4,470,815 
 2,635,444 
 2,603,152 
 2,924,815 
 3,828,508 
 3,593,010 
 4,042,054 
 
 . 
 
 80,682,473 
 
 82,835,750 
 
 86,862.598 
 
 85,207,175 
 
 81,157,666 
 
 84,413,537 
 
 98,050,430 
 
 1 12,662,347 
 
 123,257,744 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 THE HAGUE CONVENTION. 
 
 While the Indian trade in opium to China was being 
 terminated, and China herself was in the throes of temporary 
 suppression of cultivation, the opium question began to assume 
 a more widely international aspect. In 1909, on the initiative 
 of the United States of America, an International Opium 
 Commission met at Shanghai and formulated a series of 
 recommendations for the suppression of opium smoking and 
 regulaticn of the use of opium and morphia. The United 
 States then advanced a further proposal for an International 
 Conference at the Hague, which met on the 1st December 1911. 
 
 It cannot be too emphatically stated that the terms' of the 
 Convention finally drawn up presented no new ideas to the 
 Government of India. That Government had for long regulated 
 the consumption of opium in its territories in the most complete 
 manner, and had already agreed to export no opium to countries 
 which prohibited its import, and to control export to countries 
 desiring to restrict import. They had already expanded their 
 measures for the suppression of opium smoking to embrace the 
 recommendations of the Shanghai Commission, and they had 
 given the world a signal instance of disinterested self-sacrifice in 
 I lie matter of discontinuing the China trade. Independently of the 
 China agreement, they had voluntarily cut down the amount of 
 opium allowed to be imported to non-China markets from the 
 average figure of 16,000 chests to 14,000 chests in 1911 and 
 13,200 chests in 1912, as it was not clear how much non-China 
 opium was being directed to that country owing to the high 
 prices prevailing there. As regards morphia and cocaine, the 
 use of these drugs in India was subject to exceedingly strict 
 regulations long before 1912. 
 
30 
 
 Bearing in mind the fact that, as the Royal Commission 
 of 1893 had pointed out, any attempt to confine the use 
 of opium in India to strictly medical needs vouched for 
 by medical practitioners would be not only inhuman, but 
 absurd, the regulations of the Government of India effected 
 more than was likely to be required of them. Cocaine and 
 morphia, on the other hand, the use of which for other than 
 medical purposes invariably takes the form of dangerous vice, 
 were becoming a menace to the entire world, but were not 
 included within the scope of the proposals submitted by the 
 United States of America for the consideration of the Conference. 
 It was mainly owing to the pressure exerted by the Government 
 of India that these drugs were included within the terms of the 
 Convention finally concluded, and a rigid and universal 
 application of the articles which apply to them would rid the 
 world of the drug evil. 
 
 In view of the amount of misapprehension that continues 
 to accumulate round the provisions of the Hague Convention, it 
 is necessary to lay stress on its actual meaning. As regards 
 raw opium, the contracting Powers undertook to control its 
 production and distribution ; to limit the number of ports from 
 which it might be imported or exported ; to prevent its export 
 to countries which prohibit import, and to control export to 
 countries which restrict import ; to mark opium consignments 
 as such ; and to confine its import and export to authorised 
 persons. As regards prepared opium, that is to say, smoking 
 opium, which India does not, and never has, exported, and the 
 sale of which in India is prohibited, the Powers agreed to aim 
 at the gradual suppression of manufacture, internal trade, and 
 use, with due regard to the varying circumstances of each 
 country concerned, unless regulations on the subject are already 
 in existence ; and to prohibit import and export immediately, 
 or as soon as possible. As regards medicinal opium, morphine, 
 cocaine, and allied drugs, it was agreed to enact regulations 
 confining manufacture, sale and use to medical and legitimate 
 purposes, and to pass measures for controlling manufacturers, 
 traders and exporters. 
 
 This summary contains the chief provisions of the Con- 
 vention, which was no less than a complete vindication of 
 Indian policy. The anti-opium party in Great Britain and in 
 the United States of America has, however, completely failed to 
 understand its purport, and has continually attacked the 
 Government of India for not carrying out its provisions. 
 
