189
opium, and our suggestion now being to diminish the import
by one-tenth each year, we propose that China should ap-
point an officer to proceed to Calcutta for the purpose of
watching the opium auctions and the packing, in order to
ascertain the actual quantities of foreign opium delivered
for export. We request the consent of His Majesty's Gov-
ernment to this proposal.
3. The strength of foreign opium is double that of
the native drug.
Formerly the duty on native opium per
picul varied from Taels 60 as a minimum to Taels 90 as a
maximum. This has now been increased to a uniform duty of
Taels 115. But the combined duty and likin on foreign
opium is only Tacls 110 so that in spite of its greater
strength it is more lightly taxed than the native drug.
It is therefore to be apprehended that smokers will simply
take to buying foreign opium and thereby largely increase
their craving: which would be the greatest blow to the
effective operation of this measure. On the part of China
there is no idea, in making this comparison of the amount
of duty collected, of seeking to obtain more revenus, but
merely of imposing a prohibitive duty i so that smokers
will by degrees diminish their consumption to the vanishing
point.
We