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given him.
5. If it is proposed to send an agent to India for the purpose mentioned, the agent should therefore place himself in communication with the Minister (who will be advised from here as to the substance of the proposals under acknowledgment), and he should obtain the latter's consent before starting for India.
No 50 dated Pekin 28th Nov? 1885 - from K. R. O'Conor Esq., Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires, Pekin - to His Excellency the Viceroy, Governor-general of India.
With regard to the letter which the Secretary to the Government of India addressed to me, under date the 11th of September, Expecting a proposal by Mr. W. Keswick of the firm of Jardine Skinner & Co., with a view to facilitate, under the new Opium Article, the collection of the Chinese duty and tax on opium, I beg to enclose a copy of a letter which I have received from Mr. William Keswick on the same subject and of the answer which I returned thereto.
I have carefully considered the scheme drawn up by Mr. Keswick in regard to its probable effect upon the sale and consumption of Indian opium in China, but as I am confidentially informed that the Chinese Government have submitted a counter-scheme to Her Majesty's Government through the Chinese Minister in London, a perusal of which left me under