108
mistake in having offered Government a rental, which it
proved beyond the means of the Farm to pay. It will there-
i
-fore be safer to accept 900 chests per annum as the
average number of chests necessary for the operation of
the Farm.
..
20.
I submit therefore to Your Lord-
-ship that instead of hazarding a new experiment of very
doubtful utility, the progressive decrease in the con-
-sumption of Opium which is shewn to have been taking place
ever since 1890 should be ensured by limiting the number
of chests which may be drawn by the Farmer when the new
Contract is entered into on March 1st., 1910, to a maximum
of 900 per annum. This will at one stroke reduce the total
number of Opium chests that can be boiled in Hongkong by
one-half and will insure that the amount of Opium consumed
in this Colony in 1910 will be less than that consumed in
the current year. Should it then appear that the Govern-
-ment of China is not only in earnest in its effort to
suppress the cultivation of poppy but is able to meet the
practical difficulties and to secure the co-operation of
the Provincial Authorities
points which at present are
by no means beyond doubt
G
it will be possible in future
contracts to effect a further reduction in the number of
chests