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of a considerable body of cultivators and
traders.
In thus diminishing the export of
opium from India to China and in contem-
plating the complete cessation of the
trade in the course of ten years, the aim
and object of His Majesty's Government and
of the Government of India is to help the
Chinese Government not merely to get rid
of the import but also of the production
and consumption of opium in China itself.
The progress which has been made in the
different provinces of the Chinese Empire
is described in papers presented to
Parliament in February and October of this
year (Cd.3881 and Cd.4316), and doubt-
less fuller information will be laid be-
fore the Commission by the Chinese Govern-
ment.
His Majesty's Government are convinc-
ed