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on board I went to the chief officer's cabin. From a conversation I had with him I went to the Captain. I told him I had information there was a quantity of Opium on board and I asked him to hand it over to me. He asked me to tell him what authority I had. I replied that I had authority under the Ordinance as an excise officer. He asked me if I had a search warrant to search his ship. I replied that I did not require a search warrant, and I pointed out that under section 27 of the Ordinance I had authority to search without a warrant. When I went on board I had with me five excise officers to assist me in searching. The captain said I could search if I liked. I said "I do not wish to search. I ask you to hand it over to me." He refused.
I sent for a Police Inspector and the Captain went forward. I told the Captain I would not leave the ship and I stayed by the place where the opium was. Shortly afterwards P.C. Crawford, the wharf constable, arrived. The opium was at that time locked up in a locker. When the key was subsequently produced Logan, the Company's watchman, told me it came from the Captain. When the constable arrived I told him he could not do anything, that I was waiting for an Inspector. About half-an-hour later Sergt. Baker came. I handed him my copy of the Ordinance and asked him if he would explain it to the Captain. He went on deck to the Captain and I still stayed below. About a quarter of an hour later I went up to where Sergt. Baker and the Captain were. I then asked Sergt. Baker to search for the opium. He said he would have to consult General Gordon first. I asked him to search because I considered I wanted protection, and also because he has authority. After Sergt. Baker had left I went down below again, and about half-past eleven Logan came to me, said he had orders to give me the opium, and he opened the locker with a key. I found the opium produced. I handed it over to P.C. Crawford.
I am satisfied it is fully prepared Opium. I was called out of bed and went to the Opium Farmer, who told me an informer had told him there was a quantity of prepared Opium on board the Honam, and he would send a man with me to show me where it was. I never saw the man before. I met Logan on the wharf. He said some Chinese he had seen about the wharf had brought it on board, that he had pointed it out to the Captain, and that the Captain had taken possession of it. I knew from the man who was with me that it was in that particular locker, and if I had searched I would have opened that locker first. I did not, as provided by the Ordinance, section 7, produce my excise officer's badge. My idea is that on the Captain becoming aware there was opium on board either myself or the police should have been sent for to make the seizure.
By Mr. Francis-I did not mark the tins. One of the tins has burst.
By Mr. Webber-I am acquainted with Captain Lefavour. He knows I am the chief excise officer. I had not my badge, but I had my warrant as an excise officer.
By his Worship-No permit was produced.
Mr. Webber said that was all the evidence he proposed to call.
Mr. Francis said that under ordinary circumstances he did not for a moment suppose that this case would have been defended, and after Mr. Webber's statement at the commencement of the case that the prosecution had no intention of pressing for any severe penalty, probably an expression of his Worship's opinion as to the rights and duties of the parties would have been amply sufficient. But the circumstances of the case were rather peculiar, and there had before been other cases resembling in some of their features this case which gave the matter rather a grave aspect, and it was really with a view of getting an investigation of these matters that the case was being defended now. The Hongkong, Canton and Macao Steamboat Company and Messrs. Butterfield and Swire, who were associated with the Company in the Canton river trade, had the gravest reason to believe that one of the principal smugglers of prepared Opium out of the colony was the Opium Farmer and his licensees.
Mr. Webber-I strongly object to this, unless you are going to prove it.
Mr. Francis-I am going to prove it so far.
Mr. Webber--You have no right to make the statement unless you are going to prove it.
His Worship-Does it affect the issue?
Mr. Webber-It is a mean and contemptible insinuation.
Mr. Francis said he would prove that the opium came with a permit, that it came from a licensed shop, that it was put on board by their servants, with a view to being smuggled up to Canton, and that it was lawfully in possession of the Captain.
His Worship--You propose to prove there was a permit?
Mr. Francis-I propose to prove that probably there was a permit.
Mr. Webber--In order to support that mean and contemptible statement you ought to connect the Opium Farmer with it.
Mr. Francis-It is not a mean and contemptible statement.
Mr. Webber--I protest against it.
Mr. Francis-When Mr. Webber has quite done-
Mr. Webber-Well, I protest against it.
His Worship-I don't see that it bears on the issue.
Mr. Francis said he thought his Worship would see that it did bear on the issue when he had finished. Over and over again these steamers had been exposed to grave risks of forfeiture and heavy fines at Canton owing to the smuggling of prepared Opium. In recent cases the opium had been smuggled on board and had been discovered by the officers on board, and within an hour or so, or a very short time of the discovery, people had come direct from the Opium Farmer with the full knowledge that it had been seized, and claimed to take possession of it; and there was grave reason to suppose this was done by some person connected with the Opium Farmer, and that they were interested, as they necessarily must be, in smuggling as much prepared Opium as possible out of the colony, and that Opium seized in the act of being smuggled was protected by the Opium Farmer or his agents or servants. They came the moment they had received information it had been seized by the steamer's officers and claimed it and it was handed back to them.
His Worship-But is that material.
Mr. Francis submitted it was material, because if the opium came from one of the licensed dealers it came from his hands under a permit, and if he surreptitiously put it on board he by that very act constituted the Captain and the owners his agents for the purpose of carrying it.
His Worship---Carrying smuggled opium?
Mr. Francis said that if cargo was surreptitiously put on board a steamer, if it was discovered it was put on the manifest and the owner could be sued for freight. Under such circumstances it was the duty of the Captain to his owners and to the public to take possession of it, and the only question that could arise here was whether he was justified in handing it over to the first comer who asked for it. It was perfectly possible Captain Lefavour might have made a mistake in not giving it up to Mr. Spooner the moment it was asked for, but with such suspicions in the minds of the Company and its officers he thought his Worship would see
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