(14) such conditions, and for a period of two years only, the sole privilege of preparing opium, &c." It is unnecessary and inexpedient for the Legislature to sanction the continuance by Government of the opium monopoly farm for an indefinite time or for a longer period than one year or two years at the outside from March. The principle of this proposed enactment is directly opposed to the established laws of England, inasmuch as it creates a monopoly, and as monopolies of every description are in their essence objectionable and bad policy. Thanks to the continued strenuous efforts of our forefathers for generations against it, the farming of any tax is no longer tolerated in Great Britain, and has not been known in the United Kingdom for upwards of 200 years. The time has long since gone by for any Power claiming to be a civilized Government to farm taxes of any description, and any Government of the present day attempting the re-introduction of such a pernicious system in England would promptly ensure its own destruction. It is greatly to be deplored that the Government system which creates this monopoly, and farms this opium tax amounting to about half a million dollars per annum, or one-fourth of the Colony's total revenue, cannot be dissociated with the bolstering up of a vast amount of vice and immorality, or rendered inseparable from bribery and corruption, as well as grave abuses and evil effects. A monopoly is not permissible in Hongkong. It can only be tolerated where the governing authority is weak and hopelessly at fault and where such a system may be looked upon as the lesser of two evils. This opium monopoly farm proposed by Government may be regarded as approaching a confession of incapacity to grapple with the subject, for it is a lax and unconstitutional method of government. It will again legally set up a monopolist in our midst, the farmer, who has to make profit somehow, for it is scarcely conceivable that he, the opium farmer, will pay the Government about half a million dollars a year for the opium monopoly out of benevolent or philanthropic motives. All the resources of this Government-created monopolist, who having a large pecuniary interest at stake, will be devoted to increasing the sale of the drug and to deriving gain at the expense of the people by means of this opium tax, which tax if extracted at all from the pockets of the public should pass entirely into the public treasury. This proposed law delegates the functions and the duties of the Colonial Government to the opium monopolist. The farmer will consequently be permitted to squeeze the opium consumers to the utmost degree for his own gain and he will be armed by Government with legal power to an extent which in Chinese hands is simply appalling, and which will render Hongkong no longer a free port. If a duty were collected by the Government on raw opium a perfectly reasonable and legitimate revenue would be raised. There is nothing to hinder the Government from collecting such a revenue if the Imperial Authorities do not deem it expedient to interfere. The Governments of America, China, Japan, India, and other countries have hitherto collected the duty on opium direct, and continue to do so, not through a farmer. The Government here on a previous occasion collected the opium tax direct from the public instead of through a farmer and thereby increased the revenue. If the opium farm of monopoly were abandoned we would have fewer criminals to deal with, one Magistrate and a less numerous police force would meet our requirements. There would be absolutely no necessity for the expenditure of several hundred thousands dollars for increased gaol accommodation during the next decade. All opium on its arrival here should be stored in a bonded warehouse. A duty could be levied on raw opium as delivered from bond for local consumption sufficient to raise the income required and pay for an efficient preventive service to guard against smuggling. The opium intended for transhipment would pay no duty and could be removed from bond under proper restrictions ensuring that it did not go into local consumption. The working of the bonded warehouse system would be simple enough, and so long as a revenue is required from opium it could be adjusted annually. The freedom of the port would be sacrificed in name only, and solely as regards opium. Hongkong under such a system would be a freer port than it is now, or is likely to be under the proposed new law, for the restrictions to protect the Government monopolist are increasing to the point of becoming unbearable.
