CO129-382 - Public Offices - 1911 — Page 110

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general financial cataclysm, consequent on the new levy,

whereby they endeavoured to intimidate me. The levy has

now been in force for six months, and whatever may be the

financial embarassments in which Hongkong finds herself

at the moment, they can hardly be ascribed to the action of

the Kuangtung authorities regarding opi.m.

That however, the Officer Atministering the Guvern-

without seeking to ascertain the real facts ment of Hongkong/should have seen fit to repect a rupurt,

said to have been current amoneut I presume, the ppium

importers and their Chinese entourage, is to mu astounding.

The report in question, which was to the effect that the

original regulations were submitted to me in draft form

and by me approved, is absolutely false, and an enquiry

addressed to fanton would, in the course of a day, have

elicited this doniul of its truth.

That took place before and after the new Regulations

come into force is as I have already pointed out, on

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