 A second Opium Conference met. in 1913 and decided tha<, 
 although certain Powers who had been invited to sign the 
 Convention had not then done so, the deposit of ratifications 
 might, nevertheless, take place. A third met in 1914, and 
 recommended early ratification by all the Powers who had not 
 yet ratified, in order that the Convention should come into 
 force as soon as possible. Progress was then suspended by the 
 
 
31 
 
 outbreak of war, but finally, under Article 295 of the Treaty of 
 Peace with Germany, it was provided that ratification of that 
 treaty should imply ratification of the Hague Convention and 
 a promise to enact the necessary legislation within a period of 
 12 months. Similar provisions were included in the treaty 
 with Austria (Article 247). Hungary (Article 230), Bulgaria 
 (Article 174), and in the unratified Treaty of Sevres with 
 Turkey (Article 280). It is important to note that Turkey, the 
 chief Middle Eastern source of opium, the fountain from which 
 American supplies are drawn, refused to sign the Convention. 
 Persia was among the signatories, but with a reservation of a 
 number of articles, among these Article 3 (a), which requires 
 the contracting parties '' to prevent the export of raw opium 
 to countries which should have prohibited its entry." 
 
 The preceding chapters have shown how rigidly the 
 Government of India's practice conforms to, and in many 
 respects goes beyond, the requirements of the Hague Convention, 
 a summary of which was given above, but it may be as well to 
 set out these requirements in detail, and to show categorically 
 how they are satisfied by the law or regulations in force in 
 India. 
 
 The principal articles of the Convention are as follows : 
 
 CHAPTER I. RAW OPIUM. 
 
 Definition. By "raw opium" is understood 
 
 The spontaneously coagulated juice obtained from the 
 capsules of the pa paver somniferurn, which has only been 
 submitted to the necessary manipulations for packing and 
 transport. 
 
 Article 1. 
 
 The contracting Powers shall enact effective laws or 
 regulations for the control of the production and distribution 
 of raw opium, unless laws or regulations on the subject are 
 already in existence. 
 
 The laws and regulations in force in India have been 
 described in Chapters II. and III. 
 
 Article 2. 
 
 Due regard being liad to the differences in their commercial 
 conditions, the contracting Powers shall limit the number of 
 towns, ports, or other localties through ichich the export or 
 import of raw opium shall be permitted. 
 
 Opium is only allowed to be exported from British India 
 through the ports of Calcutta and Bombay. 
 
 Article 3. 
 
 The contracting Powers shall take measures-^- 
 
 (a) To prevent the export of raw opium to countries ichich 
 shall have prohibited its entry, and 
 
 4983 C 
 
32 
 
 (b) To control the export of raw opium to countries which 
 restrict its import, unless regulations on the subject are already 
 in existence. 
 
 The export of opium from India has been dealt with in 
 Chapter V. Opium is not allowed to be exported to countries 
 which have prohibited its import, and the Government of 
 India would co-operate with any Government that desired to 
 restrict its imports of Indian opium. To prevent the abuse of 
 Indian opium, the Government of India have, in this respect, 
 gone further than the terms of the Convention demand, by 
 arbitrarily limiting the amount of their opium exports to a 
 figure below the ascertained normal demands of countries 
 which permit its import. 
 
 Article 4. 
 
 The contracting Powers shall make regulations requiring 
 that every package containing raw opium intended -for export 
 shall be marked in such a way as to indicate its contents, 
 provided that the consignment exceeds 5 kilog. 
 
 All chests of opium for export are packed in gunny and 
 marked with a number, a red stripe and the words " Benares 
 Opium." 
 
 Article 5. 
 
 The contracting Powers shall not allow the import and 
 export of raw opium except bg duly authorised persons. 
 
 Seventy-seven per cent, of the exports are sent by the 
 Government of India direct to Governments of importing 
 countries. Compliance with this Article in respect of exports 
 by private merchants is secured by notifications issued under 
 the Opium Act of 1878. 
 
 The import of opium by post is absolutely prohibited, and 
 import by other means is only allowed to persons properly 
 authorised by Local Governments. 
 
 CHAPTER II. PREPARED OPIUM. 
 
 Definition. By "prepared opium" is understood 
 
 The product of raw opium, obtained by a series of special 
 
 operations, especially by dissolving, boiling, roasting and 
 
 fermentation designed to transform it into an extract suitable 
 
 for consumption. 
 
 Prepared opium includes dross and all other residues 
 
 remaining ivlien opium has been smoked. 
 
 Article 6. 
 
