and
can
compete with India
for the supply of opium to her
own population, while neither
Hong-Kong nor
do so;
and
in meantime
Government opium grown
would
be
or
the Straits can.
If India had a monopoly of
opium outside China, there
would be no reason
why Hong-Kong and
the Straits should get
any portion of any
revenue which
might be found possible
to levy from opium. M. Lister's scheme is apparently further open to the objection contained in my letter No. 2116-85, dated the 20th January 1886, which was enclosed to Your Lordship's Despatch No. 12, dated 11 February 1886.
6. The conditions
which
a scheme
such as
M. Lister's might
be taken into
consideration are in
our opinion the following: -
A. China, Hong-Kong,
and the Straits to relieve Indian Opium
from all taxation, whether on
import, during transit, or at
consumption.
B. The same countries to guarantee
that Persian and other foreign
grown opium, other than Indian
Opium, shall either not be
imported,
or shall be subjected
to a duty of
not less magnitude
than the special duty to which
Indian Opium is subject
in India. This duty to be, if possible, levied in the country which produces the opium.
C...