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The Government analyst; whom Mr. May consulted with regard to this matter, stated that owing to other constituents in opium which have their effect, he would be inclined to say that the effect on the consumer of an equal quantity of morphine and opium is only as 3 to 1. Mr. May, therefore, recommended the reduction of the royalty on morphine from 30 dollars to 9 dollars per tael. Sir F. D. Lugard decided in these circumstances to fix the royalty payable to the opium farmer on morphine at 10 dollars per tael, ie., about 200 per cent. of the value of the drug, and effect was given to this :) lecision in section 8 of Ordinance 16 of 1909, which was passed by the Legislature on the 24th June last. In section 51 (4) of Ordinance 23 of 1909, passed by the Legislative Council on the 1st instant, the royalty on morphine has been retained at 10 dollars per tael, but that on opium has been raised from 3 dollars to 4 dollars per tael, upon the representation of the opium farmer that next year the price of opium is certain to be not less than 4 dollars per tael.
Lord Crewe, in despatch No. 160 of the 18th ultimo, expresses the fear that the effect of the reduction of the royalty will be to decrease the price at which morphine can be sold, and possibly to lead to an increased sale of the drug." But, in the first place, as stated in Mr. Humphrey's letter above quoted, the royalty of 30 dollars per tael has not as a general rule been collected by the opium farmer, for chemists and druggists in the colony have entered into private agree- ments with him to pay less; and, in the next place, as pointed out by the chamber of commerce, the opium farmers' monopoly was never intended to cover the sale of the drug as medicine, and the royalty was imposed in order to prevent the abuse of morphine or compounds of opium as substitutes for prepared and dross opium, not in order to restrict legitimate medical use of these drugs.
This Government, however, while reducing the royalty payable to the opium farmer on morphine, has at the same time adopted very stringent measures to restrict the use of the drug to legitimate purposes. For example, at the date when Ordinance No. of 1904 was passed, the registrar-general reported that there were some eighty-three firms in the colony dealing in opium pills and opium wine, and that of these eighty-three there were five which dealt in these articles exclusively. But in November 1908 there remained as licencces only twenty-six firms which had been in business in the colony prior to the passing of Ordinance No. 10 of 1904, while only five firms, all of them European (A. S. Watson and Co., Emil Niedhardt, W. Shewan and Co., A. Rumjahn and Co., Watkins, Limited), had been added to the list since the passing of the ordinance; and no firm remained which dealt exclusively in opium pills and opium wine.
On the 18th December, 1907, Mr. Tratman, as representative of this Government, and Mr. A. H. Todd, as representative of the opium farmer, and again on the 3rd November, 1908, the same representative of this Government with Mr. G. Hoggarth, as representative of the opium farmer, reported the results of investigations made by them under directions from this Government into the methods of licensees under Ordinance No. 15 of 1906. In view of their reports it was decided at a meeting of the Executive Council on the 12th of last February that six of the licences granted should be cancelled forthwith for breach of the conditions under which they were issued, and that all the other licences should terminate on the 28th February, 1910. There remain at the present time only eighteen licencees, and these were all informed on the 23rd of last February that their licences would be cancelled on the 28th of next February.
On the 1st March, 1910, Ordinance No. 23 of 1909 will come into operation, and under section 51 of that ordinance the licensing authority will be the principal civil medical officer, the total number of licences "for importing for sale or use within the colony, preparing, manufacturing, or dealing in morphine and compounds of opium and the conditions of such licences" being determined by regulations to be made by the governor in council, It is proposed to grant only a very small number of such licences, and to impose such conditions as will make it impossible for the drug to be used for other than legitimate medical
purposes.
The check on the illegitimate use of morphine will, therefore, in future be not an exorbitant royalty which, if collected, would make the cost of medicines containing morphine prohibitive, but the restriction of the grant of licences to deal in morphine locally to a few reputable chemists and druggists under the immediate control and supervision of the medical officers of the Government.
C. CLEMENTS.
September 20, 1909.
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Enclosure 4 in No. 1.
Board of Trade to Colonial Office.
Sir,
Board of Trade, January 28, 1910. I AM directed by the Board of Trade to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st January with its enclosures, relative to the export of morphine from the United (Kingdom to China and Hong Kong, and in reply to state that the Board do not at the present moment contemplate the initiation of any legislation dealing with the matter.
As Lord Crewe is doubtless aware, a proposal for an international conference to deal with the opium traffic has been made by the United States Government, and is now under consideration, and pending a decision as to participation in the proposed conference the Board are of opinion that any action on the part of His Majesty's Government in the direction suggested would be premature.
I have, &c.
Enclosure 5 in No. 1.
H. LLEWELLYN SMITH.
Colonial Office to Board of Trade.
Sir,
Downing Street, May 3, 1910. WITH reference to your letter of the 28th January, I am directed by the Earl of Crewe to transmit to you, for any observations that the Board of Trade may wish to offer, the enclosed copy of a despatch from the governor of the Straits Settlements with regard to the trade in morphine and cocaine.
I am, &c.
Enclosure 6 in No. 1.
H. BERTRAM COX.
Governor Sir J. Anderson to the Earl of Crewe.
(Confidential.) My Lord,
Government House, Singapore, March 30, 1910. IN the correspondence as to China trade enclosed in your Lordship's confidential despatch of the 3rd instant, I observe from a letter from the Board of Trade dated the 28th January that pending a decision as to a further international conference it is not contemplated to take any action as regards restricting the export of morphine from the United Kingdom.
2. I earnestly trust that this matter will not be lost sight of. Whatever may be the evils of opium smoking the evils resulting from morphine and cocaine injection are immeasurably greater in intensity and extent so far as the numbers physically and morally ruined by it are concerned. In spite of the activity of the police and revenue officers, and the systematic banishment of professional injectors and dealers in these drugs, we are I regret to say making no real progress towards an effective diminution
in the evil.
3. The rising of the price of opium of course militates strongly against our efforts to combat morphine, and as a further increase in the retail price is contemplated at an early date I hope that His Majesty's Government will avail themselves of any opportunity for arriving at an international agreement for restricting the trade in morphine and cocaine.
I have, &c.
JOHN ANDERSON.
Sir,
Enclosure 7 in No. 1.
Board of Trade to Colonial Office.
Board of Trade, May 13, 1910.
I AM directed by the Board of Trade to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 3rd May enclosing copy of a despatch from the governor of the Straits Settlements
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