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DAVID SASSOON, SONS & CO.
Part 19 (F: S4 Hongkong, 11th December
177 1544 1893
Answers to the questions put by the Royal Commission on Opium regarding Opium Consumption & Opium revenue in the Colony, of Hong Kong.
1. Yes.
2. Chinese about 60%. About 20% of the women in China are consumers, but in Hongkong they are not, as a rule, habitual consumers of the drug.
3. Children do not smoke.
As far as I have been enabled to observe, opium does not demoralize the consumer. Physically, a moderate Opium smoker is in about the same condition as those who do not consume the drug. Socially, he is not thought less of by his friends & acquaintances, from the fact that it is used in all stations in Chinese life. As an Englishman or European would offer liquor to his guest, a Chinaman invites his to join him in a pipe of opium.
4. Neither in this Colony nor in China is Opium eaten by the Chinese; it is smoked. An inveterate ...