In 1875 he entered the Opium Department of the Province of Bengal, an uncovenanted member of the Indian Civil Service. As Assistant Sub-Deputy Opium Agent, grade 5 on 500 rupees per month, he could hardly have found a more remote and less exalted position at the lowest level in the order of precedence in the complex hierarchy of the Empire. His job was to oversee the growing of opium, mainly for export to China.
