615
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.882/11
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
66
Enclosure 4 in No. 42.
HONG KONG.
THE measures already taken to give effect to Article 6 of the Opium Convention may be summarized briefly as follows:-
The monopoly for the importation, manufacture, and distribution of opium is in the hands of the Government, the opium" farm having been abolished in 1914.
Public smoking resorts (" divans ") are illegal. The possession of any opium other than Government prepared opium is forbidden, and the amount of Government prepared opium (" chandu") that any person may legally have in his possession at any time is limited to 5 taels (189 gms.). Except in the case of certain registered persons (who are allowed to buy 3 tael tins) the amount which may be purchased at any one time is limited to I tael (37.8 gms.).
On taking over the monopoly the Government adopted the policy of progressively raising the price of prepared opium with a view to precluding its excessive use by the smoker of ordinary means. In pursuance of this policy the price of monopoly opium was raised from $6 a tael in 1914 to $14.50 a tael in 1918, at which price it is still sold.
Recognizing that the consumption of dross opium is more deleterious than that of chandu the Hong Kong Government (prior to the year 1919) adopted the practice of buying up (and destroying) opium dross at a price which left no inducement for its repreparation and sale. The recrudescence of the cultivation of the poppy in China, however, led to the smuggling of large quantities of illicit opium into the Colony, so that the continued purchase of dross became in reality a subsidy to the dealers in illicit opium, and for this reason the policy was abandoned.
Prior to the year 1924 the retail sale of Government chandu was in the hands of licensed retailers who were allowed to make a profit, at a fixed rate, on chandu sold by them. This system has been discontinued, and Government opium is now sold by agents who are paid a fixed salary.
In the year 1923, 384,125 taels (14,520 kilos) of Government chandu were con- sumed. The Chinese population of the Colony is estimated at 1,000,000, giving a consumption of .38 taels (14.36 gms.) of chandu per caput per annum. It is estimated that of the Chinese population about 50 per cent. are adult males.
An intensive campaign is being carried on by the Hong Kong Government against the illicit traffic in opium. In 1923, 1,561 persons were convicted of offences under the Opium Ordinance, and 300,596 taels (11,363 kilos) of illicit opium were seized. Of this amount 233,941 taels (8,843 kilos) were raw Persian opium and 38,146 taels (1,442 kilos) were raw Chinese opium. The penalties for offences against the Opium Ordinance are heavy.
It is estimated that in spite of the efforts of a large preventive service, which is specially detailed for this particular duty, approximately equal quantities of Govern- ment and illicit opium are consumed in the Colony.
HONG KONG.
Con-
Raw opium
imported
Year.
for use in
Raw opium
boiled
Colony.
Prepared opium manu- factured.
Prepared opium
con-
Chiness population.
Chinese
adult male
sumption
Con sumption
per head
of
per head of Chinese
sumed.
population.
Chiness
adult male population. population.
Kilo. (0) grammes.
1919
39,139
1920
13,046
Kilo.
grammes. 27,325 16,525
Kilo- grammes.
Kilo. grammes. 17,309
Thousands. Thousands.
Grammer,
Grammes.
805
302.5 (b)
29
57
No
11,127
635
317.5 (b)
18
35
1921
8,898
1922 10,872
1923
18,845
22,578 13,481
15,255(a) figures
available
9,934
875
337.5 (b)
15
29
13,999 14,520
705
352.5 (b)
20
40
1,000
500 (b)
15
29
(a) Includes 723 kilos of Persian opium.
(b) Chinese adult male population is approximately half the total Chinese population.
(c) The following rates have been adopted for conversion purposes *—
1 chest Indian 180 lb.
1 chest Persian = 145 lb.
1 lb.
*453 kilogrammes
I tael = 0378 kilogrammes
67
Enclosure 5 in No. 42.
Part 2.
ESTIMATED amounts of raw opium required for the manufacture of prepared opium for consumption in territories in which such consumption is still permitted in accordance with Chapter II of The Hague Convention.
British Malaya (Straits Settlements and Malay
States).
Ceylon
Hong Kong
North Borneo Sarawak..
Notes:-
3.
per head of Chinese Population.
2.
4.
5.
6.
Estimated
annual
requirements
Native
in terms of
their
in equivalent in thousands. raw Opium.
Estimated annual Population requirements
Estimated
Chinese per head of Population.
annual requirements
native
Population.
(Kilos)
266,050
(a)
(Grammes)
(a)
1,175
(Grammes) 227
272
21,744
(a)
(b)
705
(b)
31
11,363
(a)
40
284
(Figures not available.)
(a) In the case of British Malaya, Hong Kong, and North Borneo, where the consumption of prepared opium is, for all practical purposes, confined to the Chinese population, the figures of
native population other than Chinese are irrelevant.
(3) In Ceylon, consumption is confined to a small number of registered consumers, none of whom are Chinese.
(c) The "raw opium equivalents" in this table (as in the documents C.O.P.I.) are given in terms of Indian opium, and in the case of British Malaya and North Borneo are obtained by con- version from the estimated requirements of chandu, on the basis indicated in note (4) on page 9 of C.O.P.I. (i.e., assuming that 100 kilos of opium are required for the preparation of 60 kilos of prepared opium). In North Borneo, however (as shown in the statistical tables annered), a con- siderable proportion of raw Persian opium is used. It is stated that of this only 5 per cent. by weight is lost in boiling.
48826/24.
No. 43.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR.
(Sent 4 p.m.. 27th October, 1924.)
TELEGRAM.
YOUR telegram of 15th October.* Opium Conference. Line taken by other countries not known.-THOMAS.
51530/24
No. 44.
SIR G. GRINDLE (COLONIAL OFFICE) to SIR M. DELEVINGNE (HOME OFFICE).
Downing Street, 27th October, 1924. DEAR DELEVINGNE,
We have been considering the position of the Dominions and Colonies in rela- tion to any Conventions which may be negotiated at the two forthcoming Opium Conferences at Geneva,
As the scope of the First Conference is limited to measures to be taken in Far Eastern territories and invitations have been confined to countries having possessions where the smoking of opium is continued, presumably any Convention negotiated at this Conference will be expressly confined to Far Eastern territories so that no special
* No. 39.