 The contracting Powers shall take measures for the gradual 
 and effective suppression of the manufacture of, internal trade 
 in, and use of pr^ared^opium, loith due regard to the varying 
 circumstances of each country concerned, unless regulations on 
 the subject are already in existence. 
 

 33 
 
 The measures taken by the Government of India for the 
 gradual and effective suppression of the use of prepared opium 
 are explained in Chapter IV. Except in Burma, manufacture 
 is onJy permitted to private individuals from raw opium lawfully 
 in their possession, and an individual may not manufacture for 
 liis own use more than eleven-fiftieths of an ounce at any one time. 
 Burma is the only part of India where opium is habitually 
 smoked, and there the Government of India have waged a long 
 campaign for its suppression. Within a short period of time 
 there will be complete prohibition of the use of opium by 
 Burmans for other than medicinal purposes. The sale of 
 prepared opium is prohibited throughout India. 
 
 Article 7. 
 
 The contracting Powers shall prohibit the import and export 
 of prepared opium ; those Powers, hoioever, which are not yet 
 ready to prohibit immediately the export of prepared opium 
 shall prohibit it as soon as possible. 
 
 Article 8. 
 
 The contracting Powers which are not yet ready to prohibit 
 immediately the export of prepared opium 
 
 (a) shall restrict the number of towns, ports, or other 
 localities through which prepared opium may be exported ; 
 
 (b) shall prohibit the export of prepared opium to countries 
 u'hich now forbid, or which may hereafter forbid, the 
 import thereof ; 
 
 (c) shall, in the meanwhile, prohibit the consignment of 
 prepared opium to a country which desires to restrict its 
 entry unless the exporter complies with the regulations 
 of the importing country ; 
 
 (d) shall take measures to ensure that every package 
 exported, containing prepared opium, bears a special 
 mark indicating the nature of its contents ; 
 
 (e) shall not permit the export of prepared opium except 
 by special authorised persons. 
 
 Both import and export of prepared opium are forbidden 
 under section 4 of the Opium Act of 1878. At no time in her 
 history has prepared opium been exported from India. 
 
 CHAPTER III. MEDICINAL OPIUM, MORPHINE, COCAINE, &c. 
 
 Definitions. By " medicinal opium " is understood 
 
 Raw opium which has been heated to 60 centrigade and 
 contains not less than 10 per cent, of morphine, ichether or not 
 it be powdered or granulated, or mixed icith indifferent 
 materials. 
 
84 
 
 By "morphine'" is understood 
 
 The principal alkaloid of opium, having the chemical 
 formula Ciy Hi9 NOs. 
 By " cocaine " is understood 
 
 The principal alkaloid of the leaves of erythroxylon coca, 
 having the formula Ci7 Il2i N04. 
 
 By " heroin " is understood 
 
 Diacetyl-morphine, having the formula C2i H23 NOs. 
 
 Article 9. 
 
 The contracting Powers shall enact pharmacy laws or 
 regulations to confine to medical and legitimate purposes the 
 manufacture, sale, and use of morphine, cocaine, and their 
 respective salts unless laws or regulations on the subject are 
 already in existence. They shall co-operate with one another to 
 prevent the use of these drugs for any other purpose. 
 
 Under the rules in force in India, licensed dealers or 
 chemists may manufacture and sell morphia drugs and cocaine, 
 and may sell to other chemical dealers, or chemists, or to 
 approved medical, veterinary and dental practitioners. In fact, 
 however, no morphia is manufactured in India except at the 
 Government factory at Ghazipur. The chemist can only sell 
 on the prescription of an approved practitioner, and the latter 
 may only possess morphia drugs for use in his practice. The 
 ordinary individual may only possess morphia drugs and 
 cocaine as issued to him on medical prescription. The Govern- 
 ment of India, who were largely responsible for the inclusion 
 of these drugs within the terms of the Convention, are prepared 
 to co-operate to the fullest possible extent with other Govern- 
 ments to prevent their use for other than medical purposes. 
 
 Article 10. 
 
 The contracting Powers shall use their best endeavours to 
 control, or to cause to be controlled, all persons manufacturing, 
 importing, selling, distributing, and exporting morphine, cocaine, 
 and their respective salts, as well as the buildings in which these 
 persons carry on such industry or trade. 
 
