:
64
2
We were sorry to have to trouble you with the above telegram, but we have reliable information from the dealers in Swatow, in the Prefecture of Chui Chow, and also from the city of Wui Chow, in the Prefecture of Wui Chow, that although the obnoxious Regulations (the subject of our previous correspondence with you) have been withdrawn) within the Canton Prefecture, the Viceroy has not yet given instructions to the local officials to withdraw the Regulations regarding the sale of raw opium in the above- mentioned prefectures. We hear that the officials are taking active steps in both prefectures by prosecuting dealers under the notification for not complying with its terms, and also have made confiscations of opium.
We would therefore be exceedingly obliged to you if you would bring this matter to the notice of the Viceroy with a view to the withdrawal by the Viceroy of the notifications and Proclamations objected to, which have already been withdrawn in Canton.
In the meantime our trade has been seriously disorganized, and a feeling of uncer- tainty appears to exist in the minds of all connected with the trade. It seems a pity that while the Viceroy with the notifications and restrictions in Canton, he did not direct their withdrawal in other prefectures, knowing full well that, unless he issued definite instructions in that regard, they would be brought into force, and that our trade would be seriously hampered.
We have, &c.
(Signed)
David Sassoon and Co. (Limited),
E. SHELLIN, Manager.
E. D. SASSOON AND Co.
E. PABANEY.
TATA SONS AND CO.
H. M. H. NEMAZEE.
PHIROZSHA B. PETIT AND CO. CAWASJEE PALLANJEE AND Co. P. F. TALATI,
M. H. E. ELLIAS.
8
in raw opium should obtain a licence from the local Magistrate, and the buyer of raw opium must also obtain a permit from the local Magistrate for the quantity he wants to buy. Failing the obtaining of such licence, the seller of raw opium shall be fined and his goods confiscated, and, failing the obtaining of such permit, the quantity bought by the purchaser will also be confiscated and both he and the seller will be fined.
The sale of raw opium by our shops extends as far as the Fokien Province and Kiangsi Province, the Hing Ling district and the Ka Ying Prefecture. Each of the foregoing places is, more or less, 100 miles away from our shops.
Our usual practice in selling raw opium is: A customer sends us an order for the amount of goods he wants, either by post, by passage boat, or by a travelling trader, and we have an account with him. We give him credit, and he settles our accounts either monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
How can our customers living 100 miles away from our places of business obtain a permit from the Magistrate of our district?
The notification put up by the Magistrate compels us to take a licence before the 30th of this moon, failing which our shops will not be allowed to carry on their business. Our firms are wholesale dealers and licences will be granted if we apply for them, but no licence will be granted to a retail dealer, that is to say, no dealer's shop will be allowed in the Prefecture of Chui Chow.
Retail dealers are those who sell the raw opium in quantities of less than a ball. There have never been any cases of fining, confiscation, or seizure of opium in the Prefecture of Chui Chow, but there have been several such cases in the Prefecture of Wui Chow; one of such seizures took place on the 8th of the 8th moon (3rd September, 1908), and again on the 16th of the 9th moon (10th October, 1908).
The seizure of opium and the fines in both cases were carried out by Wong Sau Tsing, the Sub-Magistrate of Lam Hau (or Lam Hau Shi).
The regulation compelling people to take out a licence in Canton has lately been abolished. The restrictions not allowing people to deal in prepared opium have nothing to do with the raw opium business.
The British Consul in Canton should now write to the Viceroy asking him to instruct, or wire to, the Prefect of Chui Chow directing him to withdraw such notifica- tion, and further asking him to issue fresh notifications stating that the restrictions for prepared opium have nothing to do with raw opium, that is to say, that dealers in raw opium should be allowed to carry on their business as usual, either in wholesale or in retail.
{
Sir,
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
Messrs. D. Sassoon and Co. and others to Acting Consul-General Fox.
Hong Kong, November 19, 1908.
WE have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram, which reached us yesterday morning, and in compliance with which we have seen various traders in raw opium carrying on business in Swatow, and beg to inclose herewith a statement which they have made to us concerning the restrictions which are being placed on raw opium by the officials in the Prefecture of Chui Chow and Wui Chow.
A notification has been issued by the Hoi Yeung Magistrate, in the Prefecture of Chui Chow, which we understand is identical with the one issued at Canton, calling upon the dealers in raw opium to take out licences before the 30th day of the present Chinese moon and imposing other restrictions.
We would again urge upon you the necessity of taking early steps to get these restrictions withdrawn, for at the present moment all shipments to Swatow have ceased, owing to the enforcement of the restrictions contained in the notification lately issued by the Hoi Yeung Magistrate, and the trade generally is dislocated.
We have, &c.
(Signed) DAVID SASSOON AND Co. (Limited).
(And others.)
Inclosure 4 in No. 1.
Statement made by various Traders in Raw Opium carrying on business in Swatow.
WE are raw opium dealers, living and carrying on business in the Prefecture of Chui Chow, in the Province of Kwong Tung,
Notifications have been lately put up by the Magistrate of the Hoi Yeung district stating that be bad received instructions from the Prefect of Chui Chow that all dealers
Inclosure 5 in No. 1.
Acting Consul General Fox to Viceroy Chang,
Your Excellency,
Canton, November 19, 1908. ON the 8th October last I had the honour to receive a despatch from your Excellency on the subject of the new Opium Licensing Regulations, in which you stated that there would be no interference with the wholesale trade carried on between the native shops and British importing firms, and that you had instructed the provincial authorities to issue a fresh Proclamation on the subject, so that misapprehensions on the part of British merchants in Hong Kong might be entirely removed.
I have now received a Petition from the British opium merchants in Hong Kong stating that, while in the Canton Prefecture your Excellency's instructions have been acted in Chui Chow, Wui Chow, and other outlying prefectures your Excellency's
upon, instructions have been apparently misunderstood, and the local officials are prosecuting native opium dealers for failure to comply with the new Regulations and confiscating opium as a penalty. Petitioners state that this action is disorganizing the import trade and causing them serious inconvenience and loss. They beg that the Viceroy be requested to send definite instructions to the local authorities concerned not to interfere with the wholesale raw opium trade.
I have the honour to observe that, as in the Canton Prefecture the new Licensing Regulations have not been found to interfere with the wholesale trade in raw opium, the complaints of the British opium merchants with regard to Wui Chow and Chui Chow must be due to the fact that the local authorities in those places are carrying out the Regulations in a harsh and inconsiderate manner, without regard to the important interests involved.