February 15, 1909.]
THE OPIUM TRADE.
VIEWS OF HONGKONG MERCHANTS.
The following correspondence has been for- warded by the Secretary of the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce for publica-
tion:
Hongkong, 9th December, 1908. To the Hon. Mr. E. A. HEWETT, Chairman, Hongkong General Chamber
of Commerce.
SIE,We have the honour to bring to your
attention:
(a) Copy of a letter dated the 9th instant addressed by us to the Colonial >
>ecretary.
(b) Copy of a letter dated 23rd September last addressed by us to the Acting Consul-General at Canton, and referred to in (a) enclosed herewith. [This was published in the Hong- kong Weekly Press of Nor. 25th, 1908]. These letters fully set forth the views of the Merchants engaged in the Opium Trade upon the attitude of the Chinese Authorities in seek. ing to impose restrictions on the sale of Raw Opium, which we contend are contrary to the rights conferred by Treaty enabling Raw Opium and all merchandise in any quantity whether large or small, to be freely sold to anyone wishing to purchase same, without let or hindrance.
We need scarcely add that in consequence of the endeavour of the Chinese to enforce the Regulations which are objected to, an element of uncertainty, with a resulting want of confid- ence, has been introduced into the Opium Trade, which is having a serious effect on the business.
We therefore beg that you will lay this important matter before your Committee at an early date with a view to the taking of such further steps, as they may deem advisable to protect the particular and weighty interests involved. We have, &c.,
DAVID SA8800N & Co., Ltd. E, D. SASSOON & Co., S. J. DAVID & Co.,
L. PABANEY,
TATA SONS & Co.
H. M. H. NEMAZEE,
M. H. E. ELLIàs,
P. F. TALATI,
CAWASJEE Pallansee & Co., P. B. PETIT & Co.
Hongkong, 8th December, 1903. To The Hon. r. F. H. MAY, C.M.G.
Colonial Secretary.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
(b) Seizure and closure by the Authorities of the shops for infringement or alleged infringe- ment of the law, and
(c) The purchase by capitalists of the shops and of the licences.
raw opium will be in the hands of a few, thus In the course of time, therefore, the sale of creating a monopoly.
We cannot agree, therefore with the dictum of His Majesty's Minister at Peking that he is doubtful if the Regulations, as they stand at present, can be regarded as establishing a carried into stringent effect, will form the monopoly. We contend that the Regulations, if
Treaty of Nanking. nucleus of a monopoly expressly contrary to the
Article 5 of the eleven articles for carrying out We contend that the same must be said of the Prohibition of Opium if it is brought into force in China. It read as follows:-
"To closely inspect opium shops in order to
facilitate preventive measures.
SIR,We have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st ultimo, in which you are directed to inform us that His Excellency the Governor has received a dis- patch from his Majesty's Minister at Peking to the effect that he regards it as doubtful that the regulations, as they stand at present, can be regarded as establishing a monopoly; that they appear to do little more than reproduce the rules passed for the enforcement of he Opium Edict of September 20th 1906 and that he has accordingly instructed His Majesty's Consul General at Canton that, while the working of the system would doubtless require to be care- fully watched, it is inadvisable to take further action pending referenco to His Majesty's Government.
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and which follows:-
All shops in any fity, town or village which sell the raw drug or prepared opium must be severally inspected by the local Authori- fies who will draw up a list of them in the form of a register and issue to each a licence which will constitute their permit to carry this trade. Once the inspection has been made no addition to the opium shops will be allowed."
Article is further explained as
We have in our letter to Mr. Harry H. Fox. H.B.M.'s Consul General at Canton, of the 23rd September last (copy of which was forwarded to you in our letter of the 5th September and copy of which is hereunto annexed) so fully dealt with the pernicious effect that these Regulations will have, if brought into force. upon the Raw. Opium Trade, that no useful object would be gained by recapitulating them save to again contend that it must be obvious that if amalysed in detail to a logical conclusion, the Regulations sought to be enforced in the Two Kwangs, and in particular the Regulations that "after the ascertainment and registration of the number of opium shops in the Province of the Two Kwangs now in existence no new opium shops doing business in the buying and selling of raw and prepared opium will. be allowed to be established;" tend to the idea that the primary intention is the creation of a monopoly amongst a certain number of existing opium shops, which shops will, as time goes on, decrease in number by either:-
(a) Retirement from business.
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further adds:-
:
Shops which from time to time drop out of the business must surrender their licences for cancellation. The licence must not be "kept under penalty or a heavy fine". and be contrary to Treaty. In course of time Surely this enactment would create a monopoly the trade will obviously be in the hands of a few Chinese merchants.