 With this object, the contracting Parties shall use their 
 best endeavours to adopt, or cause to be adopted, the following 
 measures, uuless regulations on the subject are already in 
 existence : 
 
 (a) to confine the manufacture of morphine, cocaine, and 
 their respective salts to those establishments and premises 
 alone ichich have been licensed for the purpose, or to 
 obtain information respecting the establishments and 
 pi*emises in which these drugs are manufactured and to 
 keep a register of them ; 
 
35 
 
 (b) to require that all persons engaged in the manufacture, 
 import, sale, distribution, or export of morphine, cocaine, 
 and their respective salts shall be furnished with a licence 
 or permit to engage in these operations, or shall mahe to 
 the competent authorities an official declaration that they 
 are so engaged. ; 
 
 (c) to require that such persons shall enter in their books 
 the quantities manufactured, imports, sales, and all other 
 distribution, and exports of morphine, cocaine, and their 
 respective salts. This ride shall not necessarily apply 
 to medical prescriptions and to sales by duly authorised 
 chemists. 
 
 These requirements are all fulfilled b} 7 the rules in force in 
 India, with the following exceptions. As manufacture of 
 morphia drugs is only carried on at the Government factory, 
 the form of licence granted to dealers and chemists contains no 
 reference to the premises where manufacture may be carried on. 
 The Government of India therefore suggested to Local Govern- 
 ments early in 1921 that this omission should be remedied. 
 The same position exists in respect of cocaine, but as no cocaine 
 whatever is manufactured in India, it has not been thought 
 necessary up to the present to make any amendments. 
 
 Article 11. 
 
 The contracting Powers shall take measures to prohibit, as 
 regards tlieir iniernal trade, the delivery of morphine, cocaine, 
 and their respective salts to any unauthorised persons, unless 
 regulations on the subject are already in existence. 
 
 Article 12. 
 
 Due regard being had to the difference in their conditions, 
 the contracting Powers shall use their best endeavours to restrict 
 to authorised persons the import of morphine, cocaine, and their 
 respective salts. 
 
 The import by post of alkaloids of opium and cocaine is 
 absolutely prohibited, and these drugs may not circulate through 
 the post within India. Morphine drugs can only be imported 
 by persons licensed to possess such drugs, and cocaine only 
 under the authorisation of a special permit. The imports of 
 cocaine for the year 1919-20 amounted to 172 ounces, to supply 
 the needs of 318,000,000 people. 
 
 Article 13. 
 
 The contracting Powers shall use their best endeavours to 
 adopt, or cause to be adopted, measures to ensure that morphine, 
 cocaine, and their respective salts shall not be exported from 
 then' countries, possessions, colonies and leased territories to the 
 countries, possessions, colonies and leased territories of the other 
 
36 
 
 contracting Powers, except token consigned to persons furnished 
 with the licences or permits provided for by Ihc laws or 
 regulations of the importing country. 
 
 With this object each Government may communicate from 
 time to time to the Governments of the exporting countries lists 
 of the persons to whom licences or permits for the, import of 
 morphine, cocaine, and their respective salts have been granted. 
 
 The fulfilment of this Article requires the co-operation of 
 importing countries, and the Government of India have 
 expressed their readiness to prohibit the export of morphine 
 and cocaine unless the consignment to be exported is covered 
 by an import certificate granted by the Government of the 
 importing country, to the effect that the drug is required solely 
 for medicinal or scientific purposes. In fact, no cocaine has ever 
 been exported from India, and morphia has only been exported 
 in small quantities in the form of by-products obtained from 
 waste materials at the Government factory. 
 
 Article 14. 
 
 The contracting Powers shall apply the laws and, regulations 
 respecting the manufacture, import, sale, or export of morphine, 
 cocaine, and their respective salts 
 
 (a) to medicinal opium ; 
 
 (b) to all preparations (medicinal and non-medicinal, 
 including the so-called anti-opium remedies) containing 
 more than 0'2 per cent, of morphine, or more than 
 ' 1 per cent, of cocaine ; 
 
 (c) to heroin, its salts and preparations containing more 
 than ' 1 per cent, af heroin ; 
 
 (d; to all new derivatives of morphine, of cocaine, or of 
 their respective salts, and to every other alkaloid of 
 opium, which may be shown by scientific research, 
 generally recognised, to be liable to similar abuse and 
 productive of like ill-effects. 
 
