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so as to exclude the illicit opium, which seeks
aumission from without. Any attempt to restrict
local consumption by maintaining an unduly high
price or by raising prices is comparable to an
attempt to restra n the flowing tide by retaining
and raising the topmost planks of a sluice-gate,
while removing the lower planks. Under such
circumstances, I asked myself, how could Hong Kong
justify to the League its blind adherence in 1926
to a price fixed for pure Indian opium in 1918%
1927?
25. You say in your telegram of the 7th December,
1927, that you are unable to find any sufficient
expectation of ultimate reduction as the outcome
of my measures. I submit that in a matter which
must obviously depend largely on external factors,
over which Hong Kong has no control, this Government
cannot reasonably be asked to assess the chances
of succe88. But I can safely say that by driving out
the competition of smugglers a genuinely effective
monopoly will tend to reduce opium consumption in
Hong Kong. An efficient preventive service and
the operation of severe laws will allow a certain
margin between the official and the illicit price
of opium. At all events the proceeds of the trade
will be diverted from the pockets of amugglers, who will thus be hampered in continuing and extending
their business. Restriction will come naturally when by diminution of the world's opium supply the
price naturally rises, and suppression when, by the
combined
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