CO882-(4-5) — Page 343

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TLC.O. 882

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

to

4. It was estimated that 50 licenses at $25 per month would be taken out,

yielding per annum

-

$15,000

That the opium dross could be farmed for

$8,000

And that 2,500 chests of opium

would yield at $2.25

100,000 balls boiled per annum

$225,000

Total -

$248,000

55 licenses have actually been taken out up to this date, and the opium dross farm has been leased for $10,320.

5. A building used by the old farmer, where his sub-licensees took their opium and boiled it themselves, has been hired by Government, and the Government licensees will boil their opium there as heretofore, with the exception of those who, conducting the business on a large scale, may obtain special permission from Government to boil on their own premises under proper supervision.

6. Provisional arrangements have been made for a staff to supervise this work under the direction of the treasurer, who is immediately assisted by Mr. Lockhart, but as these arrangements are temporary and tentative, it will be unnecessary to trouble ship with details at present. At an outside computation, the Government expenditure your Lord- will not exceed $20,000 a year. Up to the present the expenditure which I have sanctioned is only at the rate of $7,000 per annum.

7. I would have been glad if the decision on this important matter could have seen deferred until the arrival of Sir George Bowen, but it was absolutely necessary to settle something before the 1st March, when the privilege granted in 1882 expired. I have endeavoured to do the best I could, acting under the advice of those most competent to assist me. It is too early yet to express any opinion as to the results of the experiment, but there is every reason to hope that Government will receive at least as much, after payment of expenses, as it did last year. The principal risk that Government runs is from smuggling and fraud. The rate charged per ball for boiling is lower than that charged by the late farmer; the inducement to fraud is therefore rather reduced than increased.

8. There is reason to believe that the few persons whose circumstances permitted them to compete on this occasion, combined to obtain a lease from Government at a low rate, believing that it would be compelled to accept their offer, and doubting the ability of Governinent to take the business into its own hands. Any reasonable offer that made may yet be considered.

may

be

By an early opportunity I hope to be able to address your Lordship again on this subject, and to forward a memorandum giving detailed information of the calculations which have induced the Government to act as it has done. The great press of extra work which the issue of opium licenses has thrown upon the Treasurer has prevented him from completing this memorandum in time for this mail.

1 have, &c.

W. H. MARSH,

Enclosure in No. 1.

Administering the Government.

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.-No. 67.

OPIUM.

REFERRING to Government Notification No. 475 of 1882, it is hereby further notified that, under the provisions of section 3 of Ordinance 2 of 1858, the Governor in Council will grant licenses to proper persons authorising them to boil and prepare opium, and to sell and retail opium so boiled and prepared, from the 1st March, 1883, at a license fee of $25 per month, with an additional fee of $2.25 for each ball boiled or prepared; the said licenses shall be granted subject to the conditions made by the Governor in Council as published below.

Applications for licenses will be received from this date by the Colonial Secretary. Special arrangements will be made for perans wishing to boil large quantities, so as to enable them to boil in their own premises under Government supervision; but in the

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absence of such arrangements, all opium must be boiled at the public factory at Sai On Lane, Saiyingp'un.

Sealed tenders will be received up to the 27th instant, at noon, for the farming of opium dross within the Colony.

Colonial Secretary's Office, Hong Kong,

February 21, 1883.

By Command,

FREDERICK STEWART,

Acting Colonial Secretary.

CONDITIONS made by the GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL, under the provisions of the EXCISE ORDINAnces (Opium), 1858-1879.

1. Licenses will run from the date of granting, but all licenses will expire on the last day of February in each year. The payment for each license will be at the rate of $25 per month.

2. Each license shall state the name of the licensee and the shop or house where the business is to be carried on, and specify the name of the street, and the street number of the house.

3. The consideration money shall be paid monthly in advance; and there shall be paid in addition to the first monthly payment by every licensee upon his license being granted, a further sum equal to one monthly payment as a deposit on account of the consideration money, and the deposit shall go in payment of the last monthly payment of the said

term.

4. Every monthly payment must be paid on the first lawful day of each month, and in default of any such payment the Governor in Council shall be entitled to withdraw the license, and to retain all moneys paid thereunder, and the licensee shall make good all losses and expenses incurred by reason of such default.

5. No license shall be transferable without the permission of the Governor in Council. 6. All opium sold by the licensee shall be prepared at the factory at Sai On Lane, or at other places specially licensed by the Governor in Council. Every ball, or any quantity less than one ball, so to be prepared, shall be calculated at the rate of 48 taela per ball, and every such licensee shall pay to the Government in addition to the monthly payments of $25 for his license, a fee of $2.25 for every ball so prepared, besides all expenses of preparation. Each ball shall produce between 20 and 30 taels' weight of prepared opium.

7. The licensee shall report daily to an officer appointed by the Governor for the purpose, the quantity of opium sold per day. If the licensee should make default in sending in such report, or should send in an incorrect report, all the opium found in the shop of the licensee shall be liable to be seized by a police or excise officer, and to be forfeited, and shall be by a magistrate directed to be sold, and the proceeds paid into the Treasury for the public use.

8. Opium intended for export shall be packed in boxes, and each box shall be sub- mitted for examination to the officer appointed for that purpose by the Governor, and if such exatnination be satisfactory, a certificate shall be attached to or a mark placed on the outside of each box. Should any box be discovered without having such certificate or mark, the same shall be forfeited to the Government, and the Governor in Council shall be at liberty to withdraw the license held by the licensee, to retain all moneys paid thereunder, and to claim the monthly fees due for the remainder of the term.

9. No licensee shall construct furnaces, nor prepare opium in his own shop, nor in any other place, unless by permission of the Governor in Council, neither shall he buy prepared opium unless from other licensed persons or shops; and in the event of any licensee making default in observance of this condition, the opium so prepared and purchased shall be forfeited to the Government.

pure quality.

10. Every licensee must sell opium of good and 11. No licensee shall remove his business from the shop or house licensed to another house or shop without the permission of the Governor in Council.

12. The licensee shall in every case find security for the payment of all fees and for the performance of all conditions subject to which the license is granted.

13. In case any licensee shall commit a breach of any of the conditions subject to which the license is granted, or commit any offence against the provisions of the Excise Ordinances (Opium) 1858-1879, the Governor in Council may withdraw the license, and retain all moneys paid thereunder, and claim the monthly fees due for the remainder of the term.

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