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general financial cataclysm, consequent on the new levy,
whereby they endeavoured to intimidate me. The levy has
now been in force for six months, and whatever may be the
financial embarassments in which Hongkong finds herself
at the moment, they can hardly be ascribed to the action of
the Kuangtung authorities regarding opi.m.
That however, the Officer Atministering the Guvern-
without seeking to ascertain the real facts ment of Hongkong/should have seen fit to repect a rupurt,
said to have been current amoneut I presume, the ppium
importers and their Chinese entourage, is to mu astounding.
The report in question, which was to the effect that the
original regulations were submitted to me in draft form
and by me approved, is absolutely false, and an enquiry
addressed to fanton would, in the course of a day, have
elicited this doniul of its truth.
That took place before and after the new Regulations
come into force is as I have already pointed out, on
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