238
+
74
7. As regards Resolution VI, I note you consider it advisable to amend the law to provide for imprisonment without the option of a fine. All the Malayan Govern- ments have this matter under consideration, and I shall address you further on it as soon as possible.
8. With reference to paragraph 7 of your despatch, the medical authorities have tried the cure proposed by Dr. Modinos, as set out in the League of Nations document O.C. 1188, which was circulated to members of the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and other Dangerous Drugs. The conclusion so far reached is that the results are not at all convincing, and the treatment is so painful that many patients refuse to continue it: no cure has been reported. The private enterprise referred to in paragraph 13 of my despatch of 30th January, 1933,* is proceeding, and is being assisted by Government. With regard to special research work it is con- sidered that, in view of the difficult and protracted nature of such research, special staff and facilities other than those of existing Government institutions would be required. It would be possible to set aside a small number of beds for the special investigation of cases, but it would be better to carry out investigations on the effects of opium in closed institutions where complete control of the patient is possible. Research work of this nature could not be undertaken at the Institute for Medical Research at Kuala Lumpur, but the staff of that Institute will be prepared to collaborate in any work that might be attempted in a Goverment or other hospital.
9. I am sending this despatch by air mail. A duplicate will follow by ocean mail.
75
If these figures indicated a genuine reduction in the actual consumption of opium within the Colony, the position would be one for congratulation, even though the fall in opium revenue were to impose some curtailment of the Government's
programme
of public works or social services. But I fear that past experience indicates only too clearly that these measures have resulted in a heavy gain to the trafficker in illicit opium. It is inconceivable that the opium addicts of the Colony have relinquished the habit to the extent of fifty per cent. in a few months.
3.
An analysis of the sales of individual Government shops points to the same conclusion. For instance the shop at Shamshuipo which should serve a population of some 70,000 Chinese, mostly of the labouring classes, sells only a small fraction of the opium which such a population would normally be expected to consume: on one occasion its total sales for the day amounted to one tael only. The Imports and Exports Department is about to undertake a fresh campaign against divans which are reported to have increased greatly both in number and size as a result of the unpopularity of the new Government opium, and I propose to defer further extensions of the Government shop system until the effect on Government sales of this disturbance of the illicit traffic is known. To install further Government shops under present con- ditions would not only be costly but would serve no good purpose.
.
I have, &c.,
W. PEEL,
Governor, &c.
14012/33 [No. 23].
No. 50.
HONG KONG.
I have, &c.,
C. CLEMENTI,
Governor
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
Enclosure 2 in No. 50.
TABLE OF SALES.
THE following table gives the sales of opium each month since January, 1932:-
1932 January
February March
April
Taels. 10,245
1
11,077 (includes Chinese New Year).
(Confidential.)
SIR,
(Received 22nd May, 1933.)
[Answered by No. 52,]
Government House, Hong Kong, 20th April, 1933.
I HAVE the honour to refer to your Confidential despatch of the 13th August, 1932,† on the subject of the transfer of the retail sale of monopoly opium to shops under direct Government management and to enclose mapst of the urban and suburban areas of the Colony showing the positions of the new Government shops, and of the salaried retailers abolished and still remaining. In addition to those marked on the maps, seventeen salaried retailers remain in the country districts where the smoking population is both small and scattered and the introduction of illicit opium particularly In these areas the process of concentration carried out in the urban and suburban areas is impracticable. The smoker must be afforded reasonable convenience for purchase, or he will turn to the illicit article. On the other hand the substitution of Government shops for the salaried retailers at all these points would not only be costly out of all proportion to their income, but would present serious difficulties in the matter of financial responsibility, which do not arise where the stock and takings are the property of a private person. In all, thirty-four out of sixty-two licensed retailers have been abolished.
easy.
2. This report has been deferred in order that some estimate might be obtained of the combined effect on sales of monopoly opium of the Government shop and the introduction of the Singapore tube opium. A table of sales from January, 1932, to February, 1933, is enclosed, and reveals first a marked falling-off on the institution of the Government shops, and then a further drop of nearly fifty per cent. on the introduction of the new opium which smokers consider to be inferior in quality to the old Hong Kong opium. Sales for March show a further drop of nearly ten per cent.
* No. 46.
† No. 42.
Not reproduced.
10,795
10,041
May
9,654
June
9,264
July
9,425
August
8,459
September
7,940
October
November
December
1933 January
7,727.39-Government shops commenced
7,357.74
7,106.31
sales on 12th October, 1932.
7,111.04-Hong Kong opium 1st-25th January, 1933, Singapore opium 26th-31st January, 1933 (includes Chinese New Year). 3,690.78-Singapore opium only.
Sales for February, 1933.
Total...
3,005.78 taels.
685.00 taels. 3,690.78 taels.
February
Sold by six Government opium shops. Sold by *31 salaried retailers
*Three since abolished.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
།།།། དྲྭ། ། Juhi C.O.882/12
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BF REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- | COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON