85
suppression of opium. (3) Imperial aid to the Govern- ment of Hongkong to replace the revenue lost from opium.
These questions, I submit, it will be better to keep separate as far as possible. The first must be answered now (it is dealt with later on) but the second and third are complicated by a variety of considerations such as the continuance of, or decrease in, the military contribution and the meeting, and results of, the Inter- national Commission at Shanghai.
The main question then is what steps are to be taken before the close of the present lease of the opium farm (February 28th, 1910) to close the divans and generally to restrict the opium traffic.
Sir F.Lugard now wishes that the decision to close the opium divans should be withdrawn
- on the ground that the evil which they create (or maintain) will not be suppressed but merely driven elsewhere. Mr. Hutchinson's memorandum (page 1) describes the different classes of divans. Sir F.Lugards memorandum (page 10) indicates the nature of the business carried on. I must confess that the evidence seems to me very strong that the opium habit is not likely to be lessened materially by the closing of the divans.
Sir F.Lugard proposes, as an alternative to closing the divans, to accept the Farmer's offer to "reduce the number of chests he draws per annum from 1800 to 1200 on January 1st on conditionthat no other ste s are taken till the expiry of his contract on 28th February, 1910".
Para.21 of despatch
With 43606
With 43471
43606
Para.22 of despatch
ra.ll of despatch ra.14 (a).
ra. 12.
Now the number of chests which have actually been
drawn by the Farmer since 1895 are given on Page 7 of Sir F. Lugard's memorandum. I need not quote all the figures, but the average (excluding the years 1904 and 1906) is 1231 chests. If the two years excluded were count- ed in, the average would be lower, as only 725 and 497 chests were withdrawn from bond in those years. Even for the year 1909 the total numberof chests is estimated at
969 only.
It seems to me, in view of these figures, that to accept Sir F. Lugard's proposal would be entirely contrary to the expressed views of His Majesty's Government, in fact it is really hard to believe that it has been brought forward as serious attempt at solving the diffi- culty. If then the proposal cannot be accepted it involves no payment by the Colony and no less to the Farmer, no cessation of facilities for opium consuption
we must look elsewhere for a solution.
Paragraphs 11 to 17 of this despatch contain the history of the various negociations with the opium farmer as to the compensation payable in various eventuali- ties. The results may be summarised thus:-
-
(1) if all the divans were abolished the maximum loss
hia of the opium farmer would be $720,000 per annum: claim would be $45,000 per mensem, or perhaps $50,000. In addition, it is proposed to pay $20,656 to the Divan Keepers (calculated at 1/3rd of their corrected capital
plug value and 5% for disturbance).
(2) As an alternative, the opium farmer offered to
Now
allow