17
4. With reference to your Lordship's remark that the promise contained in Govern- ment notification of the 30th April was made without your Lordsbip's sanction and notwithstanding instructions from your Lordship to call for tenders for the opium farm, if it should be found desirable to revert to the old system, I beg to state that tenders have been annually called for, but hitherto without any offer being made which could be entertained. Under these circumstances it was not thought possible in practice, however desirable in the abstract, to revert to the old system.. No license was granted, or even applied for, under the notification referred to. All the existing licenses were, and are, for 12 months only. I would further observe that on the 12th of June, little more than a month from the issue of the notification in question, Mr. Justice Russell advised its cancellation, as it had been absolutely without result. It was cancelled accordingly
by a further notification on the 14th of June. Its cancellation is implied in paragraph 11 of Messrs. Stewart and Lister's final report. As no one had taken advantage of the offer of the Government, it was felt that no one could be prejudiced by its withdrawal. It was, moreover, so worded as not to give the existing licensees, at any time, a claim to exclusive possession of the trade.
5. In conclusion, I beg respectfully to express my regret that it should appear that your Lordship has been misinformed with regard to some of the facts referred to in your Despatch now under reply; and to repeat my full confidence in the ability, in the experience, and in the sagacity of Mr. Justice Russell and of the other gentlemen by whom I have been advised throughout these opium proceedings. I beg also to repeat the remarks contained in the 11th paragraph of my Despatch of the 19th July ultimo.* If, however, your Lordship desires the policy or action of this Government with regard to the opium question to be altered, I request that I may be furnished with full and detailed instructions on the subject, when those instructions will be loyally carried out.
I have, &c.
G. F. BOWEN.
21858.
SIB,
(No. 9.)
No. 16.
The EARL OF DERBY to SIR G. F. BOWEN.
Downing Street, January 15, 1885.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch of the 18th of November last,† on the subject of the opium revenue.
2. I was, of course, not unaware of the fact that the greater part of this revenue was derived from opium prepared in the Colony for export, and the statement in my Despatch of 26th September last, as to the danger of depending on this source of revenue referred to the possibility of great fluctuations in the export trade in opium, as clearly shown by the papers on the subject enclosed in your Despatch of 19th July last, and again in s later Despatch from Mr. Marsh (see paragraph 8 of Despatch of 23rd September§). Indeed, it was this very instability in the revenue to be obtained from opium boiled for export that suggested to my mind the proposal to raise, if that were practicable, the tax on opium prepared for local consumption.
3. In reply to the fourth paragraph of your Despatch, I may state that I had not overlooked the suggestion made by Mr. Russell that the notification of 3rd May shoul be cancelled, but I had not seen anything in the papers accompanying your Despatch of 19th July to show that the notification in its entirety had been cancelled. Moreover, the subsequent cancellation did not affect the question raised by me, as to the issue of the notification in the first instance having been apparently incompatible with the intention to call for tenders for the opium farm for the ensuing year.
4. I have received your telegram of the 24th ultimo,|| from which it appears that the farm has been leased for the year 1885-6, and I will await the receipt of the Despatch promised in that telegram before offering any further remarks on the subject.
I have, &c.
DERBY.
• No. 18.
† No. 15.
‡ No. 14.
§ Not printed.
1873.
No. 17.
SIR G. F. BOWEN to the EARL OF DERBY.
(Received January 31, 1885.)
[Answered by No. 18.]
Government House, Hong Kong, December 26, 1884.
(No. 419.) MY LORD,
I HAVE the honour to report that on the 24th instant, I forwarded the following telegram to your Lordship :—“ Opium Farm leased for next year $159,000. Despatch by Mail."
2. I have now the honour to transmit a memorandum by the Colonial Treasurer (Mr. Lister), with an addition by the Colonial Secretary (Mr. March); which documents, together with those forwarded with my previous Despatches, give very full information on the opium question, so far as it affects this Colony.
3. It will be seen that the opium revenue for 1884 will not bring more than a nett sum of about one hundred and eleveu thousand dollars ($111,000); and that the revenue for next year, if the present system of Government management were continued, is estimated at under one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($150,000). Under these circumstances, when, in response to the periodical call for tenders for the lease of the opium farm, an offer of one hundred and fifty-nine thousand dollars ($159,000) for next year was received from a substantial Chinese firm, I directed that it should be accepted; and the Executive Council concurred in this action. This arrangement will, moreover, bring with it a saving annually of six thousand nine hundred dollars ($6,900), being the cost of management by the Government. All details will be found in the enclosed
papers.
4. I regard as satisfactory, for many reasons, this return, under the existing circumstances, to the former system of leasing the epium farm. I agree with what I understand to be the opinion of your Lordship, namely; that it is desirable that the Colonial Government should be relieved from all direct control and supervision of the opium traffic, and that the opium farm should be let on lease, even at a considerably lower rate than hitherto. In short, I would repeat the observations on this question submitted in my Despatch of 1883,* in which I wrote as follows :—
ka
"I entirely concur with what I believe to be the view entertained by your Lordship, viz.,—that it is very desirable to minimise, as far as possible, the connexion of the "Colonial Government with the opium trade. However, your Despatch of the "9th May 1883, conveyed your approval of the action of Mr Marsh (the Officer Administering the Government before my arrival), and of the Executive Council, "in deciding, in the absence of a suitable offer for the opium farm, to issue licenses at a "fixed rate, and to levy a tax on boiling under Section 3 of Ordinance 2 of 1858.” The circumstances under which the last-mentioned action was taken have now altered, and on this as well as on other grounds, a return has now been made to the foriner system of leasing the opium farm.
Enclosure in No. 17.
I have, &c.
G. F. BOWEN.
MEMORANDUM by the TREASURER (Hon. A. LISTER) on the SALE of the HONG KONG
OPIUM FARM for the
year 1885-86.
In obedience to the instructions from the Secretary of State, tenders for the opium farm have been called for each year since the Government was compelled to issue licenses direct, every possible publicity being given to the notices calling for tenders, which were inserted in Chinese and other newspapers published in Singapore, Saigon, Canton, San Francisco, &c.
• No. 7.
U 76470.
† No. 5.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :--
TELEC.O. 882
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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