Enclosure 1.
Mr. Hutchison's Report.
6,90
14 * 7 AUG 08
I visited these ten Opium Divans on the
afternoon of the 23rd. instant and obtained at the time such
books as were available to show the amount of business they do,
their monthly expenses and the amount of money invested in the
shop. I at the same time questioned then as to the amount of
business they were doing, and since then I have had them up to
the office and questioned them on points in their original.
answers that seem doubtful and to explain various items in the
books.
2.
All Divans have to keep an "Opium Book" in
which their purchases of opium and their sales of opium dross
are entered by the Opium Farmer. The figures obtained from them may be taken as substantially accurate. Two of the Divans (84,
Stanley Street and 267, Hollywood Road) have no other books an
the figures given in their case are taken from the word of the
Master, and have been checked to a certain extent by the figura
of books of other shops. In the other cases books are kept, but
they are really the personal cash book of the owner of the shop
they are seldom if ever balanced and are all made on totally
different systems. To understand them requires constant refer-
-ence to the Master of the Shop. I have therefore made out the monthly business by taking the actual sales of opium and opium dross from the "Opium Book", and calculating the profit thereo and I have estimated a monthly average for the various items of expenditure:- Rent, Wages, Food, 011, and miscellaneous, The term miscellaneous generally includes loss on exchange of cents and cash, lamp globes, mending pipes, share of licence fee and various other small expenses. Food and "wages" paid to the Master has been excluded. No. 10, Possession Street is a company with 4 shareholders; one of them acts as manager and receives "wages" and food in the house. I am not quite satisfied that this expense ought to be excluded. All the shareholders in this