THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, SEPTEMBER 3, 1909.
Penalty on Opium Farmer.
Payment of fines to Opium Farmer.
the person in whose possession such raw opium so imported may be found, or in whose name such raw opium so missing has been so stored, shall, on summary conviction before a Magistrate, be liable to a penalty not exceeding five hundred dollars for every chest of opium which is found to have been so imported or to be so missing.
21. If the Opium Farmer refuses or neglects, or without sufficient cause unreasonably delays, to do any of the acts or things here before provided and required to be done by him, he shall, on summary conviction before a Magistrate, be liable to a penalty for each such offence not exceeding five hundred dollars.
22. The half of all fines inflicted by a Police Magistrate for any offence against this Ordinance in respect of raw opium or loose opium shall, when the arrest and conviction are due to action taken by the Opium Farmer or his Excise Officers, be paid to the Opium Farmer, and the raw opium or loose opium in respect of which such offence has been committed shall be forfeited by the Magistrate and may in his discretion be adjudged to the Opium Farmer.
Grant, etc.. of opium farm.
PART II.
PREPARED OPIUM AND DROSS OPIUM,
Farms.
23.-(1.) The Governor-in-Council may grant to any person, for such considerations, and on such cónditions, and for such periods, and in such form as may from time to time be determined by the Governor-in-Council, the sole privilege of preparing opium and of selling prepared opium within the Colony and either inclusive or exclusive of the privi- leges mentioned in this Ordinance in relation to dross opium.
(2.) Such privilege may from time to time bo offered for sale either by sealed tender or at public auction, and the time for sending in such tenders or of holding such auction shall be previously notified in The Gazette, in English and Chinese, and by advertisement in one or more daily news- papers.
(3.) The Governor-in-Council may also graut to any person the like privilege as aforesaid by private con- tract, if it appears desirable in the interests of the Colony to do so.
(1.) The accepted bidder for or the grantee of such privilege, before he shall become entitled to the benefit thereof, shall give such security as the Governor-in- Council may require for the due performance of the conditions of such privilege and of his stipulations or agreement in respect thereof.
(5.) The Farmer shall not without the permission in writing of the Governor assign or sublet to any person any of the rights and privileges vested in him by the contract and such assignment or sub-lease if allowed shall not in the absence of any express statement to that effect operate to relieve the Farmer or his sureties from any liability under the contract or from liability for the acts of the person or persons to whom such assignment or sub-lease may be made.
(6.) The Farmer or Dross Farmer shall not manufacture or prepare or sell or offer for sale or authorize any person to sell or offer for sale any prepared opium or dross opium of a quality other than such as may be prescribed from time to time by rule under this Ordinance.
(7.) The Farmer shall permit the Superintendent and the Government Analyst and such other European officers as may be from time to time appointed generally on that behalf by the Governor to enter and inspect the Farm Office and any place used by the Farmer for the business of manufacturing, preparing, storing, distributing, or selling opium, and every part of any such place and shall further permit any such officer from time to time to take for analysis samples of any raw opium, prepared opium, dross opium, opiumi dross or halan or any materials used or capable" of being used in the preparation thereof and found therein.
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