(15) It is earnestly to be hoped the day is not far distant when the Hongkong Government will set its face resolutely and emphatically against farming out the opium tax, or any other tax. The present method, which is proposed to be continued with increased vigour, directly associates the Government with the preparation and increased sale of the drug. The fiscal policy of the Government as regards the opium tax stands condemned on moral as well as on economic grounds. The time has come for a reversal of this vicious, iniquitous, uneconomic opium farm monopoly tax. We should do all in our power to wash our hands entirely and abandon at the earliest possible date all Government connection with pecuniary gain from the preparation and sale of the deleterious drug. It has done more harm than anything I can well recall, and tends to, if it does not demoralise, a number of our Police force. The Government may be enabled to derive a quarter of our revenue from the continuance of the opium farm, but it is an unhealthy and unwholesome source of income, for the Government thereby sacrifices or sells for money every principle of political economy and morality. The opium traffic has long been and still is in itself the source of much human misery and crime, but when carried on under a farmer as a Government monopoly, that misery and that crime are intensified in character and more than doubled in quantity. The Government connection with this antiquated monopoly system is as degrading to the Government as it is debasing to the people, for it blocks the advance of Western ideas in China, and has done more than anything else to undo any civilizing influence Europeans may exercise on the Chinese. The Government creates and clothes the opium farmer with legal power, which, in Chinese hands, becomes superior to the power of the Government—yes, a tyrannical power exercised through the lowest of the low, which makes our boasted liberty of the subject hypocritical mockery. One can witness any and every day in the week the way in which the luggage and persons of respectable Chinese men as well as women, on arrival in Hongkong, are now pounced upon, haphazard, and searched by the minions of the Government farmer, not in any house or place set aside for the purpose but on the public wharves and on the public streets. The meanest intelligence on seeing it will realize that it is nothing less than an outrage on public decency in a British Colony and such treatment causes a sense of personal indignity and intense irritation generally. It cannot be denied that it is a most obnoxious, wasteful system, or that it results in considerable State-created crime. The official return I have asked for will prove this. It is an old saying that "ancient abuses possess a wonderful vitality." The serious disadvantages attending our Government opium monopoly are a sad illustration of that adage, notwithstanding the reckless and irresponsible statements to the contrary of regret the persons in official positions who ought to know better. One cannot but morally indefensible fiscal policy of this British Colony in connection with the Government created and prolonged opium monopoly. It is a blot on the character of the British nation, whose people in all other respects justly aspire to and have become more than any other the civilizers of the world. The unofficial members of this Honourable Council are desirous that the Colonial Revenue should be maintained by every and all legitimate means in order that we may be enabled to continue to pay the large and ever-increasing demands of the mother country for contributions to Imperial military purposes, as well as the generous increase in our officials' salaries recommended at a period of great local inflation (a rise of 35 per cent. was not intended). It should not be forgotten that our contribution to the Imperial Government for the military and local official salaries amounts to more than half of our total revenue. It is impossible to regard the revenue derived from the opium
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( 14 )
such conditions, and for a period of two years only, the sole privilege of preparing opium, &c." It is unnecessary and inexpedient for the Legislature to sanction the continuance by Government of the opium monopoly farm for an indefinite time or for a longer period than one year or two years at the outside from March The principle of this proposed enactment is directly opposed to the established laws of England, inasmuch as it creates a monopoly, and as monopolies of every description are in their essence objectionable and bad policy. Thanks to the continued strenuous efforts of our forefathers for generations against it, the farming of any tax is no longer tolerated in Great Britain, and has not been known in the United Kingdom for upwards of 200 years. The time has long since gone by for any Power claiming to be a civilized Government to farm taxes of any description, and any Government of the present day attempting the re-introduction of such a pernicious system in England would promptly ensure its own destruction. It is greatly to be deplored that the Government system which creates this nonopoly, and farms this opium tax amounting to about half a million dollars per annum, or one-fourth of the Colony's total revenue, cannot be dissociated with the bolstering up of a vast amount of vice and immorality, or rendered inseparable from bribery and corruption, as well as grave abuses and evil effects. A monopoly is not permissible in Hongkong. It can only be tolerated where the governing authority is weak and hopelessly at fault and where such a system may be looked upon as the lesser of two evils. This opium monopoly farm proposed by Government may be regarded as approaching a confession of incapacity to grapple with the subject, for it is a lax and unconsti- tutional method of government. It will again legally set up a monopolist in our midst, the farmer, who has to make profit somehow, for it is scarcely conceivable that he, the opium farmer, will pay the Government about half a million dollars a year for the opium monopoly out of benevolent or philanthropic motives. All the resources of this Government-created monopolist, who having a large pecuniary interest at stake, will be devoted to increasing the sale of the drug and to deriving gain at the expense