CO129-375 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1911 [1-2] — Page 100

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then the other 16,000 since they were for sale in a better

market. He insisted that this would give rise to amuggling

(a view in which I entirely concurred) and said that as

requested in the draft telegram the only remedy was for

India to still further reduce her exports. I replied that

that course did not seem to me reasonable, In the first

place it had by no means been demonstrated that the

world's requirements of Indien Opium (China excepted) was

less than 16,000 chests as he averred. In the second

place I thought such a demand in the interests of dealers

here would be unfair both to the Indian producer and to

the Indian Revenue of whom heavy sacrifices had been de-

-manded. Finally his statements practically involved a

charge against the Straits Settlements Government of in-

-adequate checks to prevent smuggling on a large scale to

China.

6.

I suggested that if he and his

colleagues considered that they had a just cause of pro-

-test, they should cause representations to be made on

their behalf to the Government of India by their cor-

-responding Firms in India. This he said they had already

done with the result that for the first time on record the

Indian Government had postponed the auctions from the

4th.