 Medicinal opium in the past was subject to the same 
 regulations as raw opium, but on the coming into force of the 
 Convention the Government of India drew the attention of 
 Local Governments to the question of amending the definition 
 of morphine drugs contained in their. rules so as to include 
 medicinal opium. In fact, medicinal opium is not manu- 
 factured in India. Similarly, steps were taken at the same 
 time to examine the lists of preparations excluded from the 
 operation of the rules on the ground of the negligible amounts 
 of morphine or cocaine entering into their composition, in 
 order to comply strictly with the requirements of this article. 
 Heroin is subject to the rules applicable to morphine drugs. 
 
 Articles 15 to 19 of the Convention are concerned with 
 China and the Treaty Powers, and relate principally to 
 smuggling into and out of China, and to the leased territories. 
 
3f 
 
 Article 20 suggests that the contracting powers should examine 
 the possibility of making it a penal offence to be in illegal 
 possession of any of the substances dealt with by the Con- 
 vention, and Article 21 provides that they shall communicate 
 to one another, through the Netherlands Government lior 
 which the Secretariat of the League of Nations has now been 
 generally substituted by arrangement) texts of their laws and 
 regulations and statistical information concerning trade. Both 
 these Articles have been complied with by the Government of 
 India. The remaining Articles relate to details of signature 
 and ratification. 
 
 It will be observed that a thorough and honest application 
 of the Articles of this Convention would fully secure the 
 objects which the Convention was designed to attain. As 
 regards the morphia and cocaine habits, a far greater danger 
 than opium smoking has ever been, Chapter III., if rigidly 
 interpreted by all the contracting Powers, provides a complete 
 remedy. India cannot be held responsible for the failure of other 
 Powers to control the traffic in their own territories, and the 
 suggestion that the export of opium from India is the fountain of 
 evil that drowns all attempts to eliminate these pernicious habits 
 is merely a confession that some of the contracting Powers are 
 not fulfilling their obligations. It cannot be denied that India has 
 completely carried out her part of the bargain. Her production 
 of opium is small compared with that of China, and she is 
 only one of several exporters of raw opium. The bulk of her 
 exports go direct to responsible Governments, who are in a 
 position to gauge the requirements of their countries and to 
 prevent re-exports, and the remainder goes to countries whose 
 Governments are all signatories of the Convention. She is 
 prepared to co-operate to the fullest possible extent in assisting 
 those Governments to enforce any restrictions they may 
 desire. If they desire to prohibit the import of opium no 
 opium will be sent. If they desire to restrict imports to 
 medicinal needs the Government of India will control export 
 accordingly. There is no case whatever behind the attack 
 on Indian opium. It expresses merely impatience at the 
 slowness with which international action is rendered effective ; 
 but though it is possible to sympathise with this attitude, 
 it appears illogical that the Government of India should 
 be attacked by active spirits in the United States of 
 America, because they see or think they see their country 
 drenched with morphia manufactured from Turkish opium. 
 The curse will not be lifted until Turkey has signed the Hague 
 Convention, ratified it and put it into force ; until Persia has 
 adhered to Article 3 (a), which regulates the export of raw 
 opium ; until production has been effectively controlled in 
 China, and until Governments have realised that they must 
 shoulder their own burdens and attack the vice at home, as the 
 Government of India have done. 
 
38 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE POSITION OF INDIA IN RELATION TO THE WORLD'S 
 OPIUM PROBLEM. 
 
 In view of the facts that have been related in the previous 
 chapters, it is difficult to resist the conclusion that the attacks 
 which have been made on the production and export of Indian 
 opium were based on an uninformed and impatient idealism. 
 India has been accused of failure to carry out the terms of the 
 Hague Convention, and of flooding the world with her opium. 
 It is hoped that the falseness of these ideas has been clearly 
 demonstrated, but it may be well in conclusion to summarise 
 briefly the action that has been taken by the Government of 
 India, and to place the production and export of Indian opium 
 in its true perspective, a correct understanding of which is 
 essential if any hope is to be entertained of confining the world 
 production of opium to legitimate purposes. 
 
