452
prosperity of the island. than
6.
Returning now to the first mentioned consideration, the desirability, namely, of restricting as far as may be practicable the local consumption of opium, I have no hesitation whatever in declaring that the abolition of the farm would be followed by a large increase in the local consumption. If the farm were abolished, the alternatives open to the Government would be the adoption of the bonded warehouse system, or the recurrence to the issue of licences. (There is a third alternative, to which indeed the adoption of either these two would speedily lead, viz. the abandonment of any attempt to derive a revenue from opium; but it may be left out of account, as the effect that it would have on local consumption is sufficiently obvious.)