of the people by means of this opium tax, which tax if extracted at all from the pockets of the public should pass entirely into public treasury. This proposed law delegates the functions and the duties of the Colonial Government to the opium monopolist. The farmer will consequently be permitted to squeeze the opium consumers to the utmost degree for his own gain and he will be armed by Government with legal power to an extent which in Chinese hands is simply appalling, and which will render Hongkong no longer a free port. If a duty were collected by the Government on raw opium & perfectly reasonable and legitimate revenue would be raised. There is nothing to hinder the Government from collecting such a revenue if the Imperial Authorities do not deem it expedient to interfere. The Governments of America, China, Japan, India, and other countries have hitherto collected the duty The Government on opium direct, and continue to do so, not through a farmer. here on a previous occasion collected the opium tax direct from the public instead If the opium farin of through a farmer and thereby increased the revenue. monopoly were abandoned we would have fewer criminals to deal with, one Magistrate and a less numerous police force would meet our requirements. There would be absolutely no necessity for the expenditure of several hundred thousands dollars for increased gaol accommodation during the next decade. All opium on its arrival here should be stored in bonded warehouse. A duty could be levied on raw opium as delivered from bond for local consumption sufficient to raise the income required and pay for an efficient preventive service to guard against smuggling. The opium intended for transhipment would pay no duty and could be removed from bond under proper restrictions ensuring that it did not go into local consumption. The working of the bonded warehouse system would he simple enough, and so long as a revenue is required from opium it could be adjusted
( 15 )
annually. The freedom of the port would be sacrificed in name only, and solely as regards opium. Hongkong under such a system would be a freer port than it is now, or is likely to be under the proposed new law, for the restrictions to protect the Government monopolist are increasing to the point of becoming unbearable. It is earnestly to be hoped the day is not far distant when the Hongkong Government will set its face resolutely and emphatically against farming out the opium tax, or any other tax. The present method, which is proposed to be continued with increased vigour, directly associates the Government with the preparation and increased sale of the drug. The fiscal policy of the Government as regards the opium tax stands condemned on moral as well as on economic grounds. The time has come for a reversal of this vicious, iniquitous, uneconomic opium farm monopoly tax. We should do all in our power to wash our hands entirely and abandon at the earliest possible date all Government connection with pecuniary gaiu from the preparation and sale of the deleterious drug. It has done more harm than anything I can well recall, and tends to if it does not demoralise a number of our Police force. The Government may be enabled to derive a quarter of our revenue from the continuance of the opium farm, but it is an unhealthy and unwholesome source of income, for the Govern- ment thereby sacrifices or sells for money every principle of political economy and morality. The opium traffic has long been and still is in itself the source of much human misery and crime, but when carried on under a farmer as a Government monopoly, that misery and that crime is intensified in character and more than doubled in quantity. The Government connection with this antiquated monopoly system is as degrading to the Government as it is debasing to the people, for it blocks the advance of Western ideas in China, and has done more than anything else to undo any civilizing influence Europeans may exercise on the Chinese. The Government creates and clothes the opium farmer with legal power, which, in Chinese hands, becomes superior to the power of the Government—yes, a tyran- nical power exercised through the lowest of the low, which makes our boasted liberty of the subject hypocritical mockery. One can witness any and every day in the week the way in which the luggage and persons of respectable Chinese men as well as women, on arrival in Hongkong, are now pounced upon, haphazard, and searched by the minions of the Government firmer, not in any house or place set The aside for the purpose but on the public wharves and on the public streets. meanest intelligence on seeing it will realize that it is nothing less than an outrage on public decency in a British Colony and such treatment causes a sense of personal indignity and intense irritation generally. It cannot be denied that it is a most obnoxious, wasteful system, or that it results in considerable State-created crime. The official return I have asked for will prove this. It is an old saying that "ancient abuses possess a wonderful vitality." The serious disadvantages attending our Government opium monopoly are a sad illustration of that adage. notwithstanding the reckless and irrespousible statements to the contrary of regret the persons in official positions who ought to know better. One cannot but morally indefensible fiscal policy of this British Colony in connection with the Government created and prolonged opium monopoly. It is a blot on the character of the British nation, whose people in all other respects justly aspire to and have become more than any other the civilizers of the world. The unofficial members of this Honourable Council are desirous the Colonial Revenue should be maintained by every and all legitimate means in order that we may be enabled to continue to pay the large and ever increasing demands of the mother country for contributions to Imperial military purposes, as well as the generons increase in our officials' salaries recommended at a period of great local inflation (a rise of 35 per cent. was not intended). It should not be forgotten that our contribution to the Imperial Government for the military and local official salaries amounts to more than hall of our total revenue. It is impossible to regard the revenus derived from the opium
529
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