(iii) Kwong Chow Wan took third place, and it is probable that very little would have been seen of opium from this source had not the West River route been blocked by hostilities for two periods during the year.
(iv) Shanghai appears in the list for the first time; this opium was packed in five-tael tins and was intended for U.S.A. The labels on the tins were copies of marks used by Kwong Chow Wan and originally by Macau. The labels purported to show Macau manufacture, and were similar to those found on seizures made in U.S.A. This seizure confirms the information received that Shanghai had become a centre for the preparation and export of opium across the Pacific to U.S.A. The transference of the trade will account for the fact that unusually little was heard during the year of smuggling to U.S.A.
(b) Raw Opium.
(i) Most of the Chinese raw opium seized was Yunnan bamboo cake opium. It mostly reached the Colony via the West River, but a considerable quantity was brought down by train, some by women carriers, some by the railway staff. While the West River was closed by inter-provincial hostilities raw opium tended to revert to the old route via Pakhoi and neighbouring ports.
(ii) Seizures of Persian opium were more numerous and in most cases it was possible from the circumstances of the seizure to be certain that it had come from Macau direct. Occasionally bogus Persian opium which had come from Macau was encountered, which was somewhat similar to a sample sent to this Government by the Macau Authorities.
(iii) A large seizure of Indian opium was made inside the anchor davit of S.S. "Kut Sang" on her arrival from Calcutta. A sample submitted to the Authorities in India proved on examination to be excise opium of the type only sold locally in India, and never lawfully exported. The real destination of this lot was Shanghai, where fantastic prices were being quoted for Indian opium, as high as $1,920 per ball containing about 26 to 28 taels of actual opium. Prices such as this, which is quoted from a letter from a Shanghai opium dealer to a smuggler in Hong Kong, show the general effectiveness of the measures taken to prevent Indian opium entering China, and the difference made by the abolition in 1928 of the unrestricted sale of raw Indian opium at Kwong Chow Wan. For the period previous to 1928 prices in Shanghai ranged from about $6,000 to $8,000 per chest of 40 balls.
3. General.—Supplies of illicit opium of all kinds continued to be both plentiful and cheap and sales of Government opium decreased as a result. It should be remarked that the seizures of prepared opium destined for other places greatly decreased, while seizures of that destined for local consumption increased somewhat.
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(iii) Kwong Chow Wan took third place, and it is probable that very little would have been seen of opium from this source had not the West River route been blocked by hostilities for two periods during the year.
(iv) Shanghai appears in the list for the first time; this opium was packed in five-tael tins and was intended for U.S.A. The labels on the tins were copies of marks used by Kwong Chow Wan and originally by Macau. The labels purported to show Macau manufacture, and were similar to those found on seizures made in U.S.A. This seizure confirms the information received that Shanghai had become a centre for the preparation and export of opium across the Pacific to U.S.A. The trans- ference of the trade will account for the fact that unusually little was heard during the year of smuggling to U.S.A.
(b) Raw Opium.
(i) Most of the Chinese raw opium seized was Yunnan bamboo cake opium. It mostly reached the Colony viâ the West River, but a considerable quantity was brought down by train, some by women carriers, some by the railway staff. While the West River was closed by inter-provincial hostilities raw opium tended to revert to the old route via Pakhoi and neighbouring ports.
(ii) Seizures of Persian opium were more numerous and in most cases it was possible from the circumstances of the seizure to be certain that it had come from Macau direct. Occasionally bogus Persian opium which had come from Macau was encoun- tered, which was somewhat similar to a sample sent to this Government by the Macau Authorities.
(iii) A large seizure of Indian opium was made inside the anchor davit of S.S. "Kut Sang" on her arrival from Cal- cutta. A sample submitted to the Authorities in India proved on examination to be excise opium of the type only sold locally in India, and never lawfully exported. The real destination of this lot was Shanghai, where fantastic prices were being quoted for Indian opium, as high as $1,920 per ball containing about 26 to 28 taels of actual opium. Prices such as this, which is quoted from a letter from a Shanghai opium dealer to a smuggler in Hong Kong, show the general effectiveness of the measures taken to prevent Indian opium entering China, and the difference made by the abolition in 1928 of the unrestricted sale of raw Indian opium at Kwong Chow Wan. For the period previous to 1928 prices in Shanghai ranged from about $6,000 to $8,000 per chest of 40 balls.
3. General.-Supplies of illicit opium of all kinds continued. to be both plentiful and cheap and sales of Government opium decreased as a result. It should be remarked that the seizures of prepared opium destined for other places greatly decreased, while seizures of that destined for local consumption increased
somewhat.
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