PAPAVER 



GOVERNMENT CONTKul. KSSKMIM. SOMMIFBRUM 



Hiatory 



than their first agreement, and usually by tlu time the pyltar* or small traders, 

 who had picked up here and there odd parcel*, hi h adulterated 



article to market and thus lowered the pi-. , : the closing salsa. The usual Priem Paid. 



pi-He averaged from loot,, l.M) rupe.-, p., m.tund, but mijbt rise tO Ra, 1<> ' 



the \\ar- a in., i .(jeans, would fall t<> ruinous rates Rs. 70 to H* 76. 



With such a state of affairs it can be no mutter for surprise that corruption OuuupMoa 

 d \\ith the growers, the traders, and the exporters, nor that O*sO. 

 miMinderstaiidmL's should have threatened both internal and external peace 

 and thus rendered r .some system of supervision. An end. as it was 



thought, wsj put to all disputes in ITT.'i by it. ; - <,f Bengal, Warren WMT> 



ngs, assuming supr- !. on behalf of the East India Company, an H*tp. 



agreement having been entered into to supply the Danes, : 

 with fixed amounts annually. From 1773 to 1797, in i thin new ar- 



meiii. the riyht to the exclusive manufacture of o|>ium. on account of the Right to 

 I'ompany, was sold annually in the first instance, but year Maimhctifs. i 



contract-, ..n private bargain In 17s"> the contracts were opened to p 

 c -on, petition and assigned to the highest bidder. Definite stipulations were 

 thenceforward exacted from the contractors with a view to protecting the eulti- 

 - from being compelled to grow the poppy ; for securing to them freedom 

 from vexatious imposts and ensuring a fair price for their produce. The culti- PociUonof 

 valors, on the other hand, were made liable to penalties for keeping back the OolUrto. 

 opium produced, and to a deduction of batta (assessed by arbitrators) upon opium 

 adulterated. Dealing in opium contrary to the conditions of the monopoly 

 \\as made criminal by whomever conducted. But in spite of all t iiions 



that could be framed, the system of farming became oppressive. Cultivators 

 were often compelled by the contractors to grow the poppy when they had no 

 desire to do so. The contention was advanced that the contractors must have 

 an assured production, and hence, they said, once land came under opium, it had 

 throughout the period of contract to continue to produce it. If the owner or 

 cultivator of opium land objected, he should, they said, be compelled to vacate 

 it and allow some one willing to grow poppy to be placed in charge. Instances 

 of such high-handedness and abuse became so rife and flagrant that the Board ^C^, 

 of Directors were forced to seek some other plan of operation than that of farming 

 out the right to produce a drug of such potency. 



It had been early resolved by the Company that the profits of opium traffic State 

 should be credited to Revenue, not to Commerce. The country, and not the Monopoly, 

 shareholders, thus participated in the profits. The vested interests of the Indian 

 people were thus early recognised as demanding efficient control. Ram Chand 

 Pandit, who could contrast the free-trade system, in which he had, in fact, partici- 

 pated, with the subsequent contract system and its grievances, bribery, corrup- 

 tion and dishonest weights, etc., admitted that the carrying on of the opium 

 traffic as a State monopoly was the best mode " as well for the raiyat as for the 

 preservation of the quality and the good of the country at large." After dis- 

 cussing the many recommendations of the new system, viz. constant market, 

 liberal advances, freedom from all compulsion, etc., he added tliat the raiyata 

 should be punished whenever detected either delivering adulterated juice or 

 disposing of the produce other than to the Company, and that after receipt into 

 warehouse it should be made up with the greatest care so that its good quality 

 might redound to the honour of the agent. It will thus be seen that in the growth 

 of the present Indian opium traffic, free trade was tried and found wanting : 

 that the contract system proved defective and pernicious : hence that direct 

 control was hailed by the people of India as a greatly needed and much valued 

 reform. 



The Government of India, in a Dispatch issued during the Marquis of Ripon's tadUnJ 

 administration, stated their case fully. One passage from that dispatch gives 

 the key-note to the whole controversy " The economic objections to the manner 

 in which opium revenue is raised, whether in Bengal or Bombay, may be ad- 

 mitted to be considerable. In the former case, the Government itself engages 

 in private trade, a course which is open to obvious objections. In the second, 

 a very heavy export duty is imposed. In both cases the course adopted inter- 

 feres with and restricts the free production of the trade in opium. It cannot 

 be doubted that it would be highly profitable to any private trader to pa 

 crude opium a very much higher sum than is paid now by the Government to 

 the cultivators of Bengal. If, therefore, supposing such a thing to be possible, 

 no restrictions were placed upon the cultivation of the poppy, and if, at the 



849 54 



