CO129-352 - Public Offices - 1908 — Page 582

CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案 All AI Reviewed

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made about the increase in the number of secret

579

100,000 yen (£10,000) and 200,000 yen (£20,000) by

smokers of opium and the police throughout the island

fines alone apart from the 50 sen (6d) for each li-

cense granted. The Chinese were previously informed

warned all the chiefs of the villages and city wards

that all natives who smoked opium and had no licenses

would obtain them on a proper application being made.

This being generally made known the unsuspecting Chin-

ese lost no time in making application, and as it is

a Chinese custom to smoke opium when dining with

friends, many came who were not confirmed smokers.

The applicants were then (men and women alike)

taken up by the police and fines ranging from Yen 2

to Yen 20 were inflicted while those who were unable

to pay were beaten on the feet at the rate of five

strokes per yen unpaid. It appears that about seven-

teen thousand four hundred applied of whom fifteen

thousand eight hundred and seventy were granted li-

censes and placed on the smoking register after being

punished, mostly by fines. The remainder were youths

under twenty who were made to forswear smoking or were

put under medical treatment.

The Government are said to have netted between

that this was the last chance that confirmed smokers

would have of obtaining permission to smoke and they

all seem to have fallen into the trap and paid the

penalty accordingly.

The whole Proceeding would, Mr. Chalmers in-

forms me, have been strictly in accordance with law

except for a very important fact, namely that the

opium smokers law provides a scale of punishment for

those who infringe the law, but the penalty is cor-

poral punishment or imprisonment and no fine at-

taches to smoking without a license.

It is said that 90% of the secret smokers begin

the habit because they believe in it as medical treat-

ment. This is of course what most of them allege

and in the main it is probably true.

According to statistics there has undoubtedly

been a reduction in the number of smokers, but the

secret smokers still remain an unknown quantity and

100,000

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made about the increase in the number of secret 579 100,000 yen (£10,000) and 200,000 yen (£20,000) by smokers of opium and the police throughout the island fines alone apart from the 50 sen (6d) for each li- cense granted. The Chinese were previously informed warned all the chiefs of the villages and city wards that all natives who smoked opium and had no licenses would obtain them on a proper application being made. This being generally made known the unsuspecting Chin- ese lost no time in making application, and as it is a Chinese custom to smoke opium when dining with friends, many came who were not confirmed smokers. The applicants were then (men and women alike) taken up by the police and fines ranging from Yen 2 to Yen 20 were inflicted while those who were unable to pay were beaten on the feet at the rate of five strokes per yen unpaid. It appears that about seven- teen thousand four hundred applied of whom fifteen thousand eight hundred and seventy were granted li- censes and placed on the smoking register after being punished, mostly by fines. The remainder were youths under twenty who were made to forswear smoking or were put under medical treatment. The Government are said to have netted between that this was the last chance that confirmed smokers would have of obtaining permission to smoke and they all seem to have fallen into the trap and paid the penalty accordingly. The whole Proceeding would, Mr. Chalmers in- forms me, have been strictly in accordance with law except for a very important fact, namely that the opium smokers law provides a scale of punishment for those who infringe the law, but the penalty is cor- poral punishment or imprisonment and no fine at- taches to smoking without a license. It is said that 90% of the secret smokers begin the habit because they believe in it as medical treat- ment. This is of course what most of them allege and in the main it is probably true. According to statistics there has undoubtedly been a reduction in the number of smokers, but the secret smokers still remain an unknown quantity and 100,000 as

Baseline (Original)

made about the increase in the number of secret 579 100,000 yen (£10,000) and 200,000 yen (£20,000) by smokers of opium and the police throughout the island fines alone apart from the 50 sen (17-) for each li- cense granted. The Chinese were previously informed warned all the chiefs of the villages and city wards that all natives who smoked opium and had no licenses would obtain them on a proper application being made. This being generally made known the unsuspecting Chin- ese lost no time in making application, and as it is a Chinese custom to smoke opium when dining with friends, many came who were not confirmed smokers. The applicants were then (men and women alike) taken up by the police and fines ranging from Yen 2 to Yen 20 were inflicted while those who were unable to pay were beaten on the feet at the rate of five strokes per yen unpaid. It appears that about seven- teen thousand four hundred applied of whom fifteen thousand eight hundred and seventy were granted 11- censes and placed on the smoking register after being punished mostly by fines. The remainder were youths under twenty who were made to forswear smoking or were put under medical treatment. The Government are said to have netted between that this was the last chance that confirmed smokers would have of obtaining permission to smoke and they all seem to have fallen into the trap and paid the penalty accordingly. The whole Proceeding would, Mr. Chalmers in- forms me, have been strictly in accordance with law except for a very important fact, namely that the opium smokers law provides a scale of punishment for those who infringe the law, but the penalty is cor- poral punishment or imprisonment and no fine at- taches to smoking without a license. It is said that 90% of the secret smokers begin the habit because they believe in it as medical treat- ment. This is of course what most of them allege and in the main it is probably true. According to statistics there has undoubtedly been a reduction in the number of smokers, but the secret smokers still remain an unknown quantity and 100,000 as

2026-06-07 00:14:39 · Baseline

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