Manufacture of Alkaloids.
PAPAVER
somniferum.
MANUFAC-
TURE.
Alkaloids.
ADMINISTRA-
TION.
Bengal
Agencies.
Cultivation
and Manufac--
ture regu--
lated by Act
XIII. of 1857.
Possession of
opium, right
to sale: and
transport,
import, and
export regu
-
lated by
Opium Act of
1878.
the Economic Products of India.
7 5
which would be equal to 14.38 per cent. The chlorine calculated as H C.
amounted to 9.42 per cent., the sample was consequently deficient in com
-bined acid to the extent of .3 per cent. The ash amounted to .063 per
cent. By the action of chloroform .812 per cent. of extractive was obtain-
-ed. The precise nature of this extractive was not determined; it probably
contained a trace of morphia; it was tested specially for narcotine with
negative results. Uncombined morphia to the extent of .828 per cent. was
detected in the sample.
The codeine was a perfectly white powder, and tree from odour. Dried
at 100°C., it lost 5.16 per cent. The ash amounted to .056 per cent. The
saturating power of the alkaloid for standard acid corresponded closely
with that acquired by theory.
The narcotine was in faintly yellowish crystals. It contained only a
minute trace of ash, and was free from morphia."
FISCAL ADMINISTRATION OF OPIUM IN INDIA AND
THE REVENUE THEREFROM.
Having now worked out the leading historic facts that have a bearing
on the Indian and Chinese Opium question, it may not be out of place to
record here the chief facts regarding the Indian localities where opium is
produced; to exhibit the enactments by which the cultivation and manu
-facture are controlled; to explain the degree to which the Indian Govern
-ment is directly in the position of a private individual who holds the sole
right to cultivate and sell an article of commerce; and to show the revenue
derived by India from the drug. These objects cannot be better met than
by republishing a memorandum recently issued by the Department of
Finance and Commerce:—
BENGAL OPIUM.
"In British India the manufacture of opium for export to the Straits
Settlements and China is restricted to two agencies in Behar and Benares
in the Bengal Presidency. These are under the administration of the
Government of Bengal, though the so-called Benares Agency includes sub
-divisions which are partly situated in Oudh and are established in terri--
tory under the Government of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh.
"The cultivation of poppy and the manufacture of opium in these two
Agencies are regulated by Act XIII. of 1857, under the general control of
the Government of Bengal and the Board of Revenue, and the immediate
supervision of the Opium Agents in charge of the Agencies. The posses
-sion, transport, import and export of opium are regulated by the provisions
of the Rules passed under section 5 of the Opium Act of 1878. The Col
-lectors of Land Revenue in the districts within the range of the Agencies
are Deputy Agents for the enforcement of some of the provisions of Act
XIII, of 1857, but they do not otherwise take part in the details of supervi
-sion which are conducted by Sub-Deputy Opium Agents acting under the
orders of Opium Agents.
"The extent of cultivation and the quantity of opium to be annually
brought forward for sale are regulated by the Government of India in
communication with the Government of Bengal, while the limits of cultiva
-tion within each sub-division, and the persons by whom the poppy may be
cultivated, are arranged annually by the Opium Department.The cul
-tivators, though free to decline the cultivation, are restrained from selling
their produce to any but the Opium Department.
Restriction to
Cultivation.