264
Fluctuations
The sharp rise to nearly four times the ordinary sales when the price of Government opium was reduced in 1927 (see Part III paragraph 4 of this Memoran- dum) confirms this view.
4. In the year 1918 the amount of Government opium sold in the Colony was of sales and 639,684 taels. In the year 1924 the amount sold was 351,560 taels and in the population. 1928 the amount sold was 247,352 taels.
variations in
The question of the registration
year
There had been, between 1918 and 1924, a very substantial increase in the population. In 1924 the Colony was in a most prosperous state and the maximum population was in all probability then reached; and though during the years 1925 and 1926 there was a great exodus of the labouring population, it is considered that the population has now again reached the figure at which it stood in 1924. The sales of opium in the year 1928 therefore show a most substantial reduction when compared with those of the year in which the population most nearly approximated the present figure.
It is impossible to state with any accuracy the difference between the popula- tion in 1918 and that in 1928, but some indication of the growth of the Colony can be deduced from the fact that during the intervening years 8,650 new domestic buildings have been erected in the Colony and there is still a demand for increased accommodation.
It is clear that the population in 1928 was very much greater than it was in 1918 but the official sales of opium had fallen by nearly 400,000 taels.
5. The Government has given serious consideration to the question of the pos- sibility of registration and licensing of consumers. It has, however, come to the
or licensing conclusion that any system of registration would be impossible owing to the great of consumers. number of consumers, which, taking the conservative estimate of 20% on the last
census figure, would be over 125,000 persons.
Obstacles to diminution
of use.
It is felt that any system of registration would also be abortive on account of the difficulty which would be experienced in controlling so fluctuating and unstable a population and so large a floating population.
Any system of licensing would be open to great abuses in the buying and sell- ing of licences, in impersonation and in the cornering of stocks and profiteering by licencees.
If the granting of licences were confined to individuals permanently resident in the Colony, it is felt that this would prove an increased incentive to the fluctuat- ing population to bring in opium from China. The wealthier class of temporary re- sidents would in all probability purchase Government opium from the licensed per- manent residents and this would tend to increase application for licences, as members of the lower classes would be put forward as figure-heads in order that larger sup- plies might be obtained.
A system of registration might possibly lead to some diminution in the sales of Government opium but, owing to the difficulty of the prevention of smuggling, it is regarded as extremely unlikely that it would lead to any diminution whatsoever in the total amount of opium consumed in the Colony.
6. In the present state of Chinese public opinion the only way to diminish or put a stop to the use of opium in the Colony is to diminish or put a stop to its pro- duction elsewhere.
That no effective control on the production of opium is exercised within the neighbouring provinces of China is clearly evidenced by the fact that of the total seizures of illicit opium made in Hong Kong in the year 1928 more than 74% was opium of Chinese origin, and it is noteworthy that most of the raw opium seized bore Chinese revenue labels.