 The principles embodied in the Hague Convention have 
 been accepted and acted upon by the Government of India 
 for many years past. Long before the Convention was framed 
 India gave a ready assent to assist the Government -of 
 China in the great task of suppressing poppy cultivation 
 which that Government undertook in 1906, an assent that 
 involved a sacrifice of four millions sterling annually. The 
 sacrifice was voluntarily and willingly made, though the sum 
 lost represented no less than 8|- per cent, of India's net revenue 
 at that time, and necessitated the imposition of fresh taxation 
 in India. This action was taken in spite of grave doubts as to 
 the possibility of suppressing the opium traffic in China, doubts 
 which experience has proved only too well founded, and two 
 years before the formulation of international opinion at the 
 Shanghai Conference of 1909. Nor did India's co-operation 
 end with the cessation of export to China. In order to guard 
 against the smuggling of Indian opium into China, in 1912 she 
 subjected her exports to markets outside China to a maximum 
 limit of 13,200 chests, a reduction of 20 per cent, on the normal 
 requirements of those markets, and a maximum limit has been 
 imposed ever since. 
 
 The cessation of the China trade reduced the Indian export 
 trade to very small proportions compared with the world 
 supply. When all importing Governments faithfully carry out 
 the provisions of the Hague Convention, and as the progressive 
 suppression of opium smoking by those Governments begins to 
 take effect, it is possible that they may take still less opium 
 from India. In view of the fact, wiiich cannot be too strongly 
 emphasised, that effectual international action on the lines 
 laid down in the Hague Convention is necessary for the attain- 
 ment of the objects aimed at by that Convention, the Govern- 
 ment of India would be fully justified in refusing to assent to a 
 
modification of the Convention in the direction of greater 
 stringency until the results of concerted and effectual action by 
 all the signatories have been seen. 
 
 India exports no opium to any country that prohibits 
 imports, she is ready to export no opium to any country in 
 excess of the amount which the Government of that country 
 expresses a wish to obtain, and, in order to place the responsi- 
 bility for regulating import directly and publicly upon the 
 Government of the importing country, she has followed since 
 1915 a policy of selling her opium direct to foreign Govern- 
 ments wherever that course has proved possible. Three- 
 quarters of the amount exported is disposed of in this way, and j 
 attempts are even, now being made to extend the system to the 
 remaining considerable importers of Indian opium. Should 
 these attempts prove successful, the Calcutta auction sales 
 would in all probability cease, and the private merchant would 
 be entirely eliminated. But even as' regards the small quantity 
 at present disposed of by public auction, amounting for the 
 calendar year 1021 to 705 chests, the Governments of the 
 importing countries have the fullest power of control. In 
 this connection it may be noted that the Assembly of the 
 League of Nations at its second session proposed that all 
 Governments should adopt a licensing system for imports and ; 
 exports of opium and other .dangerous drugs. If this proposal 
 is adopted responsibility for imports will be placed upon the 
 Government of the importing country in the clearest possible 
 manner. 
 
 The position as regards the import and export of the drugs 
 other than raw opium referred to in the Convention was 
 described in the last chapter, and can be very briefly disposed 
 of here. The export of prepared opium is prohibited, and none 
 has ever been exported from India. Medicinal opium is not 
 manufactured in India, and has never been exported. The 
 imports of morphia are small and those of cocaine negligible. 
 No cocaine is manufactured in India or exported, nor is 
 morphia, except in so far as certain waste products at the 
 Government opium factory of Ghazipur are capable of being 
 used for this purpose ; until recently some of these were 
 exported to England. 
 
 The question of consumption of opium in India was dealt 
 with in Chapters III. and IV. Briefly summarised, the position 
 is as follows : 
 
 The production and distribution of opium is most strictly 
 regulated from the time the poppy seed is sowil to the time the 
 opium reaches the consumer. Cultivation, production, manu- 
 facture, ' transport, sale, possession and use are controlled 
 with a completeness and precision probably unequalled by 
 any other country in the world, At the beginning of the 
 19th century it was the wish of the East India Company 
 entirely to suppress the consumption of opium in India, but 
 
 4983 D 
 
40 
 
 owing to the facilities for smuggling opium from the Indian 
 States and elsewhere, and the deeply-rooted nature of the 
 habit, it proved impossible to pursue this ideal, and a 
 policy was substituted which aimed at keeping the consump- 
 tion within the strictest possible limits by continuously raising 
 the cost of opium to the consumer. The success of that 
 policy cannot be gainsaid. The population of British India 
 to-day consumes annually 26 grains of opium per head, 
 20 grains less than the probable per capita consumption of the 
 United States of America, and a very small fraction of the 
 per capita consumption of other opium consuming countries in 
 the East. 
 
