30
from cau formerly furnished by the Government
there.
5. Sales of Raw Opium. In spite of the ifficulty experienced in obtaining supplies of Indian Opium, there re recorded three sales of balls of Indian opium (Annexe III, p.2).
The most interesting entries relate to the sales of Raw Persian Opium in pounds, i.e. in the original cakes. In two years 54,008 pounds were sold at from $20 to $25 per pound.
Sales were inde
lmost daily and varied from a few pounds up to three thousand, most of the sales being below 200 pounds a day. The entries occur alongside those for prepared opium, and no difference is made. According to the Portuguese report to the Lea je of Nations of 1925, the consumption sale and export of raw opium are prohibited in Macau, end raw opium
u
is kept under supervision in charge of special police, and can only be exported with the permission of the Superintendent and in the presence of the Police, and only in whole cases, not in odd pounds. Notwith- standing these regulations Macau has always professed ignorance as to what happened to the opium imported from Persia. We have here evidence of what happened to a 1. rge quantity. The Farmer had by his contract no right to sell raw opium at all, his contract was simply for the monopoly of preparing in cau and selling a certain amount in Macau and a certain amount for export. The official reports from cau always showed imports of Persian opium under the Heading "Merchants" and not under the heading of "Farmer", but it appears
from
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