CO129-396 - Public Offices - 1912 — Page 91

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the regulations concerned, in accordance with the resolu-

tions of the International Hague Conference, by establish-

ing heavier fines for infringements, and by modifying the

removed from the port baptaincies and system of supervision, which could be placed under the ex-

clusive charge of the Inspector of Finances. The Governor

of Macao, in making his calculations of the present avera-

pes, corrected by an appreciable reduction, alleges that the

limit should be of 330 chests for local consumption and

460 for exportation, which would give a total of 840 chesta,

This Directorate General would feel inclined, in a loyal

and sincere spirit, still further to modify the above limit

by bringing it nearer to that of Hong kong, in considera-

tion of the fact that in the latter Colony the consumption

exceeds the exportation, while in Macao the exportation

exceeds the consumption. But a doubt arises which this

Directorate General would be glad to have cleared up:- In

the Hong kong contract the wording of Clause II tacitly

admits the possibility of the limit being exceeded by a

special concession of the Governor of the Colony. Has such

a cage arisen, and is this the explanation of the large re-

venue of 1,200,000 patacas which the monopoly there has

attained? On the other hand the result of a study of sta–

tistics is that, notwithstanding all the restrictions on

the opium traffic, the value of the exports from British

India during the last three years has considerably increas-

ed, as may be seen from the following note published in the

*Economiste Francais" of the 27th of July last regarding

the exports of opium from British India:-

1908

1909

1909 1910

1910

www

1911

£6,233,000

£ 6,209,000

£ 8,509.000

The

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