431
8.
The second of these propositions had been withdrawn from the consideration of the Commission; and in the absence of any definite instructions, I assumed the responsibility of refusing consent to the third. There remained, therefore, only the first proposition, in which no co-operation of this Government was necessary.
W. Russell then explained to the Commission a proposition which I had authorised him to make on behalf of the Government, and which had been under careful consideration for some time. During his tenure as a Member of this Commission, ten years ago, under Sir Arthur Kennedy, he had devoted much study to the subject.
9.
In 1883, when the Government was embarrassed by a combination of the Opium Merchants to obtain the Opium Farm, from which the Colony derives a large revenue, at an absurdly low rate, it was chiefly on his advice that the Government undertook the issuing of licences for one year, thereby realising nearly $100,000 more than had been offered. I have no hesitation in saying that there was no person in the Service of the Government of this Colony who was so thoroughly acquainted, as W. Russell, with the whole question of Opium, and in the absence of instructions which I supposed could have been furnished from Home for the guidance of the Hong Kong Government, I have relied mainly and with great confidence on his advice.
The