į
:
28527
Encl. in Sir John Jordan's No 152 of the 31 March 1908.
REC
Reot 31 AUG 11
425
Waiwupu to H.
18987
PEKING, 26th March 1908.
March
2417
On receipt of Your Excellency's Note enquiring as to the restrictions to be imposed on the import of Turkish and Persian opium the Roard requested the Revenue Council to deal rih the matter without delay and informed Your Excellency accordin”-
17.
The Revenue Council have now communicated to me the follow- ing report submitted, under instructions from them, by the Inspector general of Customs:
+
"Persian opium is transshipped at Rombay for ongkong by the two British firms David Sassoon and Co. and F.D.Sassoon and Co., the total quantity in 1903 being 6,800 picule, 1n 1904, 5,104 piculs, in 1905, 2,901 piculs, in 1906, 3,542 piculs and in 1908, 2,247 picule. Dome of this opium is prepared
at ongkong and some shipped to acac, uangcho an and Toreign
Ports. The following are the quantities shipped to Thina in
recent years: in 1903, 3,929 piculs, in 1904, 3,095 piculs,
in 1905, 1,690 plculs, in 1906, 795 piculs and in 1907, 1,408
picula. From these figures it will be seen that a erat
reduction in the import has already taken place within the lat
fe years.
"All the Persian opium imported into China for sale is
clipped f om Pongkong, most of it going to "oocho and Amoy
and the remainder a small aunt - to the porte of Yuangtung.
Since the sixth year of Tuanghsu (1880-1) the Americans have ebt engaged in the opium trade and the import into hina is in the hands of British and Chin se firms, in addition to a Persian firm, Messrs. Afshar and "o. of Shanghai.
"As