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retaining and raising the topmost planks of a sluice-gate, while removing the lower planks. Under such circumstances, I asked myself, how could Hong Kong justify to the League its blind adherence in 1926 to a price fixed for pure Indian opium in 1918? 25. You say in your telegram of the 7th December, 1927,* that you are unable to find any sufficient expectation of ultimate reduction as the outcome of my measures. I submit that in a matter which must obviously depend largely on external factors, over which Hong Kong has no control, this Government cannot reasonably be asked But I can safely say that by driving out the com- to assess the chances of success. petition of smugglers a genuinely effective monopoly will tend to reduce opium con- sumption in Hong Kong. An efficient preventive service and the operation of severe laws will allow a certain margin between the official and the illicit price of opium. At all events the proceeds of the trade will be diverted from the pockets of smugglers, who will thus be hampered in continuing and extending their business. Restriction will come naturally when by diminution of the world's opium supply the price naturally rises, and suppression when, by the combined operations of Governments, no more supplies are available.
26. This I conceive to be the policy of the League, and it is a policy which the Hong Kong Government will wholeheartedly support. But it clearly implies that, while raw opium is still procurable by private traders, Government must have access to supplies. For this reason I ventured to doubt (see paragraph 6 supra) whether the action of the Government of India in denying supplies to British Colonial Governments, and I would add to Macao, is really best suited to advance the common cause under existing circumstances. But His Majesty's Government has now further decided that the Hong Kong Government must not purchase opium from the Persian Govern- ment, even though the express purpose in view is to combat the opium smuggler. The League, however, has just induced the Persian Government to assume control over opium for the same purpose; and, when you inform me in your telegram of the 15th October, 1927,† that "Persian production has been stimulated by Government monopolies in the Far East consequent on the restriction of exports from India surely it is overlooked that the object of the League under existing conditions is to restrict the operations, not of Governments, but of private traders and smugglers. It is well known that Persian opium is available in large quantities to private traders. Surely then the decision recently taken by His Majesty's Government can only be destined to encourage smugglers and to embarrass governments. In connexion with the appeal made to me by the Governor of Macao you yourself telegraphed to me on of opium supplies for the 30th June, 1927, that Persia was the "normal source
Macao, and again on the 19th August, 1927,§ that His Majesty's Government had not received any satisfactory explanation of the position in which the Government of Macao represents itself to be placed, e.g., as to why it has been unable to supply itself with Persian opium as other subsidized governinents have done." His Majesty's Government, therefore, considers it right and proper that the Government of Macao should purchase opium supplies from the Government of Persia; and I am unable to see why the Government of Hong Kong should not do likewise.
27. There remains, of course, one obvious alternative, namely, that His Majesty's Government should authorise me to obtain direct supplies of opium from China. That authority may perhaps be implied in your Confidential despatch of the 25th January, Such purchase could 1926, which I have already quoted in paragraph 7 supra. certainly not be held under present conditions to “stimulate" Chinese opium pro- duction; and, if the day should come when for lack of all external supplies this Government should have to call upon China to supply the needs of the opium addicts I should be glad to know here resident, an interesting situation would be created. your views on this aspect of the problem.
28. In the last resort, if China continues to increase her output of opium, and if Hong Kong obtains no supplies of opium from India or Persia sufficient for the demands of its steadily increasing population, there will be no option but to repeal our Opium Ordinances and to abandon our attempt to control local consumption with a view to eventual suppression. We cannot be expected to lose the whole of our opium revenue and at the same time to continue the maintenance of a costly and futile system for the control of opium consumption, which circumstances in China and conditions imposed on the Colony by His Majesty's Government have rendered un-
C. 30049/27 [No. 41]: not printed.
No. 112.
* No. 96.
+ No. 90.
C. 30049/27 [No. 55]: not printed.
145
I venture to submit that it was not fully controllable. The position is very grave. understood, when His Majesty's Government made their recent decisions, and I earnestly beg for a reconsideration of the whole subject.
4th April 2nd July
1927
3rd August 19th August
29th August 9th September
19th September
I have, &c.,
C. CLEMENTI,
Governor, &c.
Annexure A to No. 100.
SEIZURES OF ILLICIT OPIUM ON BOARD S.S. "TAI HING."
500 taels prepared opium
Concealed in cargo.
Concealed in saloon locker.
Concealed in a basket of ducks' eggs. Concealed in saloon locker.
