London, March 9.
Replying in the House of Commons to Mr. G. Stewart, who was formerly a member of the Hongkong Legislative Council, Mr. Montagu, the Secretary of Stars for India, stated that he had asked the Government of India what amount of opium had been exported to Hongkong and the Straits Settlements from India during 1920. He also promised to ask Mr. Churchill what measures had been taken to prevent smuggling into China from Hongkong and the Straits Settlements.
Commander Kenworthy declared that the export of opium from India was very heavy. This, he said, was taken up by Japanese merchants and taken to China, and he urged the stoppage of the importation of opium from India to China in unnecessary. quantities. Mr. Montagu agreed, but added that his information did not bear out the statement that there was no poppy growing in China except on a strictly regulated scale.
Sir J. D. Rees suggested that the cultivation of opium in South China was so great that the disposal of this small surplus was negligible.
Replying to Mr. Gilbert, Mr. Montagu, stated that the agreement for the supply, by the Indian Government, of opium to the Government of Hongkong was renewed for five years from January 1 last, with a modification. Hongkong would be supplied with 10 chests of opium monthly at a fixed price but the Government of Hongkong was not obliged to take any prescribed minimum quantity of opium.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.