336
Further restriction.
The restriction of the export from India will probably enhance the value of raw opium, and this with the restrictions already alluded to, and others to which I am about to refer, will probably still further reduce the tender in 1910. This in itself constitutes a heavy contribution on the part of the Colony to the policy inaugurated by His Majesty's Government, at a time when, owing to a prolonged depression in trade and to other causes, it is in considerable financial difficulties. Any serious decrease in revenue makes it, of course, more difficult to maintain effective Police supervision, without which the Farmer would be unable to protect his monopoly and prevent smuggling of opium into the Colony, or from the Colony into China.
There is no evidence to show that the Farmer in any way endeavours to promote the consumption of opium. No methods of inducement or advertisement are used. Opium divans are not in any way made attractive by meretricious devices as are public houses in England, and sales are in no way pushed.
I have endeavoured to show that the system of farming the monopoly of the right to prepare and sell opium results in enhancing the price of the drug and thereby restricts the consumption (the average price of the various grades of the raw drug is only about 1/4 of the average retail selling price in Hongkong); that it is a potent and indeed the only means of checking smuggling either into the Colony or from it to China; and that it produces a revenue that is perfectly legitimate and is expended in providing a Police Service, etc.
In order to give effect to the policy of His Majesty's Government it is feasible to propose enhancements to the restrictions imposed upon the Farmer. Prior to the year 1891 he was allowed to draw 3,650 chests of opium per annum in order to "prepare" and sell it. Since that year the number has been fixed at 1,800, and though it is true that he has not as a matter of fact drawn anything like this amount, it is impossible, except with his consent, to reduce this number, until the present contract expires in March, 1910.
(a) The number could then be reduced by half, viz., 900, and if China perseveres in her efforts it may in future years be progressively diminished, though for reasons which I will presently give I think it of more than doubtful utility to abolish the supply altogether. Since the population is rapidly increasing this constitutes a very substantial decrease. With the decrease of the export from India and the presumable cessation of the export from China, the supply will moreover be greatly curtailed and the cost proportionately increased. The Farmer is willing to agree to an immediate decrease (from March 1909) to 1,000 chests with 200 extra, if required, for bona fide export to places other than China.
(b) If the Farmer for the purposes of his operations should import any prepared opium he must declare it (as also opium dross, dross opium, and "halan"), and an equivalent deduction will be made from the quantity of raw opium he is allowed to draw.
(c) He may similarly be called upon to report his monthly sales of prepared and dross opium, whether in the Colony or exported, and in the latter case their destination.
(d) He would be prohibited from selling any opium to women or children, whether for their own use or not.
These restrictions would of course decrease the value of the farm, and thereby involve a loss of revenue to the Colony, which would however be expended in a practical effort to give effect to the policy of the Home Government.
There are other important steps which have been taken by this Colony to control and restrict the use of opium, both as regards the question of divans, and (most important of all) as regards the importation, sale, and use, of morphine, and compounds of opium (for eating), as well as cocaine, including moreover recent action with a view to controlling the transit trade in the former to prevent smuggling to China. These matters are, however, best dealt with under the subsequent paragraphs relating to Divans, and Morphia, &c.
The Straits Commission say (Report § 155) that this was "clearly proved" and was surprising looking to the commercial aptitude of the Chinese. The Farmer does not extend sales by giving bonuses, or lower rates for wholesale purchases and rarely gives credit but "simply supplies a demand and does nothing to stimulate it."
So much prominence has been given of late to the subject of opium divans (or "Dens" as they are called in England), that I think it may be useful to add a few observations on them.
Divans, which must not be confused with opium shops whose role is the preparation and sale (or sale only) of opium, are places where opium is sold for smoking on the premises, or where a fee is paid for the privilege of smoking. There is of course no means of preventing persons from preparing and smoking both opium and dross in their own houses if they wish to do so.
In Hongkong there are 190 divans. They are under the control of the Police and Sanitary Department and the Protector of Chinese. A divan consists of a single room which if quite full might accommodate 30 persons at a time. Mr. Clementi estimates the total who smoke in divans as some 14,465 persons which only gives an average for each divan of 76. Therefore if each person remained 3 hours the average occupants would only be 13 or 14 instead of 30, since divans are only open from 6 a.m. to midnight. A personal inspection showed them to be quiet and orderly. The smokers appeared generally to be friends engaged in animated conversation, smoking tobacco, eating fruit and drinking tea with an occasional whiff from the opium pipe. There were none in a state of stupefaction though the visit was between 10 and 11 p.m.
The Colonial Secretary, Mr. May, with 9 years' experience as head of Police, who had constantly visited the divans at all hours of the day and night, stated that he had never seen a man here the worse for the drug. He himself though very susceptible even to tobacco had smoked many pipes in succession with no result.
