The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1878-07-20
OPIUM FARMING.

Fifty Thousand Acres of Poppies-A
Disreputable Industry Set on Fost.
The Philanthropic persons who looked
toward Africa as likely to contribute ere
long to the material wealth of the world
by the abundance aof her products and
the fertility of her soil, will probably be
disappointed by the fact that the cult
vatlon CT the opium lpaParer sonsni-
IJe71smj, which has hitherto been aex-
clusiyely- confined to the east, is to be
carried on upon a large scale in South
easter Africa. Fifty thousand acres of
hitherto uncultivated land, in Mozam-
bique, a considerable Portuguese depen-
dency, has been granted to a joint stock
company, whose capital is said to be
$500, 900, for the purpose of growing the
poppy, making opium out of it, and OBJ
tanning vast profits by its sale. For this
purpose seeds of the best kinds have been
largely imported from Malyah,
IN Hindostan, where the best
East India opium is made. All that l.
required is rich soil and careful weed
ing. The company, chiefly consisting
of English and Anglo-Indian capital
lists, has also obtained "the exclusive
right for twelve years to export opium
free of duty through all the custom
houses of the. Province of Mozam-
b'que. =. Considering the evils which
the use and abuse of opium have caused
in Asia, particularly in China, into
which the Anglo-Indian traders snug
gle large quantities, the declaration
from Mozambique " it is satisfactory to
learn that the poppy plants are thriving,
and the fruits are reported to be larger
than those produced in the best opium
districts of India" sounds rather roughly
on the ear of humanity.
The sAnglo-Indian government ought
to be held responsible tor the acts caused
by the production of opium for con-
sumption in China, the Birman empire
and the islands in the Straits of Malacca.
On, the banks of the Ganges is one dis
trict, $4,000 square miles in extent,
where the poppy is exclusively culti-
waited, Its growth is also encouraged III
the more northern parts of Hindostan.
The plant is sold to the officers of the
Indian government at fixed price, is
manufactured, under their superintend-
ence, at the queens factories at Patna
and Ghazipore, and thence sent to Cal
cutta, where it is sold to merchants, who
fsmuggie it, wholesale, into China.
About 20, 900 chests of, CHS deleterious,
because Intoxicating, drug are annually
produced in India; of these China con-
sumes $4,000 chests, aud the tax there
on brings about $4,000 per an
mum into the treasury of British
India. In 1889, the Chinese authorities
demanded the surrender of all the opium
then in the factories in Canton, and
seized 20, 283 chests, then worth about
$5,000,000. The result was desultory
war, which ended in the capture of Can
ton and other ports, the transfer of the
Island of Hong Kong, the payment of
100000 as indemnity to the English,
and the silent connivance through the
future, as in the past, at the opium trade.
1t is matter Of severe reproach to the
Indian government that, even to add
$4,000, 900 per annum to its revenue,
the manufacture and sale of opium
should be carried on by its officers, and it
is to be deeply regretted, instead of
being treated as matter for congratu-
lation, that now, in Southeastern At
RIGA, British speculation is likely, for
much-expected gain, to increase the pro-
duction of opium