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impossible. Under the circumstances the dealers should be invited to establish a General Syndicate to undertake the preparation of opium under official control. The dealers authorized to act as branch establishments shall deal only with this Syndicate. This Syndicate shall be licensed by the Government Office, and shall, in addition to the excise on prepared opium, pay an annual licence fee. The branch establishments shall also
annual licence fees, being divided for this purpose into classes according to the pay amount of their business.
4. Regulation of Prices-In Formosa the official price was only slightly increased, and consumption was not altogether prohibited. In China also public opinion is not ripe for absolutely prohibitory prices, and reasonable prices must be fixed according to quality. In Nanking Indian opium and Hsuchou opium-cakes are most used, Szechuan and Kuangtung opium next, and lastly Honan and Anhui opium. It is now proposed that the maximum price of prepared opium, i.., for the best quality, shall be 1 dollar (Mexican) au ounce; for the second quality, 80 cents; and for the third quality, 60 cents. Taxes are extra. The General Syndicate cannot sell less than one jar A reduction (10 oz.); branch shops cannot buy less than a jar, but can sell in retail. of 10 cents in the dollar is to be allowed by the General Syndicate on every sale to branch shops, but no one except such duly licensed branch shops shall obtain the benefit of this reduction.
5. Increase of Excise.-The present excise is 20 cash an ounce. The annual amount realized is only one million some hundred thousand cash, representing a consumption of over 100,000 oz. This is obviously less than it should be, for, assuming 5,000 smokers at 2 mace per smoker per day, the consumption must be at least 10,000 oz. a day. At Soochow the excise is now increased to 30 cash an ounce, and it is proposed that it shall be the same at Nanking. It shall be collected each time that deputies are sent to the General Syndicate to inspect and stamp the prepared opium. Security shall be deposited by the General Syndicate when their operations are authorized.
6. Issue of Stamps.-A stamp like a postage stamp, marked with the weight and price, shall be affixed to each jar by the official inspector every time the General Syndicate prepares opium, and cancelled. The expenses of this shall be borne by the Government Office. A fine of one hundred times the excise shall be inflicted on jars sold without stamp, all to go to the informer.
7. Register of Smokers.-At Soochow this is already in force, and the same should be done in Nanking. An office or offices shall be established for this purpose, when the number of smokers is ascertained.
8. Prohibition of Opium Dens.-According to the Regulations all opium dens are to be closed within six months. In the meantime, however, they are all to be licensed, and a tax to be paid monthly until the end of the period. The lamp tax is to be abolished. Illicit preparation of opium is to be punished.
9. Appointment of Inspectors. The excise shall continue to be collected by the regular officials of the Revenue Department, but when this scheme
comes into operation special officers shall be appointed, and shall work in co-operation with the police.
10. Extension of the Scheme.--Operations shall begin at Nanking, but shall be gradually extended to other districts.
11. Viceroy's Indorsement.-General approval of the above scheme is expressed, and its adoption experimentally is sanctioned. When details are settled, and the date for commencing operation is fixed, the Revenue Department is to refer the matter to the Governor of Kiangsu in a Supplementary Petition embodying the present Rescript.
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
Extract from the Nanking" Official Gazette" of July 19, 1907.
Instructions issued by Viceroy Tuan Fang to the Financial Commissioner and the Taolai Sun T'ing-lin establishing the “ Kiangnan Head Office for Government Monopoly of the Sale of Government Prepared Opium.”
(Translation.)
THE Viceroy received some time ago the Report drawn up by the Kiangnan Revenue Department in reply to instructions, embodying Regulations for the Govern-
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ment monopoly of the preparation and sale of prepared opium, in which it was proposed that the scheme should be carried out by merchants under official control, and that it should be gradually extended from Nanking to other districts. In the Rescript to this Report instructions were given that the matter should be further considered and recommendations submitted. It was also ordered that an Anti-Opium Head Office and a Head Office for Examination and Taxing of Government Prepared Opium should be established at Nanking, under the management of the Financial Commissioner.
The original report of the Revenue Department set forth that on account of the present large consumption of opium in China the purchase by Government would entail an enormous initial expenditure, and recommended that for the present the merchants should be invited to undertake it. This recommendation is based on sound financial considerations, but it must be remembered that Imperial Decrees with regard to the restriction of opium have been issued providing for prohibition within a term of years. These Edicts are absolute and uncompromising to the last degree, and there is reason to fear that if the idea of intrusting the operations to merchants is entertained there may be evasions and pretests for delay which would prevent immediate results.
The Government must therefore after all provide for the funds required, and an office must be established for the purchase of raw opium and the boiling and sale of prepared opium, so that restriction may be gradually enforced. The Office for Examination and Taxing of Government Prepared Opium shall be changed to the "Kiangnan Head Anti-Opium Office for Monopoly of the Sale of Government Prepared Opium." This Office shall be under the control of the Nanking Financial Commissioner, and Sun Ting-ling, expectant Taotai, transferred from Hupel, is hereby appointed Director thereof. The Yunnan Government Bank shall provide a capital of 500,000 taels. Operations shall begin at Nanking, but Yangehou, Chinkiang, and other populous centres shall also make provision for the establishment of branch offices, which will be gradually extended. At all places where Government prepared opium offices have been established no private individuals, shops, or opium dens shall be allowed to boil opium themselves on pain of being treated as smugglers.
As regards the methods to be adopted for the purchase of raw opium, the boiling and sale of prepared opium, the prevention of smuggling, and the prohibition of the habit, and the financing and personnel of the Office, all these matters shall be considered by the said Financial Commissioner and Taotai in joint consultation, and detailed recommendations shall be submitted for approval. The Financial Commissioner shall select and engrave in Manchu and Chinese an official seal for the use of the Office, and send it to the Viceroy for issue.
Inclosure 4 in No. 1.
Third Article of Proposed Regulations for Government Prepared Opium Office.
(Translation.)
In
BEFORE the expiry of the term of years set for total prohibition it is impossible to enforce the closing of all opinm shops, while on the other hand they cannot be left altogether uncontrolled. It appears that in the opium trade the number of dealers who have sufficient capital to import the drug themselves is limited; the others are small shops which purchase wholesale from the large shops and sell in retail. future all opium dealers who have sufficient resources to carry on their own import trade shall be allowed to undertake the supply of the raw opium required for the Government prepared opium, and the Office shall issue to them a licence to engage in this trade, such licence being issued without payment of fee. All opium imported hereafter shall be purchased from them by the Government Prepared Opium Office exclusively, and they shall not be allowed to sell on the premises. Those dealers who have not sufficient resources to undertake the supply of the raw opium required for the Government prepared opium shall have to become Government prepared opium branch establishments, and the Office shall fix a period within which they must be duly registered and licensed, such licence to be without payment of fee. If they prefer to change to another business, they shall be free to do so.
With regard to the opium dens at Nanking, a term of six months has already been fixed within which they must be closed. If they desire to act as Government prepared
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