Dr. Ayres who studied the question for 20 years smoked 3 mace (174 grains) consecutively, viz., as much as a confirmed smoker would smoke in a day, without feeling any result at all.
A divan licence in Hongkong costs $10 per annum and is renewable annually, and the place is comparable to our public houses in England, in so far as it affords a resort where the tired coolie may rest and enjoy his tobacco and fruit with a little opium, or where friends of the better classes may meet and discuss affairs, but it contrasts strongly with a Public House in that it is quiet and orderly. Women and children are absolutely excluded.
Men who have homes of their own will, in the absence of divans, smoke in their women's quarters as they are now reported to be doing in Canton. Thus the evil hitherto excluded from domestic life will be introduced into the home, where women and children will probably become participators. The idea therefore that smoking at home is less harmful than smoking in a public divan is based on a misconception of the nature of a divan as it exists at any rate in Hongkong. It is true that the criminal classes frequent the divans, because they are often smokers, but they go there for no vicious purpose other than smoking, the place is too open and public for discussing secret plans, and there is no immorality.
The alternative resort for those with money is the noisy theatre, or the restaurant where much money is wasted, and which is more or less associated with the brothel. For the coolie the alternative is the street, or if he desires to smoke and has no home in which to indulge he must pay some rich man's servants for the privilege of smoking with them. It is indeed anticipated that abolition of divans would lead to the introduction of bad characters into the quarters of the Chinese servants of Europeans, and may even extend instead of curtailing the habit. Divans are a concomitant, and result of the habit of opium smoking rather than an inciting cause, and they serve a useful purpose in concentrating smokers, and thus bringing them under control and supervision. They also tend to diminish...
Calculation dated 12-6-09.
+ Indian Opium Commission. Vol. V. p. 198.
Ordinance 8 of 1891. The keeper's wife or child are alone exempted.
The Straits Commission support these conclusions very strongly. They hold that public smoking in well-ventilated saloons is better for public health than smoking in private houses. They are "unhesitatingly of opinion" that it would be a mistake to abolish divans and that there is "no necessity or justification" for doing so. They add some recommendations regarding control and sanitation, but do not advocate any increase in the licence fees which are $2 and $36. (Report § 212 to § 226). Mr. Fox informs me that during a year's residence at the capital of the opium province of Szechuan, he never saw any disturbance in a divan.
9
336
Further
restriction.
The restriction of the export from India will probably enhance the value of raw opium, and this with the restrictions already alluded to, and others to which I am about to refer, will probably still further reduce the tender in 1910. This in itself constitutes a heavy contribution on the part of the Colony to the policy inaugurated by His Majesty's Government, at a time when, owing to a prolonged depression in trade and to other canses, it is in considerable financial difficulties. Any serious decrease in revenue makes it, of course, more difficult to maintain effective Police supervision, without which the Farmer would be unable to protect his monopoly and prevent smuggling of opium into the Colony, or from the Colony into China.
There is no evidence to shew that the Farmer in any way endeavours to pro- mote the consumption of opium. No methods of inducement or advertisement are used. Opium divans are not in any way made attractive by meretricious devices as are public houses in England, and sales are in no way pushed."
I have endeavoured to shew that the system of farming the monopoly of the right to prepare and self opium results in enhancing the price of the drug and thereby restricts the consumption (the average price of the various grades of the raw drug is only about of the average retail selling price in Hongkong); that it is a potent and indeed the only means of checking snuggling either into the Colony or from it to China; and that produces a revenue that is perfectly legitimate and is expended in providing a Police Service, etc.
In order to give effect to the policy of His Majesty's Government it is feasible proposals for to enhance the restrictions imposed upon the Farmer. Prior to the year 1891 he was allowed to draw 3,650 chests of opium per annum in order to "prepare" and sell it. Since that year the number has been fixed at 1,800, and though it is true that he has not as a matter of fact drawn anything like this amount, it is impossible, except with his consent, to reduce this number, until the present contract expires in March, 1910:
*
(a.) The number could then be reduced by half, viz., 900, and if China perseveres in her efforts it may in future years be progressively diminished, though for reasons which I will presently give I think it of more than doubtful utility to abolish the supply altogether. Since the population is rapidly increasing this constitutes a very substantial decrease. With the decrease of the export from India and the presumable cessation of the export from China, the supply will moreover be greatly curtailed and the cost proportionately increased. The Farmer is willing to agree to an immediate decrease (from March 1909) to 1,000 chests with 200 extra, if required, for bonâ fide export to places other than China.
(6.) If the Farmer for the purposes of his operations should import any prepared opium he must declare it (as also opium dross, dross opium, and "halan "), and an equivalent deduction will be made from the quantity of raw opium he is allowed to draw.
