Page:The opium revenue.djvu/10

 according to the Bombay Government, were to be taken from the Calcutta price in order to bring this test to trial. The Government of India rejected the appeal.

14. In 1866 Bombay drew attention to the danger of the Indian revenues from the competition of Turkish and Persian opium. Lieut.-Colonel Meade was called on to report on the profits of the trade in Malwa, and submitted the paradoxical statement that the cost of production, together with duty and charges, amounted to Rs. 1684 per chest, being a figure higher than that of the average price in China. The fact was that, in estimating the costs of production, Colonel Meade had embodied the profits of speculation, which, in the heat of a market stimulated by the uncertainties of the provision at Calcutta, sometimes overshot the prices of China. On this being pointed out to him, he admitted that there must be an error in the account, and allowed "that the business was still a profitable and prosperous one," at least as regards the cultivators and first buyers.

15. In March 1867, the Government of Bombay furnished a return of the export of Malwa opium from 1859 to 1866, and remarked as follows:—"It will be perceived that the quantity of opium exported of late years has increased in some degree, while its price has also somewhat risen; and it might at first sight seem reasonable to conclude that the pass duty at its present rate is not excessive." This, it was observed, "might prove that the demand in China for high-priced opium is somewhat larger than before, and that the power of China to pay for the supply is greater than ever." But at the same time it was urged that the proportion of opium raised in China, or imported from countries other than India, might also be on the increase; and that if the external supply thus stimulated by our high duty overtook the demand, then our opium revenue must collapse. On these grounds Bombay suggested that it "would be only prudent to obtain trustworthy evidence as to the statistics and prospects of consumption in China," with a view to the reduction of our duty, if the inquiry proved that it was too high. In consequence, inquiry was made in May last from the Governor of Hongkong. The reply was a simple reference to the statistics furnished by the authorities in China in 1865, which go to prove that practically India has not, and is not likely to have, any competitor in the market for a popular description of the drug.

16. From this review it would appear that, so long as opium fetches in Calcutta Rs. 1200 per chest, the duty of Rs. 600 can readily be borne by Malwa opium, since "with prices at about Rs. 1000 a chest, the trade flourished and expanded under a duty of Rs. 400." It even seems a question whether, with average prices at Rs. 1300 in Calcutta, the duty might not be raised to Rs. 700, or at least to Rs. 650 per chest.