"Returns, (Continued.
The second column is taken up with the aching price per picul of the crude drug. The average price of 100 catties of unpre-calculate 622; for 617 ports, Tis, 360; for Persian fe at 15 ports, Te. 418 and for native at 16 ports Tls. 302, To my question ' What is the reason for the great difference in price between Malwa and Bengal opium, the weight being the friend I have already replied—' The grower or owner of Malwa has to pay ® very high duty in Bombay, while the Bengal is a government monopoly. Then Malwa contains more salt of opium (Narcotine) and acidulous mecenate of morphia than Bengal, making it more sought after by the Chinese." Then follows the above note on the touch.
The third column is taken up with the selling price of the quantity of prepared opium guided by 100 catties of unprepared drug. The averages are according to our calculations as follows;—for Malwa at 17 ports Tls. 670; for Patna at 18 ports for Persian at 15 ports Tls. 476; and for Native Chinese at 16 ports Tls. 352.
The fourth column has to do with the amount of opium smoked by beginners, The figures here and in the next two are wonderfully near the truth to our view. The only return to which objection can be taken is that from Tientsin, where both in the return and in the tabulated form, the figures read mace instead of candareens. This, besides being self-evident to anyone knowing anything of opium smoking, is also apparent from the amount exceeding that assigned to medium amokers in the next column, The minimum a beginner starts with is from a few whiff to 3 ca the maximum for India drug is 2 mace and for Chinese 3 maco; and the average is 1 ace.
The fifth column states the average smoker's daily consumption. The lowest amount given is 1 mace 2 candareens; the highest is 6 mace for Indian and 6 mace for Chinese; and the average is 3 mace, which is the figure adopted by the Inspector General as the basis of his calculations. Some may think this figure too high—higher than former calcula it; but my own exp rrectness.
The sixth column states the amount consumed daily by heavy smokers, The minimum is 4 mace; the maximum 25 mace and the average makes 7 mac 5 con-with these indicating its character, or wha! bility, without increas to satisfy the craving. We be ut to be the tru pipes ace of prepared opium will Gil. 'This is a most unimportant question and nothing can be deduced from it, The Inspector simply states "that 8 mace is the same as °° of an ounce avoirdupois and suffices for from 30 to 40 pipes i.c., draws', whiffs, or inhalations." The data here range from 3 to 22 pipes. In the Amoy return ft is stated that a mace of opium can be used as single filling. The average number of pipes that can be filled by one mace is, according to our calculations from the table, is about 10. The larger numbers show what a slow process it must necessarily be and the smaller the rapidity of the operation; for opium smoking is not like tobacco smoking, the inhaler does not stop and talk or sip and then inhale again, but from the moment the "mouthful" is prepared and placed institu and ignited the inhaler proceeds numerous quick long-drawn inhalations, almost like one long continuous one. Two most important points might have been brought out here, (1), the length of time consumed in smoking one mace, and (2) the nature of the inhalations, whether deep. Much ' valu in this viciow ing and ning. The heavy ker spends nearly all his time at ipe. A busy, active, and fully employed people could not afford to waste so much time, hence the hopefulness in this respect of the advent of ra ways and modern industries and ances. The nature of the inhalations is all important as regards the question of injury done to the constitution and the statementao often made of its imocuousness, A man may smoke a large quantity with superficial inhalations,. and be less injured than another man smoking a much smaller quantity with deep inhalations. ill understand the difference between whiffs which never proceed further than the mouth and those that are swallowed and fill lunge, stomach, etc. This is the true explanation of much contradictory evidence on the in-juncus or non-injurious nature of opium-'Smoking as testified to by trustworthy witnesses. Constitution, occupation, mode of living, etc., of course also exercise in the beginning of the smoker's career, con siderable influence, The eighth column asks for the price of one mace of prepared opium at a smoking-room, and from these figures has been deduced the selling price per che The average price appears to be taken at 6 candareens by the Inspector, which gives exactly Tls. 800 per chest (5 x 10 x 16 X 100 Tls. 800.) The average pric per mace calculated from the returns is 5} candareens, but the figure adopted is sufficiently near the mark.
The ninth column is taken up with the total import of the year proceeding the returns viz. 1878. There is a table giving the annual import into Hongkong from 185! to 1880 inclusive. The minimum occurs in the year 1859 and the maximum in the year 1879, Excepting 1868, one may say there has been a steady increase, The average quantity imported during these 21 ears has been, 86,315. The total import of malwa at 16 ports has been 36,977.72; of Patna at 17 ports, 18,302.26; of Benares at 13 ports 14,548.98; of Persian at 13 ports 4,972.30; of Chinese opium uuprepared 1172.74 and of prepared 23.59; beides these are 14,700 piculs of the four foreign sorts all classed together. The total foreign import amounts to 74,803.96, According to our calculation for 1878 Malwa represents about 41 p.c. and Bengal about 44 p.c. of Indian imported opium, In a note to an article in the Nineteenth Century by Sir Rutherford Alcok I observe it stated that 40 p.c. of the total imports in the last year consisted of Government or Bengal opium and Malwa 60 p.c. The Jargest quantity of Malwa is taken at Chit kiang and the lowest at Amoy; of Patn Shanghai takes the most and ichang th least; of Bo, Shanghai takes the mo: ian Chit and Wuhu the port four of the provinees appear with nil; and the others are represented with figures ranging from 200 to 10,000 piculs. There is not much to be learnt from this column except that the cultivation of the poppy is not extonsi and in many of the provinces there is none at all. The 19 ports represent 9 coast and riverine provinces, that exactly half of the number of the pro-cos of China; and embrace all the Eastern and several of the central. So far therefore this column is encouraging as regards the smallness or absence of the native growth. The six provinces in which it is grown show a total of only 15,700, which on an average is 2,500 to each of the 6 provinces, or on the nine provinces containing the ports, of 1,600. The produc tion in these ports, it is known is but limited and is of very recent introduction.
The eleventh column gives the supposed oxfly production in all China, Here we have no reliable data upon which to pro-ports nearest the producing districts like Hankow give it at 98,000; at Ichang, a port on the borders of the two Szechten, it is made 25,000 picals; at eat producing provinces of Yunnan and Ningpo on the Eustern coast, far removed from thegreatopium districts, it is put down. at 266,000 or nearly three times the Indian import. Distance may lend enchantment
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.