(c.) He may similarly be called upon to report his mouthly sales of prepared and dross opium, whether in the Colony or exported, and in the latter case their destination.
(4.) He would be prohibited from selling any opium to women or
children, whether for their own use or not.
These restrictions would of course decrae the value of the farm, and there- by involve a loss of revenue to the Colony, which would however be expended in a practical effort to give effect to the policy of the Home Government.
There are other important steps which have been taken by this Colony to control and restrict the use of opium, both as regards the question of divans, and (most important of all) as regards the importation, sale, and use, of morphine, and compounds of opium (for cating), as well as cocaine, including moreover recent action with a view to controlling the transit trade in the former to prevent smug- gling to China. These matters are, however, best dealt with under the sub- sequent paragraphs relating to Divans, and Morphia, &c.
The Straits Commission say (Report § 155) that this was "clearly proved" and was surprising looking to the commercial aptitude of the Chinese. The Farmer does not extend sales by giving Lonuses, or lower rates for wholesale purchases and rarely gives credit but "simply supplies a demand and does nothing to stimulate it "
So much prominence has been given of late to the subject of opium divans, Divans. (or "Dens" as they are called in England), that I think it may be useful to add a few observations on them.
lisans.
Divans, which must not be confused with opium shops whose rôle is the Nature of preparation and sale (or sale only) of opium-are places where opium is sold for smoking on the premises, or where a fee is paid for the privilege of smoking. There is of course no means of preventing persons from preparing and smoking both opium and dross in their own houses if they wish to do so.
*
In Hongkong there are 190 divans. They are under the control of the Police and Sanitary Department and the Protector of Chinese. A divan consists of a single room which if quite full might accommodate 30 persons at a time. Mr. Clementi estimates the total who smoke in divans as some 14,465 persons which only gives an average for each divan of 76. Therefore if each person remained 3 hours the average occupants would only be 13 or 14 instead of 30, since divans are only open from 6 a.m. to midnight. A personal inspection showed them to be quiet and orderly. The smokers appeared generally to be friends engaged in animated conversation, smoking tobacco, eating fruit and drinking tea with an occasional whiff from the opium pipe. There were none in a state of stupefaction thongh the visit was between 10 and 11 p.m.
The Colonial Secretary, Mr. May, with 9 years' experience as lead of Police, who had constantly visited the divans at all hours of the day and night, stated that he had never secu a man here the worse for the drug. He himself though very susceptible even to tobacco had smoked many pipes in succession with no result.
Dr. Ayres who studied the question for 20 years smoked 3 mace (174 grains) consecutively, viz., as much as a confirmed smoker would smoke in a day -without feeling any result at all.†
A divan licence in Hongkong costs $10 (1) per annum and is renewable annually, and the place is comparable to our public houses in England, in so far as it affords a resort where the tired coolie may rest and enjoy his tobacco and fruit with a little opium, or where friends of the better classes may meet and discuss affairs, but it contrasts strongly with a Public House in that it is quiet and orderly. Women and children are absolutely excluded.‡
Men who have homes of their own will, in the absence of divans, smoke in Alternatives their women's quarters as they are now reported to be doing in Canton. Thus for divans. the evil hitherto excluded from domestic life will be introduced into the home, where women and children will probably become participators. The idea there- fore that smoking at home is less harmful than smoking in a public divan is based on a misconception of the nature of a divan as it exists at any rate in Hongkong. It is true that the criminal classes frequent the divans, because they are often smokers, but they go there for no vicious purpose other than smoking,-the place is too open and public for discussing secret plans, and there is no immorality.§
The alternative resort for those with money is the noisy theatre, or the rest- aurant where much money is wasted, and which is more or less associated with the brothel. For the coolie the alternative is the street, or if he desires to smoke and has no home in which to indulge he must pay some rich man's servants for the privilege of smoking with them. It is indeed anticipated that abolition of divans would lead to the introduction of bad characters into the quarters of the Chinese servants of Europeans, and may even extend instead of curtailing the habit. Divans are a concomitant, and result of the babit of opium smoking rather than an inciting cause, and they serve a useful purpose in concentrating smokers, and thus bringing them under control and supervision. They also tend to dim-
Calculation dated 12-6-09,
+ Indian Opium Commission. Vol. V. p. 198.
Ordinance 8 of 1891. The keeper's wife or child are alone exempted.
The Straits Commission support these conclusions very strongly. They bold that public smoking in well ventilated saloons is better for public health than smoking in private bouses. They are "unhesitatingly of opinion" that it would be a mistake to abolish divaus and that there is "no necessity or justification" for doing so. They add some recommendations regarding control and sanitation, but do not advocate any increase in the licence fees which are $2 and $36. (Report $212 to $226). Mr. Fox informs me that during a year's residence at the capital of the opium province of Szechuan, he never saw any disturbance in a divan,
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