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wrapping paper, the opium was fresh, and could not have been landed very long, as the brightness of the red paper very soon dulls with keeping. It was probably part of that imported into Shanghai by the s.s. "Philadelphia" as mentioned below.
vear.
J
Persian opium for China financed by a Hong Kong firm.
The headquarters from which the Persian opium smuggling ship s.s. "Philadelphia" was managed came to light during the investigation. The papers found on the premises of a Chinese firm, though to some extent fragmentary, threw a good deal of light on the last two trips of this ship from Bushire with opium to the coast of China. This ship originally flew the French flag as the "Cochin-Chine" but was really Chinese owned; she was sold by order of the Court here for debt in September 1925, her new owner at once resold her to a syndicate composed of Chinese merchants, carrying on business in Shanghai, Macau, Kongmoon, and here. The ship was at once refitted and was despatched on her way to Bushire for opium in October 1925. The syndicate who owned the ship chartered her out to another syndicate nominally, but really the same with possibly a few other friends added. A separate office was started for the management of the ship, but this was closed down before the investigation took place, and some of the papers removed to the premises of the firm, which was searched, and which managed the purchase and disposal of the opium.
The opium syndicate was composed of several wealthy Chinese merchants who resided in the Colony, several who had business in Macau, where another office was maintained, chiefly it appears to deal with the disposal of the opium; others lived in Canton and the district near Kongmoon, others in Shanghai. The first consignment left Bushire at the end of November 1925, the second at the beginning of August 1926. The cost of these two consignments, over a million dollars, was remitted through a Hong Kong Bank to Bombay to the credit of a well-known Persian merchant of Bushire, who is one of the chief dealers in opium from whom the recent exports to China have been purchased.
The financial arrangements were rather involved. The managing firm in Hong Kong and its branch in Macau took up a certain number of chests in each consignment, and the cost was debited to the firms' account. But each partner was at liberty to take up a certain number on his own account; employees of the firms were also permitted to subscribe for as little as half a chest; female relations of the parties and friends also came into the deal, subscribing for a few chests each. The money was collected just as each found it convenient to pay; in fact, in some cases, the balance of the payment was debited against the profits made on sale. As soon as sufficient money had been gathered together, and promises obtained to subscribe,