Concealed on the person.
Concealed in 1st class saloon lockers.
Concealed in 2nd class saloon lockers. Concealed on the person.
Concealed in the crew's quarters. Concealed in European pantry. Separately concealed in pantry. Concealed in the forecastle.
Concealed on the person of pantry boy.
2 ..
39
H
480 raw opium
5
"
prepared opium
19
M
80
++
"
1
60
"
raw opium
23
"
prepared opium
30
M
raw opium
7
"
prepared opium
15
1
"
27
6
16
5
*
32
"
1J
C. 53018/28 [No. 25].
SIR,
No. 101.
HONG KONG,
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR. [Answered by No. 103.]
(Confidential.)
Downing Street, 18th February, 1928.
WITH reference to your telegram of the 2nd of February* regarding the pro- posal to invite the League of Nations to send a Commission to the Far East to investi- gate matters affecting the opium traffic, I have the honour to transmit to you a copy of a memorandum by Mr. J. D. Lloyd, Superintendent of Imports and Exports, Hong Kong, forming part of his reply to a request for his observations on Mr. Ormsby Gore's telegram of the 9th of January.†
2. I should be glad to receive your observations on the matters dealt with in the memorandum.
[C. 52836/28 [No. 1].]
I have, &c.,
L. S. AMERY.
Enclosure in No. 101. MEMORANDUM BY MR. J. D. LLOYD, SUPERINTENDENT OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS, HONG KONG.
1. THE theory regarding the cure of opium addicts so strongly enunciated by Dr. Clarke, Assistant Deputy Minister of Health for Canada, at a conference held last December at the Home Office, deserves very serious consideration, since the general acceptance of this theory would be likely to gravely affect the position of those Colonies which still maintain a Government Opium Monopoly.
2. In brief he stated that his Department had become convinced that the only successful method of curing the addict was the immediate and absolute deprivation
* C. 53018/28 [No. 17]: not printed.
† C. 30872/27 [No. 7]: not printed.
+
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of the drug in every shape and form, and that this view was being pressed on the attention of the whole medical profession in Canada. He stated that an identical view was held in New York by eminent medical men with great experiences in such cases. He had had the privilege of seeing the work of one New York Institution which had dealt with such cases in large numbers, and learnt that this institution had never had any deaths due to the deprivation of the drug; this experience coincided with his own.
The opium addict being deprived of opium may at first feel acute distress and think he was about to die, but the symptoms soon passed. It was quite a fallacy he said to hold that the cure of opium addiction must be a slow and gradual process, or that it was hopeless to attempt it in the case of inveterate addiction.
3. This theory is diametrically opposed to that hitherto generally accepted, that cure meant a very long course of treatment or the gradual reduction of consumption over an extended period, and that addicts of long standing or advanced age could not be cured. The prevailing theory has led to the formation of various schemes of regis tration, and the suggestion of lengthy time limits for the abolition of Government Opium Monopolies
4. Arguments for the maintenance of Monopolies hitherto have been based almost entirely on two grounds, (a) finance, and (b) humanity, and stress has been laid on the latter, it being argued that the suffering of the addict deprived of opiuu must be tenderly considered. This argument will cease to be effective if the theory mentioned above comes into general acceptance.
5. The Hong Kong Government has stated that finance shall not stand in the way of abolition, and arguments based on the calls of humanity are likely to be proved invalid in the near future. There therefore remains no argument for the maintenance of the opium monopoly beyond the time required to find some means of replacing the abandoned source of revenue.
6. The meaning of the telegram is not quite clear, but it is presumed that the purchase of Persian opium to replace the decreasing supplies sent by India will also he vetoed. In any case the sale of a blend of Indian and a large proportion of Persian opium would be unsuccessful at the present price of $14.50 per lael, the blend being only a little superior to that on the contraband market costing only a quarter the price. Supplies from India are decreasing at the rate of some 20 chests a year, which means that after six years the supplies from India will be so small that it will not be worth while from a commercial point of view to maintain any longer the Monopoly with its numerous staff.
