568 
The  Indian  Opium  Trade. 
Am.  .Tour.  Pnarm. 
Nov.,  1890. 
tion  and  to  steady  prices,  the  quantity  to  be  sold  during  the  year  is 
duly  notified  in  the  previous  year. 
The  following  figures  indicate  the  decline  in  the  exports  and  the 
countries  to  which  the  opium  is  sent  : 
1880— cwt. 
1890 — cwt. 
  83,055 
76,493 
  46,046 
19.997 
1,541 
15,417 
20,185 
383 
144,638 
118,599 
In  view  of  the  steady  fall  in  price  of  recent  years,  it  is,  perhaps, 
not  too  much  to  say  that  as  Indian  opium  has  to  a  material  extent 
lost  its  character  of  a  monopoly,  having  to  compete  with  Chinese 
opium  and  that  of  Persia  and  other  countries, -it  has  followed  all 
other  commodities  in  their  relation  to  gold.  China  pays  for  opium 
with  gold,  tea  and  silk,  and  the  value  of  gold  having  risen,  while 
the  value  of  tea  and  silk  has  fallen  in  the  European  markets  in 
relation  to  gold,  it  follows  that  the  opium  for  which  they  pay 
must  fall,  too,  unless  it  is  substantially  a  monopoly  in  the  hands 
of  the  Indian  producers.  This  it  no  longer  is,  and  it  is  probable 
that  it  may  fall  still  further  in  value  and  remain  permanently  at  a 
lower  level,  unless  and  until  a  change  is  effected  in  the  present  state 
of  the  currency  of  the  world.  In  1881,  the  chest  of  opium  (which 
weighs  140  pounds)  fetched  £185  but  it  gradually  dropped  to  ,£1 1 1 ; 
rather  better  prices  were,  however,  obtained  last  year. 
The  cultivation  of  the  poppy  in  China  has  increased  enormously, 
and  the  quality  of  the  drug  has,  at  the  same  time,  improved.  The 
foreign  drug,  which  has  been  and  still  is,  though  to  a  lesser  degree, 
preferred,  on  account  of  its  superiority,  has  become  dearer  under 
the  operation  of  the  opium  clauses  of  the  Chifoo  Convention  of 
1 83 1,  with  the  result  that  the  native  opium  is  coming  into  more 
general  use.  The  country-grown  opium,  which  generally  evades 
duty,  is,  moreover,  cultivated  and  prepared  at  less  cost  ;  has 
therefore  a  distinct  advantage  over  the  carefully-prepared  and 
heavily-taxed  foreign  drug. 
The  bulk  of  the  exported  Indian  opium  finds  its  way  to  China, 
but  the  increased  cultivation  in  the  Empire  itself  has  caused  a  con- 
siderable decrease  in  the  consignments,  both  to  Hong  Kong  and  to  the 
