CO129-405 - Public Offices - 1913 — Page 20

6.0

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.

OPIUM.

CONFIDENTIAL.

19

C. O.

173

|ALCO

RECE 2 JAN 13.

[December 5.]

SECTION 3.

[51934]

No. 1.

Extract from Enclosure in Colonial Office Letter of December 4, 1912.— (Received December 5.)

FINALLY, the governor spoke at great length about opium, with the object of persuading me that the requirements of Macao were very much greater than the Hong Kong estimate of 440 chests per annum. I pointed out to the governor that the Chinese population of Hong Kong was more than six times greater than the Chinese population of Macao; that the local consumption in Hong Kong had been ascertained to be not more than 45 chests per month; that the only country which did not prohibit the import of prepared opium was Mexico; that the export to that country could not be very large. I told him that I proposed to limit the number of chests that the Hong Kong farmer could use for export to 180 chests a-year or perhaps less, and that, in view of these two sets of figures, it was inconceivable that the legitimate requirements of Macao could be as much as 440 chests per annum. The governor said that the Macao farmer had asked for a renewal of the farm on existing terms for two years from 1913, and that he had refused the application. I said he had done quite right, and expressed the opinion that he got much too little revenue from the farm. (The revenue is only 140,000 dollars a-year.)

[2736 e-8]