1
E 3
the duty paid, and the only possible course from a revenue point of view would seem to be to reduce their numbers, and confine the remainder to the more accessible localities. The villagers attend the markets held frequently at Tai Po and Un Long, and the village store could quite conveniently satisfy its small requirements by the purchase of spirit at these centres.
Denaturing frauds.
In the summer of 1924 my attention was directed to the large amounts of spirits of wine which were being denatured with shellac for the alleged purpose of making spirit varnish; more strict supervision reduced the amount from 81,410 gallons in 1923 to 63,968 gallons in 1924, and 29,330 gallons in 1925. In the spring of 1925 one firm was discovered persistently attempting to use raw material of a nature other than that approved, they were therefore refused permission to draw spirits of wine for the purpose of making into varnish for a certain time. This firm soon afterwards closed, which only left one firm in this trade out of the original six, as regular users of shellac as a denaturant; this firm was afterwards found to be really the successor of the one mentioned.
On October 14th after closely watching the activities of the sole remaining firm, I took a large party of Revenue Officers to Mongkok, and as the result of a whole night's work discovered the real use to which spirits of wine denatured with shellac were being put, and made five arrests. The spirits of wine had as a matter of fact never been used for making varnish at all, but by means of a process whereby the shellac, or rather most of it, was removed by precipitation, had been converted into a liquor which was sold extensively as "molasses sheung ching" after the alcoholic strength had been carefully adjusted. This firm had been turning out about 12,000 gallons of this faked spirit per month. The whole of the apparatus used was seized, the working partner received a sentence of six months imprisonment, but the real principals were never discovered. At least ten licenced spirit shops were regularly dealing in this spirit, and it is probable that the varnish shop was really established by a combination of spirit shops for the sole purpose of defrauding the revenue by the manufacture of this bogus liquor. An examination was made of very many of the spirit shops in Kowloon and a large amount of spirit was found which analysis proved had been made by the same process, in many shops the peculiar pink deposit left by this spirit was found on all the utensils in use.
A large amount was seized and destroyed. I learnt subsequently that on the same night news of the seizure was quickly circulated, and that a large amount of such spirit was poured away to save discovery. The Police have been advised against renewing the licences of the shops involved. The spirit so made seems to have met with a ready sale, though it still contained considerable quantities of shellac and a certain amount of the chemical used as a precipitant. The prominence given by the Chinese press to ...
?
1
E 3
the duty paid, and the only possible course from a revenue point of view would seem to be to reduce their numbers, and confine the remainder to the more accessible localities. The villagers attend the markets held frequently at Tai Po and Un Long, and the village store could quite conveniently satisfy its small re- quirements by the purchase of spirit at these centres.
Denaturing frauds.
In the summer of 1924 my attention was directed to the large amounts of spirits of wine which were being denatured with shellac for the alleged purpose of making spirit varnish; more strict supervision reduced the amount from 81,410 gallons in 1923 to 63,968 gallons in 1924, and 29,330 gallons in 1925. In the spring of 1925 one firm was discovered persistently at tempting to use raw material of a nature other than that ap- proved, they were therefore refused permission to draw spirits of wine for the purpose of making into varnish for a certain time. This firm soon afterwards closed, which only left one firm in this trade out of the original six, as regular users of shellac as a denaturant; this firm was afterwards found to be really the successor of the one mentioned.
On October 14th after closely watching the activities of the sole remaining firm, I took a large party of Revenue Officers to Mongkok, and as the result of a whole night's work discovered the real use to which spirits of wine denatured with shellac were being put, and made five arrests. The spirits of wine had as a matter of fact never been used for making varnish at all, but by means of a process whereby the shellac, or rather most of it, was removed by precipitation, had been converted into a liquor which was sold extensively as "molasses
"molasses sheung ching" after the alcoholic strength had been carefully adjusted. This firm had been turning out about 12,000 gallons of this faked spirit per month. The whole of the apparatus used was seized, the work- ing partner received a sentence of six months imprisonment, but the real principals were never discovered. At least ten licenced spirit shops were regularly dealing in this spirit, and it is pro- bable that the varnish shop was really established by a combina- tion of spirit shops for the sole purpose of defrauding the revenue by the manufacture of this bogus liquor. An examination was made of very many of the spirit shops in Kowloon and a large amount of spirit was found which analysis proved had been made by the same process, in many shops the peculiar pink deposit left by this spirit was found on all the utensils in use.
A large amount was seized and destroyed. I learnt subsequently that on the same night news of the seizure was quickly circulated, and that a large amount of such spirit was poured away to save discovery. The Police have been advised against renewing the licences of the shops involved. The spirit so made seems to have met with a ready sale, though it still contained considerable quantities of shellac and a certain amount of the chemical use as a precipitant. The prominence given by the Chinese press tɔ
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.