E 2
# OPIUM MONOPOLY.
The gross revenue was $5,759,443.58 as compared with $5,551,305.35 in 1922. The price of prepared opium remained unchanged during the year. Sales maintained a steady level throughout the year notwithstanding the large amounts of Chinese raw opium which reached the Colony. This was due largely to the enterprise of Senior Revenue Officer Watt in conducting raids all over the Colony on Illicit Opium Divans at all hours of the day and night. The record of his work for the year is as follows:-
Number of keepers of Opium Divans convicted............ 716
Number of smokers of Illicit Opium convicted.......... 3,359
Number of dealers in Illicit Opium convicted.......... 386
Number of Boilers of Illicit Opium convicted.......... 60
Had another Officer been available for this work a far larger number of convictions could have been obtained in the Kowloon Peninsula. The fines inflicted proved no deterrent and in many cases a second conviction was recorded against the same defendant within a few months. The policy of appointing paid agents on a fixed salary was extended and by the end of the year arrangements had been made to abolish the payment of commission for the sale of opium throughout the Urban Districts. The change has been made without any friction, and I have received no complaints that the paid agents were neglecting their business.
The amount of Raw Opium seized was 284,824.17 taels in 250 seizures. The amount of Prepared Opium seized was 15,659.65 taels in 1,065 seizures, most of the seizures being of small amounts under 1 tael. Most of the small seizures of Prepared Opium were made in Opium Divans, where a large part of the Illicit Opium used in the Colony is consumed.
No fewer than 284 persons were banished for Opium Offences. In cases large quantities of Chinese documents relating to opium smuggling were seized. The work of examining and interpreting the mass of documents was extremely heavy, but the result was well worth the time spent as valuable details were obtained of the extent and methods of opium smuggling, and some powerful and wealthy syndicates of smugglers were dispersed, and their connections in the Colony indicated. The amount of Chinese Raw Opium mentioned in the documents examined amounted to over 600,000 taels, smuggled into the Colony in a period of 12 months. To double this figure to account for those smugglers not discovered would give a fairly conservative estimate of the amount of Opium mostly of Chinese Origin which is successfully introduced into the Colony during 12 months. The documents examined go to show that not much more than a quarter of this contraband was retained in the Colony for local use. During the year Canton, Kongmoon, Swatow, Amoy and Shanghai, as well as the places in Mirs Bay and over the border have been supplied with raw Chinese Opium,
E 2
OPIUM MONOPOLY.
The gross revenue was $5,759,443.58 as compared with $5,551,305.35 in 1922. The price of prepared opium remained unchanged during the year. Sales maintained a steady level throughout the year notwithstanding the large amounts of Chinese raw opium which reached the Colony. This was due largely to the enterprise of Senior Revenue Officer Watt in conducting raids all over the Colony on Illicit Opium Divans at all hours of the day and night. The record of his work for the year is as follows:-
Number of keepers of Opium Divans convicted............ Number of smokers of Illicit Opium convicted Number of dealers in Illicit Opium convicted Number of Boilers of Illicit Opium convicted........
716 3,359
386
60
Had another Officer been available for this work a far larger number of convictions could have been obtained in the Kowloon Peninsula. The fines inflicted proved no deterrent and in many. cases a second conviction was recorded against the same defendant within a few months. The policy of appointing paid agents on a fixed salary was extended and by the end of the year arrangements had been made to abolish the payinent of commission for the sale of opium throughout the Urban Districts. The change has been made without any friction, and I have received no complaints that the paid agents were neglecting their business.
The amount of Raw Opium seized was 284,824.17 taels in 250 seizures. The amount of Prepared Opium seized was 15,659.65 taels in 1,065 seizures, most of the seizures being of small amounts under 1 tael. Most of the small seizures of Prepared Opium were made in Opium Divans, where a large part of the Illicit Opium used in the Colony is consumed.
No fewer than 284 persons were banished for Opium Offences. In cases large quantities of Chinese documents relating to opium smuggling were seized. The work of examining and inter- preting the mass of documents was extremely heavy, but the result was well worth the time spent as valuable details were obtained of the extent and inethods of opium smuggling, and some powerful and wealthy syndicates of smugglers were dispersed, and their connections in the Colony indicated. The amount of Chinese Raw Opium mentioned in the documents examined amounted to over 600,000 taels, smuggled into the Colony in a period of 12 months. To double this figure to account for those smugglers not discovered would give a fairly conservative estimate of the amount of Opium mostly of Chinese Origin which is successfully introduced into the Colony during 12 months. The documents examined go to show that not much more than a quarter of this contraband was retained in the Colony for local use. During the year Canton, Konginoon, Swatow, Amoy and Shanghai, as well as the places in Mirs Bay and over the border have been supplied with raw Chinese Opium,
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