E 3
Revenue Officer is in charge of Hong Kong Island, one tours the New Territories North in a departmental motor-car every day, one visits the distilleries on the coast in the Southern District in the seagoing launch every day, and another visits those in New Kowloon in addition to other duties. Thus, every distillery is liable to be visited any day. Owing to the time spent in travelling, every distillery cannot be actually visited every day, and it is possible for distilleries to get warning long before the officer actually arrives.
(h) The transfer of all distilleries to the adequate control of specially trained officers, and their systematic regulation, has enabled some idea to be formed of the enormous extent of the evasion of liquor duty which prevailed prior to 1925, when distilleries in practice were left to pay such duty as they felt disposed to pay.
(i) The number of distilleries decreased from 65 to 44, the main decrease being in the Northern District of the New Territories. Many of the smaller ones, who had been carrying on in a very spasmodic way for years, found it not worth while to continue the business of distiller just to supply the petty trade of their own liquor shops. Such shops now obtain their supplies quite easily elsewhere, and probably make more profit from the retailing alone than they did from manufacture and retailing combined.
(j) The company which has established a molasses tank at Sham Ching, supplies a molasses of good and constant quality, and has succeeded in capturing practically all the trade in molasses. But, unfortunately for the distilleries, this company's prices have been practically doubled since they started and many distilleries are now hesitating as to whether it is profitable to carry on business any longer. If the high prices are maintained it is probable that many of the larger distilleries will close.
3. Imported Chinese spirit decreased by 9 per cent, the decrease being in respect of the cheapest kind of spirit imported from Macau and neighbouring places. Attention is, however, drawn to the increased amounts seized, 2,625 gallons by Revenue Officers alone, apart from 721 gallons seized by the Police. In many cases the amount seized formed only the smaller portion of the original consignment. The origin of most of this spirit was Macau, whence it was conveyed in small fishing boats.
One ingenious method of concealment discovered is worthy of mention. Near the shore of Kowloon Bay a large deep pit was dug and covered over with boards fastened together, on the top of which good earth and turf were placed. Whenever the contents of the pit were required the whole of the cover, turf and all, was lifted up and replaced. Care had been taken to water the turf frequently so that there was a luxuriant covering of grass, over which the search party walked without suspecting until they received precise indications of the position of the cache,