In 1773 the Governor of Bengal assumed on behalf of the East India Company, a monopoly of all the opium produced in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. From 1773 to 1793 the right to the exclusive manufacture of opium for the Company was sold annually at first, but, from the year 1781 , by four-year contracts. In the agency system took the place of the contract system and the control of the Opium Department was vested in the Board of Trade, the President of which was practically an ex-officio Member of the Council.