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prospect of inducing India to change
its mind and renew its supplies to
Macao and if the Foreign Office were
inclined to urge that an attempt
should be made to induce it to do so,
the Colonial Office would be strongly
inclined to support such an appeal.
In the circumstances, perhaps it would
be a good thing if we could discuss
the matter with the Foreign Office. and
India Office jointly.
On the other hand if, as we have
been given to understand, it would be
useless to reopen the question with the
Government of India, the Colonial Office,
as indicated above) would be unwilling
to agree to let Macao have any more
opium from Hong Kong since, at the best,
it would only postpone the evil day for
Macao for a very short time.
As regards the situation in Hong
Kong itself, paragraph 7 of the despatch
seems to be a sufficient confirmation
of our surmise that Hong Kong is
(very
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