TIDENTIAL.
Hongkong.
My Lord,
43606
28.0V 38 90
Government House,
Hongkong, 27th.October, 1908.
elfort
25773
Hey
It is with the utmost regret that
I have despatched mail after mail without having been able
to supplement my Despatch of June 13th. on the subject of
the Restriction of Opium in this Colony. The question is,
however,
one of such magnitude (which has elsewhere in-
-volved the arduous labours of Commission after Commission
for months at a time) and the investigations which I have
instituted since receiving Your Lordship's telegram of May
5
6th. have been so thorough,
-ly recurring new factors,
and so prolonged by continual-
that I have been constantly
compelled to defer the final and complete expression of my
views. The preparation of the Annual Estimates has not
only caused an extra pressure of work, but the financial
situation disclosed by them has demonstrated the inability
of the Revenues to provide for any increased burden at the
present moment.
RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF CREVE,
&c ...
800.
2.