CO129-349 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1908 [10-12] — Page 115

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which I submit will more effectually achieve the high

object which His Majesty'■ Government have in view.

23.

I would remind Your Lordship once

more that Hongkong is not a country of production of Opium,

but merely a centre of distribution which may be shifted

to other ports equally or even more conveniently situated

for smuggling purposes; that the Indian Government has

not (so far as I am aware) pledged itself to the restrict-

-ion of Opium consumption within its own territories in any

way; and that the record of this Colony (as I think I have

shown in my Memorandum) in the past both in regard to

assistance given to China, and in the control and decrease

of the consumption of Opium within its own territory, and

the steps now proposed for the future are such as marit

the approval of those who place our moral obligations to

the Native Races as first among the obligations of our

Empire. The enormous daily intercourse between this Colony

and Canton and other Chinese Ports places it in an excep-

-tional position which can only be appreciated by those

who have lived here, and it follows that the consumption

of Opium here cannot be arbitrarily suppressed as in

Australia, or the Philippines or other more distant places

which have restrictive immigration laws and a Customs

Preventive