75
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
We have also drawn up a return showing the number of public-houses per 1,000 of the European and American population of this Colony, which shows that the average number of public-houses is much in excess of that of opium divans. The number of public-houses per 1,000 of the total European and American population is 280, whereas the number of opium divans per 10,000 of the total Chinese population of Victoria is only 8.56, or about 0.86 per 1,000.
J. H. STEWART Lockhart,
July 19th, 1892.
1st Class Smoking Divans.
A. GORDON,
Registrar-General.
Captain Superintendent of Police.
2nd Class.
Number of
District.
Beds.
Houses.
Daily Average Number of Visitors.
Houses.
Bodi.
Visitors.
1 and $
3
16629 —
་
3
12
1
10
35
102
340
27:
394
1,470
4
188
370
30
479
1,415
5
28
140
3
36
8
121
400
19
255
190 800
7 and 8
12
48
20
812
1,106
Total
24
.404
1,810
100
1,486
5,016
The head district watchman of No. 4 district reports the number of men in the 1st class divans at time of visit as 246, in the 2nd class as 810.
Average Daily Num-
ber of
Number of
Opium
Total
Total Adult
Chinese
Male
Persons
Land
Chinese
Population. Population.
frequenting
Divans.
Opium Divans.
VICTORIA.
Daily Number of Persona frequenting Divana per 100 of Total Population.
Daily Number of Persons frequenting Divans per 100 of Adult Male Population.
Number of Opium Divans per 10,000 of Total Population.
Number of Opium Divans per 10,000 of Adult Male Population
144,808
91,784
6,326
124
4.37
6.89
8.50
13.61
32,490 19,857
-
8
VILLAGES.
2.46
4.03
TABLE showing the NUMBER of PUBLIC-HOUSES and CANTEENS per 1,000 of the EUROPEAN and AMERICAN Population.
Total European and American Population including Army and Navy, &c.
Total Adalt Male European and American Population.
Number of Pablic- houses and Canteens.
8,545
8,743
21
Number of Public- houses and Canteens per 1,000 of Total European and American Population.
2.80
Number of Public- houses and Canteens
per 1,000 of European and American Adult Male Pupuission.
4.18
6206.
No. 29.
SIR WILLIAM ROBINSON to the MARQUESS OF RIPON. (Received April 17, 1893.)
(No. 63.) MY LORD MARQUESS,
Government House, Hong Kong, March 11, 1893.
As stated in my Despatch of 6th instant, I have deferred replying to Lord Knutsford's Despatch of 9th April 1892,† in which he asked, "before finally deciding whether the (opium) farming system should be maintained or not," to be furnished with a further report by me on the subject, because the question is one of such vital importance to the Colony, both from a revenue point of view and otherwise, that I desired before reporting to consider it fully and carefully in all its bearings.
2. Having studied the question to the best of my ability by reading the voluminous literature on the subject, and by personal investigation of the facts on the spot, and having had the advantage of discussing it on its medical side with local members of the profession, and in its other aspects with those who are most competent to form a sound opinion, such as large employers of Chinese labour, I have now the honour to report that I am firmly of opinion that the abolition of the opium farming system would from every point of view be the gravest possible mistake.
3. It would serve no useful purpose for me to attempt to argue the general question of the morality of the traffic in opium, or to discuss the smaller but important question how far it is either right or expedient to interfere with the liberty of the subject with a view to restricting the consumption of opium by the Chinese residents in Hong Kong within the narrowest possible limits. The devotion of not a little of my time and attention to a study of the general question has resulted in the conclusion that the balance of relevant evidence is adverse to the contentions of the Anti-Opium League. And a careful examination of the conditions of the problem in Hong Kong has led me to entertain some doubt whether those who favour measures of extreme restriction in regard to the use of opium would be justified in their views, so far, at least, as this Colony is concerned, even if their premises were correct; while it further has convinced me that those premises are in many particulars, and especially as regards the moral and physical effects of the use of opium as generally practised by the Chinese in Hong Kong, irrecon- cileable with the facts, and based on erroneous information or a too hasty generalisation from insufficient duta. But I imagine that I shall most usefully assist your Lordship in the matter in hand if I waive my personal opinion upon these points, and assume it, for the sake of argument, to be settled, whether rightly or wrongly, that the use of opium by the Chinese in Hong Kong is an evil, and that it should be the aim of the Govern- ment to discourage such use and to confine the local consumption of the drug to the smallest practicable proportions.
4. Proceeding, therefore, on the basis of this assumption, I would observe that in determining the proper method of dealing with the subject, it is essential to bear in mind the three following considerations :-(1) That it is desirable to restrict, as far as may be practicable, the local consumption of opium; (2) that the revenue derived from opium is an important item in the budget of the Colony; and (3) that under the agreement of 1886, arrived at in pursuance of Article 7, Section III. of the Chefoo Agreement of 1876, between Great Britain and China, and of Section 9 of the additional article thereto of 1885, the Government of Hong Kong has contracted certain obligations towards the Empire of China in regard to the prevention of the smuggling of opium from the Colony into China.
compass,
5. As the second consideration lies within a small
may be convenient to dispose of it first. The present farmer is believed to be making large profits, and there are grounds for anticipating that when his term expires, and the time comes for re-letting the farm, it will realise considerably more than he pays for it. But as it is, the farm brings in annually a sum of $340,800, or about one-sixth of the whole of the general revenue. The abolition of the farm would unquestionably occasion an immediate and considerable loss of revenue, and it would almost certainly, for reasons that I shall. presently mention, be followed at an early date by the total extinction of the revenue derived from opium. This would necessitate a revision of the scheme of local taxation,
• No. 28.
† No. 24.
K 2