INDIA AND OPIUM [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,
—In your issue of November 15th. in the article entitled " Unionist Foreign Policy," there are two statements which appear to us to call for comment.
The first is that " India is the greatest producer of opium in the world." Whatever estimate may be framed of the present production in China—and, unfortunately, nothing but vague estimates are, in fact, available—the known facts demonstrate beyond all possible doubt that the present production in China is at least fifteen to twenty times the production in India.
The second statement to which we desire to refer is that " the preservation intact of the revenues of the Indian Government " could not compensate for the odium which the British Empire would incur in America if it stood in the way of effective action to limit the drug traffic. The Indian Government has formally declared that its opium policy is not dictated by financial considerations, and this declaration has recently been repeated by us at the sessions of the Opium Conference at Geneva. The total revenue derived by the Indian Government from opium, in respect of both internal consumption and export, is, as near as may be, 3 per cent. of its total revenues. The revenue per head per annum derived from the consumption of opium in India is, to a very close degree of accuracy, 2d. The revenue derived from the export traffic is approximately the same, The question will possibly appear in its correct perspective if this revenue per head per annum be compared with the revenue per head per annum derived in other countries from the sale of intoxicating liquors.—We are, Sir, &c., J. CAMPBELL.
II. Cidiv.rom.
(Delegates for India at the Opium Conferences at Geneva.) Hotel Bellevue, Geneva, November 201h.
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