July 1895.
220
If Mr Hicks' statement is correct then the terms
he gave us, and quoted in his letter or 5th February, were
the best ho at that time allowed to non-American customers.
He however tells us that he has since April last reduced
his terms, and is prepared to supply at 407- provided an
order for a gross is given, and that if the Hong Kong Gov-
ernment orders a second half gross he will alter the pre-
vious charge and supply the second at the gross price.
We do not think the explanations about the
薄
circulars
entirely satisfactory, but there is nothing
to gain by pursuing the subject further, unless it can be
shown that other people in Hong Kong have received the
27
"American" circulars, and have obtained small quantities of
goods upon them at 407- per dozen without protest from Mr
Hicks, in which case the presumption would be that the
circular was not sent by mistake and the explanation not
genuine.
As regards the price of drugs, we referred the
Government Analyst's report of 5th April to the Society of
Apothecaries and attach a copy of their reply.
The reasons which led to the instruction conveyed
to the Crown Agents in Colonial Office letter of 26th
September 1867 that all drugs should be procured from the
Society of Apothecaries were set out in the correspondence
which led to that letter. Stated briefly they are that
this Society can be relied upon to supply the best quality,
that their charges are little if at all higher than those
of good firms and certainly not unreasonable; and that the principle of competition when introduced has led to unsat-
isfactory results. These reasons now apply with even
2.
greater
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