6f Opium in Great Britain. S59 
It is the object of this article to describe a method by which 
these obstacles Jiave been completely removed, and to demon- 
strate from the result of experiment, that opium, superior in 
quality to the best Turkey opium, can be procured in Britain 
in sufficient quantity, not only for home consumption, but also 
for exportation. It is -proposed to cultivate the poppy not only 
for its opium but also for its oil ; and it will appear that a crop 
of early potatoes may be raised upon the same space of ground, 
with the opium and oil by the same culture, and that such a 
crop will, in a good season, yield a clear profit of from L. 50 to 
L. 80 per acre, allowing L. 60 for expenees. 
The monopoly of the opium, produced from the culture of 
the poppy, is the third principal branch of the East India Com- 
pany’s territorial revenue in India 
In 17*73, the contract or extensive privilege for providing 
opium was granted to Meer Munkeer, in preference (as was 
stated by Government) to any one else, because, being the per- 
son employed by the gentlemen of Patna in that business, he 
was the best acquainted with the proper mode of managing it, 
and would account for any outstanding balances. He was to 
deliver the Bahar opum at 320 rupees, and the Oude at 350 
rupees per maund. 
Since that time, the East India Company’s annual revenue 
upon that article alone, has risen from eight to upwards of 
eighty lacs of rupees, or more than a million Sterling. By a 
report, dated East India House, 29th Eebruary 1816, which 
was at that time laid before Parliament, the sale of opium in 
Bengal for the year 1813-14, amounted to 96 lacs, 40,729 cur- 
rent rupees, the advances and charges upon which, only amount- 
ed to 10 lacs, 77^638 current rupees. 
But the opium used in Britain is principally supplied from 
Turkey. The gross amount of duty upon opium, imported in- 
to Great Britain in the y^ar 1816, was only E. 2,651, ISs., 
while the average quantity consumed in Britain, is 14,400 lb., 
which is chargeable with a duty of 8s. 8d. per pound. There 
is besides from 250 to 300 chests of opium imported from 
Turkey, and lodged in bond warehouses for exportation, each 
‘^ Parliamentary Reports, vol. vii., p. 23.. 
