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raise a storm of protest throughout Chinatown in this Colony. The Chinese do not regard the mui tsai system as cruel or
morally wrong, and they would resent any house-to-house
inquisition, such as would be necessary if registration were
to be made effective. I trust that I may not be made into the Amanullah of Hong Kong, and I hope that my despatch may enable you to protect the Hong Kong Government from uninformed
criticism of our action by members of the House of Commons.
As regards opium. I enclose a cutting taken from
the Hong Kong Daily Press of the 2 nd "ebruary, which will
show you that the Canton Government has decided to postpone
further the operation of their opium prohibition measures, because "they simply cannot afford to forego the big revenue
obtained from this source!! Under such circumstances, opium
suppression in Hong Kong is, of course, impossible; and I feel
deeply the humiliation to which we are subjected by being left
entirely at the mercy of opium-smugglers. Is it not possible to allow me to take such measures as will drive opium-
smugglers out of Hong Kong. This at least I could do and, when
the opium market of Hong Kong is in my own hands, it will be
much less difficult for me to bring the traffic to a complete
end,