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chests which the Opium Farmer may boil annually. I propose
further that the amount which the Farmer may draw from
Bond in any one year shall be decreased by the amount of
any Prepared Opium which he may import from Singapore or
elsewhere. Hitherto there has been no restriction on such
imports, nor has there been any obligation upon the Farmer
to declare them.
21.
I have sounded the Secretary of
the present Opium Farm on the subject and ascertained from
him that, if the proposal to abolish divans is withdrawn,
the Farmer would be prepared to assent to a reduction as
from the 1st. of next January of one-third of the number
of chests, which under his present contract may be drawn
annually, without claiming any compensation. Therefore, it
will be possible, in the event of my proposal meeting
with Your Lordship's approval, to reduce the number of
chests which may be boiled in Hongkong from 1,800 to 1,200
at the beginning of next year. I have also every reason to
believe that my proposal will be more acceptable to the
Chinese Government than the abolition of Opium Divans in
Hongkong; and in this connection I would refer Your Lord-
-ship to my Despatch No. 183 of the 10th, of last July
and previous correspondence.
22.