136
C
of the Colony. Mr. Nemazee is far too intelligent a man to run unnecessary risks by writing to his nephew about illegal transactions and even if he were foolish enough to do so the
chances of discovery are nil. Hongkong, and for that matter any other Eastern country, is in a very different position
from Great Britain where subordinate officers can be relied
upon to discharge their duties honestly.
In England it would doubtless be possible
to give instructions to the sorters at the General Post Office that all correspondence addressed to a particular
individual should be stopped and handed over to an examining
officer and nobody outside the General Post Office would learn anything about the measures taken. Here, if instruct- ions were given to the sorters that correspondence addressed
to Mr. Nemazee's firm was to be detained for examination,
the firm would learn of it within a couple of hours. Every
sorter knows that Mr. Nemazee is a wealthy man engaged in
the opium trade and the reason for the detention of his correspondence would be obvious to every one of them. If his local representative was in correspondence with him with regard to illegal transactions, obviously anybody who brought to the former the information that his letters were to be examined would be assured of a considerable pecuniary reward and the only question in the mind of the sorters would be which of them would be the first to get the
information to the firm.
6.
Mr. Nemazee is a British subject, having
been naturalized in 1916 (see my predecessor's despatch No.304 of the 4th August, 1916) and if his transactions in opium are contrary to British law I presume that it is possibleto deal with him in Persia, from which country he is conducting his operations.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient, humble servant,
B.E. Stults. Governor, &c.