133
648
F
successful would remain at 40 chests a month? He saw nothing, if the scheme was that is to say, if the illicit market was captured, to stop the importation at that figure which might well increase to say 100 chests a month or more.
SIR G. GRINDLE was also of the opinion that the Hong Kong Government in entering upon the scheme without reference to the Home Government, had incurred censure but, he asked the Committee, "Could the Hong Kong Government possibly If the Home Government be told to stop the scheme now that it was in operation? were to do so, it would be as if they were to say you must lose your face in Hong Kong.'
".
"In order to save our face in Europe
The dropping of the scheme would make the Colonial Government appear very small in the eyes of the Chinese, and, moreover, it would have to return to the position in which the law was daily brought into contempt.
SIR M. DELEVINGNE pointed out that this had been the position for some years. SIR G. GRINDLE recognized that the situation in Hong Kong would always be hope- less until China put her house in order and that the Government had been content to accept the position until it began to interfere with the administration. Things had gone from bad to worse until now the administration was being so seriously affected that something must be done. He urged that the Hong Kong Government be told that they would be permitted to carry on their scheme as an experiment. If the Committee agreed with Mr. McElderry's proposal in regard to the divans, this would be tacked on to the experiment.
SIR M. DELEVINGNE said that whilst perhaps there might be no insuperable objec- tion to the continuance of the experiment if it were limited to the sale of chandu made from seized Chinese opium, he was not prepared to recommend that Hong Kong be permitted to import additional opium from other sources. There was no prospect that the consumption of opium would be decreased-on the contrary, the Chinese supplies would still be available and the result might well be to increase the present consumption. MR. PASKIN said the scheme would be useless without Persian opium. The Hong Kong Government were rapidly coming to the end of the Chinese opium at their disposal.
SIR G. GRINDLE said that the difference of opinion on the Committee was evidently in regard to the importation of opium from Persia.
SIR M. DELEVINGNE said that his objection applied to the importation of additional opium not only from Persia but from Turkey or elsewhere.
MR. STRANG said that the decision that had to be taken involved two important questions namely the threat to the prestige and authority of the Hong Kong Government in its own territory on the one hand and, on the other, the damage which would be done to the reputation of His Majesty's Government if the scheme were continued notwithstanding its incompatibility with the efforts the League was making to reduce opium production in Persia.
The Committee agreed that the matter was one of such importance that even if they had been in agreement in regard to the import of Persian opium, the Cabinet's approval would be required. It was suggested that an agreed memorandum might be presented to the Cabinet for decision.
SIR G. GRINDLE reported to the Committee that at the end of the preceding week the Governor of the Straits Settlements had cabled that the unofficial members of the Legislature had intimated that they would vote against this year's annual contribution to the Opium Revenue Replacement Fund.
Sir Hugh Clifford was disinclined to use the official vote to override the unofficial members unless specifically instructed by the Secretary of State to do so. The matter
had had to be considered on Saturday afternoon and Mr. Ormsby Gore had decided that he could not, under the circumstances, instruct Sir Hugh Clifford to override the unofficial members. The Governor had been so informed.
This did not mean the abolition of the Opium Revenue Replacement Fund, but that for this year, at any rate, it would not be augmented.
C. 30236/27 [No. 22].
SIR,
No. 93.
HONG KONG.
THE OFFICER ADMINISTERING THE GOVERNMENT to THE SECRETARY
(Secret.)
OF STATE.
(Received 9th November, 1927.)
[Answered by No. 97.]
Government House, Hong Kong, 6th October, 1927. WITH reference to your Secret despatch of the 8th June, 1927,* enclosing niemoranda on the subject of opium consumption, I have the honour to inform you that the position with regard to opium in this Colony has been causing me very serious anxiety. The present price of the Bengal opium was fixed in 1918 (see enclosure to my Confidential despatch of the 10th August, 1918†) in accordance with the policy of selling only high grade opium at an artificially high price. In present circumstances that policy, in my opinion, requires modification.. The Colony, as you are aware, is inundated with smuggled opium. Although the population has lately increased by some 60,000 the opium revenue has steadily decreased (see Annexure 1). The gaols are filled with artificial criminals who have committed no crime other than The what is regarded by Chinese public opinion as the most venial of offences. native police and preventive staff are open to the most serious temptations, and it is impossible for the Government to hope to combat smuggling, far less to suppress consumption, when its price for opium is $14.50 a tael while a respectable brand of Chinese-prepared opium can be purchased in Canton for $2 a tael, and Macao and Kwong Chau Wan opium can be obtained for $6 a tael.
2. I enclose a memorandumt on the local opium situation prepared by the Superintendent of Imports and Exports with special reference to the trade in Macao, Kwong Chau Wan, and South China; and after full consideration, I have instructed him to withdraw the "Bengal "brand (containing fifty per cent. of Indian opium), and to issue new brands of medium quality, one containing thirty-three and one-third per cent. Indian, and the other none at all, at provisional prices which appear in the Government Notification No. 556 of the 29th September, 1927, of which a copy is attached. The blends and the prices have been settled with a view to competing with known grades of illicit material, and the progress of the experiment will be carefully watched.
3. These new brands were placed on the market on the 3rd October. The price of Government prepared pure Indian opium, known as Kamshan opium, which is retailed at $45 per tin of three taels to registered purchasers only, will remain unclianged. The new brands in so far as they are not Indian opium will consist of confiscated material which will be mainly Chinese, and it may be necessary later to supplement with direct purchases from Persia.
4. I would emphasize the fact that my action in putting cheaper Government brands on the market is not creating a demand or artificially maintaining one, but is an attempt to secure the smoking only of Government opium, thereby maintaining as far as possible Government control over the drug. In the present trade depression in this Colony, and while anarchy in China persists, adequate control is impossible so long as the high price of Government opium offers the greatest temptation both to consumers and smugglers.
5. I also invite your attention to the statement on opium policy in the Nether- lands East Indies which appears as Item 21 on pages 38 and 39 of the Minutes of the Eighth Session (1926) of the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and other Dangerous Drugs. It is there stated that one of the leading principles of the restrictive system of the Dutch Opium Regie being to keep smuggling with reasonable bounds, the Government of the Netherlands East Indies has decided on three lines of action. The first is a relaxation of the licensing and rationing system in districts where practical enforcement is impossible.
Licensing and rationing always have been and still are impossible in Hong Kong. The second leading principle is the provision of "practically unlimited" funds for the preventive service.
* No. 85.
+ 52041/18: not printed.
‡ Not printed.
§ Not reprinted.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
LC.O. 882/11
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
し
INKOL