5
421
4
3. RETURN of Opium used by the Macao Farmer from July 1, 1911, to June 30, 1912.
Local consumption of Macao-
July 1911 to June 30, 1912 (approximately) Export to Mexico of prepared opium-
(Confidential.)
July 1, 1911, to June 30, 1912 (approximately)
Total
Enclosure 5 in No. 1.
Memorandum by Mr. Baddeley.
Chests.
461
344
805
DURING the second half of 1911 an official telegram was sent from Sir Frederick Lugard, Governor of Hong Kong, to Mr. Harcourt stating that Macao's requirements amounted to 120 chests of opium per annum. This telegram is reproduced in the Foreign Office reprints on opium, and can be verified by a reference to such papers (the date was, I think, August or September). It may be presumed that these figures are based on good authority, and are good until rebutted satisfactorily by the Macao Government.
2. Striking confirmation of this was obtained from an independent source. At the beginning of this year the chief clerk in the bankruptcy office, Singapore, a Chinese named Lee Ah Sik, proceeded to Hong Kong and Canton on leave.
This man is an old and valued servant of Government, and was my chief clerk for the two years I was in charge of the bankruptcy office (April 1907-March 1909). His brother in Hong Kong is the secret agent of the Monopolies Department, Singapore, and was formerly connected with the Hong Kong farm.
Before Lee Ah Sik left for China without saying what information I had concerning Macao, I requested him to go to Macao and make certain enquiries, and I gave him certain written question to answer. In due course he sent me a letter. From enquiries he had made on the spot be informed me that Macao's requirements were ten to twelve chests per month; that large quantities of half-cooked opium were smuggled into the Canton delta; that interested parties had chartered the steam-ship "Johanne" to take direct shipments of opium from Singapore to Macao; that there was evidence of any shipments to South America, and that the local selling price of chandu (prepared opium) was considerably above what it was in 1909 (1·80 dollars in 1909).
00
per
tahil
As soon as I received this information I forwarded it on to the Colonial Secretary for the information of his Excellency the governor.
When I left Singapore in March 1912, Lee Ah Sik had not returned from leave, so I was unable to question him further.
3. Now, as to the statement by Macao that their monthly consumption in 1909 was thirty-eight chests.
On p. 323 of the Shanghai Opium Commission report the Portuguese delegates stated :--
"Taking 100,000 individuals as forming the Chinese population of Macao, Teripu, and Colowan, the number of smokers does not come to 5 per cent. of the number of inhabitants.'
On same page it is stated that the price of prepared opium at that time (1909) was 1-80 per tahil, and the daily average consumption of opium (i.e., chandu) per smoker is 2 mace daily.
(10 hoons = 1 mace or 1 chee; 10 chees = 1 tahil.)
Therefore at the most the number of local smokers was 5,000.
Assuming cach smoked 2 mace or chees, we get total daily consumption equals 1,000 tahils, or, in a month of thirty days, 30,000 tabils.
On p. 322 it is stated each ball of opium produced 216 tahils of opium ready for consumption. As there are forty balls in a chest, each chest therefore produces 40 X 21-6864 tahils.
864
Therefore the monthly local consumption in 1908-9 was 30000 = 34 odd chests— according to the Portuguese delegates themselves.
The above figures are open' to serious objection.
In the first place, I am unable to agree that the daily average of the Macao opium
smoker is 2 mace. Anyone who smoked this quantity daily would be regarded as distinctly a heavy smoker.
On
p. 8 of the Shanghai report the United States of America delegates designate
a man who smokes 2 mace per day as a "heavy smoker," and they state that only 10 per cent. of the opium smokers in the United States of America smoked that much. Therefore it cannot be correct on the part of the Portuguese delegate to assume that each opium smoker smokes 2 mace or 2 chees per day. Some may, but it can only be a small percentage.
Again, on p. 322 the Portuguese delegate states a ball of opium produces only 216 talils of chandu. The experience of the Singapore farmers and of the Monopoly Department is that it produces about 27 tahils. At this rate 30,000 taels month
per represents twenty-seven chests per month for local consumption.
Further, at the time of the Shanghai Comunission, the Portuguese delegate stated that the price of prepared opium was 1-80 dollar per tahil.
It is well known that the selling price is now considerably higher. This of itself would still further reduce the monthly requirements, especially when it is considered that the trade of Macao is stagnant and the coolies would not be in a position to stand an increase in price so well as coolies in the Straits, where wages are good and
trade brisk.
On the above grounds it does not appear to me far wrong to state that the local requirements are now not more than twenty chests per month. This, coupled with Sir F. Lugard's statement that ten were sufficient, accounts for the statement that fifteen chests per month is a fair estimate.
4. Now as to their export trade.
Again, quoting the Portuguese delegate on p. 321 :—
"The exportation of raw opium is exclusively made to Chinese ports and the exportation of prepared opium has been made to California and Australia, "but the trade with the latter ceased in the year 1905."
Since the agreement with China signed in May 1911, none but certificated chests can enter China, and, as all the opium recently bought by Macao direct from Singapore and Calcutta was uncertificated, not a single chest of this latter kind could legitimately enter China.
Therefore there is not now any legitimate export trade in raw uncertificated opium between Macao and China.
There remains the trade in prepared opium with California.
At the bottom of p. 20 the United States of America delegate reports (February 1909):
"A few days ago our Congress, in response to the new light thrown on our home opium question, has passed a Bill of which following is a summary: Section 1: After the 1st April, 1909 (N.B.-Shanghai Commission finished its sittings on the 26th February, 1909), it shall be unlawful to import into the United States of America opium in any form, or any preparations or derivatives thereof, except that opium and preparations thereof, other than smoking or opium prepared for smoking, may be imported for medicinal purposes only. .
Again, on p. 323 it is stated by Portuguese delegate
*condeco
"As already stated, the exportation of prepared opium to foreign ports is now made exclusively to California."
Therefore, when importation into California was prohibited on the 1st April, 1909, on the showing of the Portuguese delegates themselves, the export trade in prepared opium would cease to exist,
On p. 322 Portuguese delegates stated :---
dia
Ved
into the Chinese Empire is
ar
"The exportation of opium prepared in Macao not possible in consequence of the prepared drug being heavily taxed by the large contribution made by the Syndicate to the Macao Governinent, and it cannot therefore compete with the native prepared opium."
We therefore get the following result :-
Raw export trade of uncertificated opium with China ceased; export trade in prepared opium also at an end since prohibition law in United States of America.