7. It would be quite feasible to abolish the Monopoly completely in 5 or 6 years, a period which would allow ample time to find new sources of revenue. Admittedly the contraband trade would go on as before, but all steps hitherto taken to suppress it have proved quite in vain. In fact some steps taken with a view to decreasing the consumption have only resulted in encouraging the contraband trade, i.e., the suppres sion of lincensed opium divans, in which Monopoly opium only was smoked has led to the creation of innumerable unlawful divans in which only illicit opium is smoked. The great increase in the amount of opium sold since cheap brands of inferior quality were placed on sale has proved that the amount of opium saleable at $14.50 is very small, and that in proportion to the actual demand the contraband trade was capable of looking after more than three-quarters of that demand.
8. The only effect of abolition would be that the contraband trade would flourish a little more, but such trade need not become prominent, for if the system of paying large rewards was abolished practically no evidence of its existence would ever come to light. The vice of opium addiction does not obtrude itself like that of drink. The Government would then be in a far stronger position at Geneva, and, if necessary. to protest about the opium position in China.
9. All the efforts expended since 1909 have not decreased the real consumption
at all, and now that-
(1) a statement has been published that reasons of finance will not stand in
the way;
(2) arguments based on humanity are of doubtful validity;
(3) that supplies from India are gradually decreasing;
there appears to me every reason for arrangements to be made to close the Monopoly down once and for all at the end of 1933. "To maintain the sale of opium any longer would only be for the benefit of the rich, the labouring classes have long ceased to be able to purchase Government-prepared opium owing to the high prices, but have found the supply of illicit ample for their needs.
147
10. The only real argument for the continued existence of the monopoly is that there is a possibility of obtaining a certain amount of revenue from a vice which would still flourish, probably more so, after the abolition.
11. In the event of abolition the present objectionable methods of house-to-house search on the word of rascally informers should be abandoned and reliance placed on Customs precautions only. Chinese tolerate methods where the revenue is being robbed when they would raise strong objections where the offence was really only against the well being of the offender himself.
12. It is useless to wait for China, the position there will take years to clear up, meanwhile opium will have fastened itself on the country as never before. It can, I think, with justice be claimed that Hong Kong has done its best, but has been com- pletely defeated by the anarchical state of China and the resultant increase in the growth of opium. If the Monopoly is abolished no one can say we have not carried out our obligations to the letter, even if we have failed owing to circumstances beyond our control in decreasing in any way the consumption of opium.
13. The maintenance of the Monopoly must have a reason, the Hong Kong Government have denounced all financial considerations, and it is certain that its existence at any rate for the last 4 years has not hindered in any appreciable way the illicit trade, or tended to decrease in any way consumption. In 1914 the Monopoly was taken over by the Government with the object of decreasing the consumption of opium that object has not been attained, and there is no reasonable prospect of its being attained in the near future owing to the abundant supplies of opium coming from China. In 1914 the passing of the Monopoly under Government control did un- doubtedly stop the smuggling of opium into China, where at that time native-grown opium was extremely rare outside, a few distant places where the poppy was still grown, but China has rewarded Hong Kong by flooding the Colony with her home- grown opium. The time has come for Hong Kong opium policy to be considered on its own merits quite apart from the fluctuating position in China.
14. If there is a consensus of opinion that opium smoking is a vice the Govern- ment should cease to pander to that vice, but it should be distinctly understood that in the Colony itself there is no general opinion against opium outside a small un- influential circle under the direct influence of missionaries. Were it possible to take an unbiased referendum on the subject the votes in favour of abolition would be extremely few.
15. As a matter of policy should smoking be prohibited no very stringent steps should at first be taken against smoking in the privacy of the home. There would undoubtedly be very strong feeling exhibited by Labour if the workman was prevented from enjoying a quiet pipe after the day's toil.
16. The policy of fixing an early date for the termination of the Monopoly has found supporters among other Hong Kong officials, notably Mr. A. G. M. Fletcher, for various reasons, and not least because an end would be made of the hitherto inter- minable and unconvincing argument on opium questions, which has so often diverted attention from other more important work.
C. 52836/28 [No. 4].
(Secret (2).)
SIR,
No. 102.
HONG KONG.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR. [Answered by No. 106.]
Downing Street, 12th April, 1928.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Secret despatch of the 12th of January* on the subject of the opium policy of the Hong Kong Government. 2. I note your views, but as I have already explained in previous telegraphic correspondence it is not possible to reconsider the decision as to the purchase of Persian opium which was taken last autumn. I would, however, remind you that that decision only related to the purchase of Persian opium for the special purpose of meet- ing the demand for Government opium created by the experimental reduction in price. It is still permissible for you to purchase Persian opium to supplement the decreasing
* No. 100.
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