 In India proper, apart from Burma, opium smoking occurs 
 only to an extremely limited extent. It is strongly reprobated 
 by public opinion, and the Government of India have done 
 everything short of absolute legal prohibition to check the 
 practice. The manufacture of opium for smoking, except by 
 an individual for his own use, is prohibited ; opium smoking 
 preparations cannot be bought ; the amount of opium an indi- 
 vidual can obtain for manufacture into preparations is strictly 
 limited ; and the amount he can have in his possession is 
 generally limited to 90 grains. Opium smoking is essentially 
 a social vice, and the question of making illegal any assembly 
 of three or more persons for the purpose of smoking is at 
 present being considered by Local Governments, together with 
 the question of the practicability of prohibiting opium smoking 
 altogether. Burma, where opium smoking was introduced 
 from China, and affects Burmans adversely, presents a separate 
 problem. Since 1885 there has been absolute prohibition of 
 the use of opium except for medical purposes for all Burmans 
 in Upper Burma. The same prohibition has been in force since 
 1887 in Lower Burma, except for registered consumers. No 
 new consumers are registered, and the number has now fallen 
 from 34,000 to 5,405. The population of Burma consists of 
 12,000,000 people. Non-Burmans in Upper Burma, and non- 
 Burmans and registered Burmans in Lower Burma can obtain 
 opium at licensed shops, subject to limitations of amount, but, 
 a? in the rest of India, the sale of prepared opium is prohibited. 
 
 Those who advocate the suppression of poppy cultivation 
 in India do so on two grounds. First, that the inhabitants of 
 India are being drugged against their will, and, second, that 
 India is flooding the world, especially China, with her opium. 
 Space need not be wasted over the first of these contentions. 
 It has been seen- that the Government have been engaged in a 
 struggle to keep the consumption of opium in India as low r as 
 possible during the last hundred years, and the opinions 
 expressed by trie Royal Commission of 1893 were described in 
 Chapter I. If the Government of India ceased to control the 
 production of opium and prohibited poppy cultivation in British 
 India, an unregulated supply would at once begin to flow from 
 
41 
 
 the Indian States, over the border from China, and from Persia 
 and the Levant. Armies could not stop it. Further, as 
 Provincial Governments haye no\v been invested with control 
 over excise, it may be expected that under the pressure of 
 public opinion, exerted through the new Legislative Councils, 
 the policy of restriction hitherto followed will not be abandoned. 
 It may indeed become more stringent. 
 
 It is not clear why the delusion should persist in some 
 quarters that India floods the world with opium, and that 
 Indian production is responsible for the morphia epidemic in 
 China and the Western countries. Once the amount of opium 
 produced in India and exported is viewed in its proper 
 perspective, compared with production and export in other 
 parts of the world, that delusion must immediately vanish. 
 The legitimate markets for Indian opium, apart from export to 
 China, took 16,000 chests of Indian opium a year in days when 
 the China trade was in full swing, and there was no inducement 
 to smuggle to that country. Now those markets take only 6,000 
 to 11,000 chests, and will very probably take less in future. 
 Indian opium is not exported to the United States, and Chinese 
 opium is sold retail in China at less than the cost of 
 production in India. Such are the facts regarding the state- 
 ments sometimes made that India is drenching America and 
 China with her opium. The production of opium by the 
 Government of India in 1919-20, including a certain quantity 
 supplied by the Native States, amounted to 936 tons, of which 
 643 tons were exported. In 1906 China produced 34,852 tons, 
 and in 1908, according to an estimate by Mr. Hamilton Wright, 
 21,887 tons. So far as it is possible to ascertain, she produces 
 to-day about 20 per cent, of her output in 1906, say 7,000 tons, 
 or more than seven times the production of India. So far as 
 Turkey is concerned, accurate information is not obtainable in 
 respect of total production, but authorities agree that in normal 
 times the average Turkish export amounts to 7,000 chests 
 annually, each chest containing 150 Ibs. of opium, rising in a 
 good year to 12,000 chests. Seven thousand chests of Turkish 
 opium represent by weight 469 tons, but when comparing 
 Turkish with Indian opium it must be remembered that the 
 former contains 12 per cent, of morphine, while the average 
 morphine content of Indian opium is only 8f- per cent. Seven 
 thousand chests (469 tons) of Turkish opium are the equivalent 
 in morphine of 662 tons of Indian opium, and Turkey has not 
 signed the Hague Convention. Persia, according to the 
 Encyclopedia Britannica, produced 10,000 piculs of opium in 
 1907, nearly all of which was exported, and there is no reason 
 to believe she exports much less to-day. Ten thousand piculs 
 (594 tons by weight) of opium, with a morphia content of 12 
 per cent., are equivalent to 838 tons of Indian opium containing 
 only 8i per cent, of morphine, and Persia signed the Hague 
 Convention with a reservation of Article 3 (a), which deals 
 
