nothing extraordinary, in fact nothing that is not just
and reasonable
viz:
that the rewards paid to informers be reduced to a point that will render false smuggling unprofitable.
Page 463
There is another, most serious matter, which calls for revision: when there is a seizure of opium
There is no doubt that packages of the usual form, containing perhaps Opium and perhaps not, are placed on board ship here and at Hongkong for the purpose of being denounced here as contraband.
One thing which shows that the Customs only care for the fine, and not at all to punish smugglers, is this: there must always be some one on board steamers amongst the crew who assists in this traffic - Chinese naturally - and who deserts at once when the affair comes to a head: now it is well known that no strange Asiatic can walk about Saigon ten minutes, without being arrested: I invariably have demanded the arrest of the men above referred to, and it is a noticeable fact that in no instance has one been arrested, although the police are always most successful in other cases.
The first object of consignees and captain, as already stated, is to arrange with the customs in order to avoid detention, but, the Customs have no right to touch the fine until the drug seized has been analysed, by other than the customs analyst, in order to ascertain if the contents of the boxes seized are really of the quality required for merchantable opium, and not a mixture prepared for false smuggling!!
The captain of the German steamer "Wuotan" some time ago, found some opium concealed on board, claimed the reward allowed in such cases, and was refused it under the pretext that what he had found was not real opium, though in regulation boxes: the inference of course is that when the customs find anything of the kind they keep silence about it!!
For at least a dozen years the British and German Consuls have not ceased searching for some means of relief from the very unfair dealing accorded foreign ship-
There