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considerable run, before some person who had not been sufficiently silenced directed the attention of this department to his operations.
Opium in China.
With the establishment of a stronger Government in the province of Kwongtung, the control of the trade in opium was placed on a more regular footing. In former years the taxation of opium, though universal, was in the hands of the local military officer, who held sway for the time being in the locality and who had to find some means of paying his troops, and accumulating a nest-egg for himself against the day, never far distant, when he himself would be supplanted. During the year the control of opium taxation appears from the documents examined to have been in process of being regularised. The system in force varied apparently from place to place, but Canton appears to have had some power over the local monopoly. A bureau called the "Bureau for the suppression of opium" functioned in most places, and let out various monopolies to the highest bidder. The bureau did not themselves deal in opium. The following types of monopolies were noticed during the year, (a) import, (b) export, (c) preparing, (d) selling raw opium, (e) selling prepared opium, (f) collecting transit fees on opium passing between various areas. The Monopoly in any line might be given for a special district of a small size, or the Bureau might grant the monopoly for the whole district under its charge to a contractor, who would sublet the smaller districts to others. Opium revenue labels issued by the monopoly of the district of Po On, the district conterminous with the New Territory, stated that the Government would abolish opium within 4 years, but the label did not state when this period would begin to run. This undertaking has not been noticed on any other of the numerous opium revenue labels examined during the year.
Tung Hing Mart for Yunnan Opium.
Before the raw opium had been submitted to provincial taxation other than transit charges, the ruling market quotation at Tung Hing, the town situated on the French frontier of Tongking, opposite Moncay, which has become the great distributing centre for Yunnan opium, was from $1.05 to $1.10 per tael, the price varied only within small limits. Various letters examined mentioned the huge amounts of opium available at Tung Hing at any given time, about one million taels seems to have been not unusual. Taxation at this centre seems to have been rather capricious, and a complaint was noticed that certain merchants paid considerably
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considerable run, before some person who had not been sufficient- ly silenced directed the attention of this department to his opera- tions.
Opium in China.
>
With the establishment of a stronger Government in the province of Kwongtung, the control of the trade in opium was placed on a more regular footing. In former years the taxa- tion of opium, though universal, was in the hands of the local military officer, who held sway for the time being in the locality and who had to find some means of paying his troops, and accumulating a nest-egg for himself against the day, never far distant, when he himself would be supplanted. During the year the control of opium taxation appears from the documents examined to have been in process of being regularised. The system in force varied apparently from place to place, but Canton appears to have had some power over the local mono- poly. A bureau called the "Bureau for the suppression of opum" functioned in most places, and let out various mono- polies to the highest bidder. The bureau did not themselves deal in opium. The following types of monopolies were noticed during the year, (a) import, (b) export, (c) preparing, (d) selling raw opium, (e) selling prepared opium, (f) collecting transit fees on opium passing between various areas. The Monopoly in any line might be given for a special district of a small size, or the Bureau might grant the monopoly for the whole district under its charge to a contractor, who would sublet the smaller districts to others. Opium revenue labels issued by the mono- poly of the district of Po On, the district conterminuous with the New Territory, stated that the Government would abolish opium within 4 years, but the label did not state when this period would begin to run. This undertaking has not been noticed on any other of the numerous opium revenue labels examined during the year.
Tung Hing Mart for Yunnan Opium.
Before the raw opium had been submitted to provincial texation_other than transit charges, the ruling market quota- tion at Tung Hing, the town situated on the French frontier of Tongking, opposite Moncay, which has become the great distributing centre for Yunnan opium, was from $1.05 to $1.10 per tael, the price varied only within small limits. Various letters examined mentioned the huge amounts of opium available at Tung Hing at any given time, about one million taels seems to have been not unusual. Taxation at this centre seems to have been rather capricious, and a com- plaint was noticed that certain merchants paid considerably
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