 4983 T;; 
 
42 
 
 with the prevention of export to countries whose Governments 
 prohibit import. 
 
 China produces seven times as much opium as India ; Persia 
 exports 30 per cent, more than India, and Turkey in normal 
 times exports about the same amount as India which is, there- 
 fore, responsible for less than one-third of the world's exports, 
 apart from the smuggling abroad of Chinese grown opium. 
 Moreover, India has signed, ratified and carried out the Hague 
 Convention, and has gone far beyond what is demanded by the 
 terms of the Convention in order to safeguard her exports from 
 being abused, while Turkey has not signed, and Persia 
 remains outside the scope of the Convention's most important 
 article. India would be thoroughly justified in refusing to 
 agree to the modification of the terms of the Convention in the 
 direction of greater stringency until she is convinced that such 
 modification will lead to beneficial results. The proposalat 
 present most favoured by international idealists is to bind the 
 nations to restrict the production of opium to medicinal and 
 scientific needs, and an attempt to obtain international approval 
 of this ideal was recently made by the representative of China 
 on the Council of the League of Nations. As her critics are 
 aware, India alone among the producing nations could give 
 practical effect to such a decision, which, apart from 'causing 
 unimaginable sufferings in the East, would result in enormously 
 stimulating the production of opium in Persia, China, and 
 Turkey. This opium would be sold in thousands of chests 
 to the highest bidder, and exported without hindrance to 
 mysterious destinations all over the world. India demands to 
 see the terms of the Opium Convention translated into action 
 by others, and would no doubt return an emphatic negative to 
 any proposal which aimed at suppressing Indian cultivation in 
 order to provide a scapegoat for the rest of the world, . 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Statistics of British India. Vol. II. : Financial Statistics. 
 Annual Statement of the Sea-borne Trade of British India. 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 Statistical Abstract relating to British India. 
 Imperial Gazetteer of India. Vol. IV., Chap. viii. 
 The Report of the Royal Commission on Opium, 1895. Seven 
 
 volumes. 
 
 The Moral and Material Progress of India. Decennial Reports. 
 Government of India Despatches Nos. 14 and 28, dated 24th 
 
 and 18th March 1921. Published in the Supplement to the 
 
 Gazette of India, dated the 17th September 1921. 
 
43 
 
 China. Imperial Maritime Customs, II. Special Series No. 13. 
 
 (Historical Note on the Poppy in China, by Dr. Edkins.) 
 Dictionary of the Economic Products of India : Sir George 
 
 Watt. 
 
 Commercial Products of India. Sir George Watt. 
 Proceedings of International Conferences and of the League of 
 
 Nations. 
 Colonial Reports : Hong Kong, Ceylon, Straits Settlements and 
 
 Federated Malay States. 
 
 PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. 
 
 C. 5660 of 1911. Agreement between the United Kingdom 
 
 and China. 
 C. 7052 of 1914. Agreement between the United Kingdom 
 
 and Portugal for the regulation of the opium monopolies in 
 
 the Colonies of Hong Kong and Macao. 
 Cmd. 1520 of 1921. The International Opium Convention, 
 
 1912, and subsequent relative papers. 
 China : C. 4735 of 188(5, C. 3881 and C. 4316 of 1908, C. 4702, 
 
 C. 4898 and C. 4967 of 1909, C. 5658 of 1911, C. 6876 of 
 
 1913. 
 
 Miscellaneous : C. 6448 of 1912-13. 
 
 China: Cmd. 1531 of 1921. Papers regarding poppy cultiva- 
 tion in China. 
 

 
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