E 12
could not at the same time be held to be in control. On the advice of the law officers an appeal was taken to the Full Court, which upheld the magistrate's decision. The position is still under the consideration of the law officers, with a view to devising some phraseology, which will express clearly the intention of the Legislature without any possibility of mistake. It was amply proved during the divan campaign referred to above that there is a valuable goodwill attached to premises which have become known as divans, and that this goodwill is a valuable asset to the principal tenant and enables him to demand more rent from any person intending to use the cubicle cock-loft or bed-space as an opium divan, rather than as a family residence. In many cases the principal tenant who lived himself in the front portion of the floor, i.e., that nearest the verandah, was the real owner of the divan conducted in the remainder of the floor, but always escaped the consequences because the coolie in charge of the divan was prepared in all cases to take all the responsibility and claim to be the master, producing rent receipts given by the principal tenant made out in his name as tenant for the portion of the floor actually used as a divan.
IX.-TRADE STATISTICS
41. The work of collecting and compiling statistics of the imports and exports trade continued smoothly during the year, but the anticipated decrease in the actual work of the office was not realized. Early in the year there was reason to believe that, with the continued decline in the trade of the Colony, there would be a corresponding decrease in the labour involved in compiling reports, but this did not prove to be the case. The number of declarations received declined by an average of only 1,238 per month, while the average numbers of queries sent out increased from 1,500 to 2,000 per month.
42. Every effort was made to ensure complete and accurate trade returns, but the figures for imports of Treasure, and exports of merchandise to South and Middle China, were seriously vitiated by circumstances over which the Department had no control. As a result of embargoes on the free export of gold enforced by China and Japan, large quantities of the metal were smuggled out of these countries, and secretly imported into Hong Kong for ultimate shipment to the United Kingdom and U.S.A. Gold thus entering the Colony was neither manifested nor declared, and it can be reasonably presumed that the bulk of the export surplus, which amounted to $83.0 millions, consisted of concealed imports from China and Japan.
In regard to movements of silver subsidiary coin, there was an excess of exports of Canton 20-cent pieces amounting to $20.0 millions. This coin was smuggled out of South China, and destined for North China, where the silver content was
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