. W.
580
14
Persia and Turkey.
It has occurred to me that panding a complete
suppression of the use of opium for smoking, to w ich the
signatory Powers are committed by Article 6 of the Convention,[
it might be possible to find a solution of both questions on
the lines of an arrangement between the States chiefly
interested as to what should be regarded provisionally as the
proper average amount of consumption per head per annum;
rom all sources that the amount of raw opium to be imported for the purpose of
smoking should be strictly based on the agreed consumption
figure; and that the agreed consumption figure should be
periodically reviewed. To reach such an agreement, each of
the Powers concerned would have to supply particulars of the
amount of opium at present consumed (they have already been
asked by the Council of the League, on the recommendation of
the Opium Advisory Committee, to state their annual require-
ments of raw opium for this purpose among others), and the
number of smokers, where there is a system of registration or licensing in force, or where there is no such system, the
number of the class amongst which the practice of smoking
prevails, i.e. in most cases the number of Chinese residents, These figures would be collated and it ought not to be difficult, I should imagine, to arrive at a decision as to what would be a reasonable figure to start with in the first
instance/
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