CO129-349 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1908 [10-12] — Page 112

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mistake in having offered Government a rental, which it

proved beyond the means of the Farm to pay. It will there-

i

-fore be safer to accept 900 chests per annum as the

average number of chests necessary for the operation of

the Farm.

..

20.

I submit therefore to Your Lord-

-ship that instead of hazarding a new experiment of very

doubtful utility, the progressive decrease in the con-

-sumption of Opium which is shewn to have been taking place

ever since 1890 should be ensured by limiting the number

of chests which may be drawn by the Farmer when the new

Contract is entered into on March 1st., 1910, to a maximum

of 900 per annum. This will at one stroke reduce the total

number of Opium chests that can be boiled in Hongkong by

one-half and will insure that the amount of Opium consumed

in this Colony in 1910 will be less than that consumed in

the current year. Should it then appear that the Govern-

-ment of China is not only in earnest in its effort to

suppress the cultivation of poppy but is able to meet the

practical difficulties and to secure the co-operation of

the Provincial Authorities

points which at present are

by no means beyond doubt

G

it will be possible in future

contracts to effect a further reduction in the number of

chests