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savok dneFUITSTON
JaimuÁ .DTG „RKOMANOP
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OPY.
.S .ok equaofont
Enclosure No. 3.
260
19662
Government 7
Hongkong, 5th. February, 1907.
enbeIwondos of quonon sit evan I
Jrajani Jal sal betab rusdef a'qtrísbrot oY to dqisoon sdt
to ebes; evinsonsa-ng-1 and yd bernia noltiteq a "nibrøytot
to Joelɗve erit no ynoloD alat ni amotaal bns aerotudo daljins
*3/10H mi bejoubnoo et miqo mi sittɛnd edd dotdw no mojaya ərid
Joe ed Illw noidideg end of yiqsi a farið yse of hns poox-
**ote evan I
nentaй . (.52)
TORNAVOD
.TOJAI
qtoabro
,bпeneves due
* SIMOH .0 .t
nodol to godai
sir,
With reference to my letter of the 3rd. of
August last addressed to the late Bishop of Victoria, I have
to express my regret that various circumstances have unduly
delayed the reply therein promised to the petition signed by
the representative heads of British Churches and Missions in
this Colony on the subject of the system on which the traffic in
Opium is conducted in Hongkong.
2.
Two definite requests are made in the
Petition viz.:- that enquiry may be made as to the best method
by which this Government may check and if possible entirely
abolish the use of Opium, except for Medicinal purposes, in this
Colony; and that pupils in the public schools in the Colony may
be taught the evil and debasing results of the Opium habit.
With regard to the first of these requests
3.
I am satisfied that the existing system under which the sole
privilege of preparing Oplum for smoking is farmed out to one
person or syndicate of persons, is the surest way to confine
the smoking of Opium within the narrowest limits, for the
reasons that under this system the monopolist is able to charge
a very high price for prepared Opium, and, being a Chinese
assisted by a large and interested body of his fellow countrymen, is able to prevent the illicit preparation within the Colony,
and the smuggling into it whether in the raw or prepared state,
of Opium which could and would be sold at a much lower figure
than he charges for what he himself sells.
Thus it happens that the price of prepared
Opium in Hongkong has advanced with the higher fees paid for
The Reverend
Archdeacon Banister.
each