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which I submit will more effectually achieve the high
object which His Majesty'■ Government have in view.
23.
I would remind Your Lordship once
more that Hongkong is not a country of production of Opium,
but merely a centre of distribution which may be shifted
to other ports equally or even more conveniently situated
for smuggling purposes; that the Indian Government has
not (so far as I am aware) pledged itself to the restrict-
-ion of Opium consumption within its own territories in any
way; and that the record of this Colony (as I think I have
shown in my Memorandum) in the past both in regard to
assistance given to China, and in the control and decrease
of the consumption of Opium within its own territory, and
the steps now proposed for the future are such as marit
the approval of those who place our moral obligations to
the Native Races as first among the obligations of our
Empire. The enormous daily intercourse between this Colony
and Canton and other Chinese Ports places it in an excep-
-tional position which can only be appreciated by those
who have lived here, and it follows that the consumption
of Opium here cannot be arbitrarily suppressed as in
Australia, or the Philippines or other more distant places
which have restrictive immigration laws and a Customs
Preventive