༡
0945/2355
거나
£&0 1977/2 of the 18th April, 1925).
system of control had been established there":
(see latter from India Office to Foreign Office,
For this
4.3
action on the part of India the Hong Kong Government
was duly grateful, because it provided a very
effective lever to induce Macao to assume
obligations in respect of official control of
opium consumption and of the export of opium such
as Hong Kong had already accepted. Eventually the
Government of macau did assume these obligations
and established a Government Opium Monopoly on the
1st July, 1927. It did this in the face of
bitter opposition from the Chinese who had till
then been the Kacao Opium Farmers, Messrs Yue Seng
and Company; and, on the eve of the inauguration
of his Government Monopoly, the Governor of Macao
found himself with only 75 chests of Persian opium
and with no Indian opium at all. I may say that,
in spite of the fact that the Government of India
had exported no opium to Macao since the 4th
February, 1925, it was common knowledge that the
kacao Oplum Farmers by devious and illicit methods
had contrived to obtain supplies of Indian opium
for their Farm.
14. In these circumstances the Governor of
Wacao turned to me for help; and it then appeared
to me that an unlooked for opportunity presented
itself to conclude an arrangement with Macao, on
terma dictated by His Majesty's Government, which
would not only afford relief to this Colony against
11 20. 20915/25.
15
the