We would refer you to Article 5 of the British Treaty of Nanking of 1842 to Article 10 of the same treaty, and to Article 14 of the French Treaty of Tientsin of 1858, which for convenience we give in full :-
Article V. of the British Treaty of Nanking 1842:
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The Government of China having com- pelled the British Merchants trading at "Canton to deal exclusively with certain 'Chinese Merchants called Hong Merchants (or eo-Hong) who had been licensed by the "Chinese Government for this purpose, the "Emperor of China agrees to abolish that "practice in future at all ports where British Merchants may reside, and to permit thein "to carry on their mercantile transactions "with whatever persons they please, and His "Imperial Majesty further agrees to pay to "the British Government the sum of three "millions of dollars, on account of debts due "to British subjects by some of the said Hong "Merchants or co-Hong, who have become "insolvent and who owe very large sums of "money subjects of Her Britannic "Majesty." Article X of the same treaty:-
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to
"His Majesty the Emperor agrees to esta- blish at all the ports which are by Article II "of this Treaty to be thrown open for the "resort of British Merchants, a fair and regu- lar tariff of export and import customs and other dues, which tariff shall be publicly "notified and promulgated for general inform- ation; the Emperor further engages that,
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'l'existence par des prohibitions préalable s
afin d'écarter tout ce qui pourrait porter "atteinte à la libre concurrence
We would wish to lay special stress upon the fact that by the Regulations now sought to be to all Merchants, whether British or otherwise, enforced by China, the right allowed by Treaty
to sell their opium to anyone, is taken away, and that the "société de commerce privilegiée" as quoted above, has been prao ically brought into existence again: thus reviving an abuse which lod to misunderstandings between which the Treaties of that period were specially the European Powers and China and against intended to safeguard Free Trade in the future.
when British Merchandise shall have once
We submit that if Article 5 of the Edict is carried out, in course of time, the number of number, healthy competition will cease, and the dealers in raw opium will dwindle to a very small
British Merchant will be at the mercy of the few native shops left in the trade.
Inasmuch as the Indian Opium Trade has already been regulated by the Government of India and will under the conditions agreed upon by Great Britain and China, entirely cease in the course of ten years, there is absolutely no reason whatever for the Chinese Government to interfere in any way with this trade by issuing vexatious notifications to the public, as has been done lately by the Viceroy of the Two Kwangs. Therefore, any interference on the part of the Chinese Government with the Indian Opium Trade cannot possibly be with any legitimate object. Provincial Authorities all over the Empire are quite capable of using the Imperial Edict for the purpose of raising revenue, or with the ulterior object of taking advantage of the situation in order to be able to squeèze the populace. We have only in this regard to
paid at any of the said ports the regulated "customs and dues, agreeable of the tariff to be hereafter fixed, such merchandise may be conveyed by Chinese Merchants to any pro- vince or city in the interior of the Empire "of China on paying a further amount as tran- ! "sit duties, which shall not exceed per cent
on the tariff value of such goods. Article XIV of the French Treaty of Tien- tsin 1858:-
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Nanking in order to refer to the recent action of the Viceroy of show how fur this can be carried into effect by unscrupulous authorities.
The Merchants in China have a very strong claim on the British Government to protect their trade against this interference by the the Chinese, not only the ordinary protection due to legitimate British trade, but from the fact that the merchants buy direct from the Government of India at the Government's monthly sales in Calcutta, and it is the duty of the British Government to see that the Mer- chants get a fair and unhindered outlet for the opium purchased from them.
It is incumbent on the British Government, before they allow the opium trade to depart entirely from India and from British merchants dealing with the Indian Government, to see that China is really doing her share to eradicate the so-called evil.
the British Government is keeping well ahead The report of Mr. Leach clearly shows that
of the Chinese Government in the steps taken to stamp out the opium habit, although British trade is only one-eighth to one-tenth of the whole of the Opium consumed in China.
The production in hina of native opium being 8 to 10 times as large as the total import of the foreign drug, the cultivation of China opium is the thing to watch, not so much the foreign trade, and the cnly way to stop opium smoking in China is by getting the provincial authorities to curtail the production of the dwindle, Chinese opium will flourish, and derive native drug, otherwise, while our trade will
the benefit of the falling off of British trade, and this is surely what the Chinese provincial officials desire, and in this regard we would call attention to Sir Edward Grey's despatch to Sir M. Durand dated October 17th, 1906, where in he says:
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"If on the other hand, China was simply to "prevent the importation of foreign opium in "order that individual Chinese might grow more opium. themselves and realise a higher แ 'price for it in China, then it would be "useless for us to make sacrifices."
"Us" there, means Great Britain, or in other words. the Government of India and Great Britain's merchants dealing in raw opium,
"Aucune société de commerce privilegiée ne pourra desormais s'établir en Chine, et il en sera de même de toute coalition organisée dans le but d'exercer une monopole sur le We would wish that it should be pointed 44 commerce. En cas de contravention en out to the British Government that it is a "present article les autorités chinoises known fact that China not only consumes sur les representations du consul ou de ten times as much more opium than is imported l'agent consulaire, aviseront aux moyens into China but she also exports China grown de dissoudre de semblables association opium to Hongkong, Saigon, Singapore, Bang- dont elles s'éfforoeront d'alleurs de prévenir 'kok and other places.
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