A hundred years ago
What would be the effect of sending all Indian opium as Government property to England every month, and selling it here instead of in Calcutta by auction for export to China? Our impression is, though we ought not to make such a suggestion in a short paragraph, that one-half, at least, of the silver difficulty would be ended, and the trade undisturbed. Freight makes little difference on so valuable an article, particularly as the tea-ships go nearly empty to China, and opium keeps for years. It would be necessary, of course, to send all Malwa opium, as well as the Benares description. If the price were raised Rs. 100 a chest to the Chinese, so much the better for them. We write, of course, without the least sympathy with those who believe that in placing a crushing tax on opium — quite 800 per cent, we believe — we are encouraging the use of the drug.
31 May, 1879
Previous page
