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gave increased powers in the matter of dealing with persons suspected of unlawfully trafficking in opium and as regards arresting and searching for the drug. Finally, with effect from the 1st April 1921, the Government of Burma have prohibited the sale of prepared opium. By the end of 1911-12 the numbers of Burmans registered as amokers had fallen to 14,049, and is now 5,405. With the extinction of these there will be absolute prohibition of opium to Burmans, except for inedical purposes, in the whole of Burma.
CHAPTER V.
THE EXPORT OF OPIUM FROM INDIA.
India now exports no opium to China, but the old trade to China cannot be passed over in silence. Great interest attaches to its origin and growth, to the agreement for the progressive reduction of Indian exports side by side with the suppression of cultivation in China, and to the dramatic stoppage of exports by the Government of India in 1913, au action that involved Indian revenues in an annual loss of 4,000,000. sterling, and that has unfortunately entirely failed to benefit China.
The first reference to the manufacture of opium in China occurs in the 15th century, the knowledge of the drug having no doubt been introduced to the Chinese, as to the Indians, by the Arabs. When, at the beginning of the 16th century, the Portuguese first entered the China Seas, they found opium an important article of the trade carried on by Indian and Aralı merchants.
During the 17th century, Dutch, French, English and Danish merchants purchased Bengal opium from the Mughal Government for export, and when in the early part of the 18th century the Mughal monopoly fell into disuse, the Europeaus drew their supplies from the ring of native merchants at Patia.
The establishment of a monopoly in Bengal opium by the East India Company has already been referred to. In 1775 it was decided that the monopoly should be a revenue measure for the benefit of India, and that all opium delivered at Calcutta, apart from a fixed number of chests disposed of to the Dutch, French and Danish companies, should be sold at auction for export only.
Import duties on opium are entered in the Chinese trade books of the years 1589, 1615 and 1687, and in the Hoppo book of 1753. According to the historical note compiled by Dr. Edkins, of the Chinese Customs Service, in 1889, a Chinese author
1 A compilation of tarifs, of which an interesting account is given by Dr. Edkins in his Historical Note (ese Bibliography).
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writes that "In the Ming dynasty, 1360-1644, the pill called golden elixir came into use, and was found to be very deleterious if much was taken." But it was not until the practice of smoking opium began to spread throughout China that Indian opium began to be imported in large quantities. Tobacco was imported into China from the Philippines in 1620, and early in the 18th century the Chinese had progressed from the Javan and Formosan habit of smoking opium impregnated tobarro to smoking opium itself. The habit spread from China to the Shan States of Burma, and cultivation in China itself began to increase rapidly in the West.
in 1729 a severe Imperial edict was issued against opium smoking, and from that time onwards raw opium from India was often seized as contraband, though it was free to be imported as foreign medicine. More usually it was passed by the Canton mandarins on payment of a bribe, and as the same procedure continued when the Emperor in 1796 began to prohibit import, it is not surprising that the foreign merchants failed to be impressed by the reforming intentions of the Chinese Government, and indulged in smuggling on such a scale as to precipitate the conflict that was bound to occur sooner or later in view of the intense dislike of the Chinese for foreigners.
By 1790 opium smoking had reached Peking, and the demand had become so great that foreign merchants had hit on the device of paying for their purchases in opium, a ready substitute for coinage. As the demand went on increasing, the balance of trade turned against China, and silver began to flow out of the country, The Imperial Government viewed this state of affairs with alarm, and an edict was issued in 1706 prohibiting the import of opium, and referring to the drain of silver as the reason. The East India Company at once forbade any opium to be carried on their ships, though they imposed! no conditions regarding the cargoes of private traders, to whom they gave licences for the China trade.
The trade in opium continued to increase, and in 1816 the Select Committee of the East India Company stated "that "the officers of Government (the Chinese Government) are never sincere in their declared intentions of suppressing illicit traffic, more particularly the trade in opium, as it is con- sidered one of the principal advantages of their situations. While it remains notorions that the Imperial edicts for the prevention of this trade are annually issued by China with one hand while large bribes are received by the other, it can never be imagined that any new regulations are framed with a view to the injury of such a trade, or that they for one moment consider the moral habits and welfare of the people." The close of the East India Company's monopoly of the China trade in 1834 gave a great impulse to the trade in opian as well as in other goods. In the period 1830-35 the total
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