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imported or exported. Another difficulty is the large quantity of fresh food products (e.g. Pigs, Eggs and Vegetables) which are brought into the leased territory and Hong Kong in minor forms of transport such as coolies, sempans and ferry launches. Individually these imports are small but in aggregate they form a not inconsiderable
portion of the import trade of Hong Kong. Much the same conditions govern the export trade allarge scale export of goods which are mainly China Products imported into Hong Kong for reexport elsewhere is being developed but the small private individual leaving Hong Kong for the hinterland is in most cases a small scale exporter and for many years "travelling traders" have in the aggregate accounted for a considerable percentage of Hong Kong's exports to the adjacent areas
of China.
(d) The Control of Dangerous Drugs including Opium. For many years the Hong Kong Government operated an Opium Monopoly which controlled the sale of prepared opium (chandu) to the Chinese. This Monopoly was for a time an important source of revenue. In the 1930's however revenue from this source dropped considerably until the China Incident developed in 1937 when the transport of illicit opium from China to Hong Kong became an extremely difficult matter, and as a result it was impossible to control sales of opium on account of the increased demand. The British Government in September, 1945 gave orders which abolished the Opium Monopoly and Opium in all its forms is now a Dangerous Drug. Its possession and control for smaking purposes is illegal. In passing it should be mentioned that the Japanese Authorities operated an Opium Monopoly from 1942-1945 and, after the surrender of Hong Kong, 42,000 taels of Raw Opium were dis- covered and seized in the basement of the private residence assigned to
ands
ized the Manager of the Mitsui Busan Kaisha. This opium was grown and produced in Jehol. In October it was hoped that with the total pro- hibition of Opium the traffic in Hong Kong would cease but in November the water front partols reported that raw opium in small amounts was appearing in Hongkong and after further investigations a number of seizures were made. The opium was usually found on the person of females who had returned to Hong Kong by Tunk from the Tung Koon area. In three or four cases seizures were made of similar raw opium found on a passenger arriving by train from Canton. The total number of these small seizures in November as 26 and the amount of raw opium seized was 268 taels. Chinese officer in this department who lived in the Tung Koon area as refugees up to August this year report that the poppy was grown in the Tung Koon area in 1945. The seizure of this opium raised the question of its disposal in Hong Kong and it has been established that opium divans on a small scale are operating - they sell prepared opium which has been newly boiled or prepared and three of these divans have been raided by officers of the Imports & Exports Department. In one divan twelve opium pipes were seized and