This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[7381]
No. 1.
141 [February 27.]
SECTION 1.
Question asked in the House of Commons, February 27, 1908.
Sir Henry Cotton,-To ask the Secretary of State for India what is the amount of duty, adjusted in sterling figures, levied by the Customs authorities on every chest of opium exported from India at the ports of the following countries where opium is consumed in the Far East, viz., Ceylon, Siam, Cochin China, Straits Settlements, Netherlands India, Natunas Islands, Sarawak, Labuan, the Philippines, Japan, and China.
Answer by Mr Kearley (for Mr. Morley).
Opium is free of duty in Siam, the Straits Settlements, Sarawak, and Labuan. Its importation is prohibited in Cochin China and, except so far as regards Government importation, in Japan. The duties levied in the other places mentioned are as follows: Ceylon, 5s. 4d. per lb.; Netherlands India, 3s. 5d. per lb.; the Philippines, 7s. 7d. per lb. on crude opium, 9s. 6d. per lb. on opium manufactured or prepared; China, 23. 7d. per lb. After the 1st March next the importation of opium into the Philippines, except by the Government and for medicinal purposes, will be prohibited. The Board of Trade have no information as regards the Natunas Islands, but presumably the duty would be the same as that stated for Netherlands India. I understand that a chest of Indian opium weighs about 140 lbs.
[2842 dd-1]