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The traffic has been the cause of great embarrassment to Messrs. Alfred Holt & Company. Their ships are delayed while search is made by their own servants and by the Customs officers, and if opium is found, as it often is, the port authorities refuse to grant the ship's discharge until a fine is paid, or legal proceedings are taken against the owners in the Courts. In the case of the "Calchas," on board of which a seizure was made at Seattle, U.S.A., a fine of no less than $26,140.00 was imposed. In China they are faced with the possibility that under the Mackay Treaty, the trading privileges of some of their ships may be withdrawn, with the inevitable result of disorganising the China trade, in which they are most important carriers. The correspondence with their agents in the Far East illustrates sufficiently clearly both the efforts which they have made to prevent smuggling, and the inconvenience and loss to which, in spite of their efforts, they have been subjected. They feel that they have neglected no precaution which they could reasonably be required to take. They have employed detectives to watch their ships while in dock. They have instructed their Captains to make systematic searches of all parts of their ships before arriving at foreign ports, and the Captains are required to enter the results of their searches in special forms. Their officers have actively assisted the Customs authorities in seizing opium after arrival in port, and they have undertaken on more than one occasion the prosecution of the offenders. The difficulty of discovering contraband goods on board a ship on the high seas is of course very great, and seizures are more often made by the Customs officers than by those of the ship. The Customs authorities in the Far East are apparently satisfied that the shipowners are doing their best. But the trade continues, and is no doubt still profitable.
In the opinion of Messrs. Alfred Holt & Company, legal proceedings against the Chinese firemen are not, and are not likely to be effective. It is in the first place very difficult to convict any particular man of having hidden opium in a coal bunker, or ash ejector, or crank pit, or other place to which all have access. The offender is seldom caught red-handed, and the most con- clusive evidence of his guilt which is generally to he got, is his attempted or successful desertion when the discovery of opium is made. In the second place, the punishments imposed, especially those imposed by the Chinese Covernment, are inadequate to the extent and profitable nature of the traffic, and inconsistent with the severity of the methods of the Customs officers. A short term of imprisonment, which may be commuted by a fiue, means nothing to men of this type, who are evidently provided with ample funds by their principals. So obvious is this, that the suggestion has actually been made that the Chinese Government should be pressed to alter the law, and substitute decapitation for imprisonment or fine, as the punishment for opium smuggling. This suggestion was made by a high official of the Chinese Customs at Shanghai.
One means employed by Messrs. Alfred Holt & Company to put pressure on the ringleaders of the conspiracy deserves special mention. Their Chinese crews are engaged through a Chinese firm at Hong Kong called "Jack a Tai and Company." This firm guarantees the honesty of all the men whom it provides, and it has been the custom of Messrs. Alfred Holt & Company to debit Jack a Tai with the amount of all fines and dues imposed on them in connection with the smuggling of opium on board their ships. This has been done, not merely in pursuance of a legal right, but on account of their suspicion that Jack a Tai was concerned in the illicit trade, This suspicion has been turned into certainty by the discoveries made on the premises of Yuehn King Chiu. In the account books of San Toy & Company" appear entries which identify Jack a Tai with Kwoh Tsze Shan, one of the largest Chinese purchasers of the Company. Whether Messrs. Alfred Holt & Company will be able to drive Jack a Tai out of the trade by compelling him to pay all the pecuniary penalties, is not certain. But he is, in any case, only one of many purchasers, and the trade itself will not be killed if he alone is expelled from it.
There remains one possible way of dealing with individuals. That is a criminal charge of conspiracy to export opium, in breach of the Royal Proclamation of February, 1915. Messrs. Alfred Holt & Company have considered this point very carefully, and have consulted Mr. A. H. Bodkin, the well-known Counsel to the Treasury, as well as their own solicitors, and Mr. Graham Harrison, solicitor to the Commissioners of Customs. Mr. Bodkin has advised them that a charge
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