CO129-440 - Others & Individuals - 1916 — Page 314

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The stuff is taken on board the ship at Liverpool, perhaps with the connivance of a watchman or other person employed on shore in connection with the ship, and is handed over at the end of the voyage to the foreign purchasers. While Yuehn King Chin is undoubtedly the active sellor in Liverpool, it seems that he has a partner in Hong Kong named Lou Pou Kee. This Lon Pon Keo appears in the correspondence as a foreign purchaser, but is evidently more intimately con- nected with Yuehn King Chiu, Lou Pou Kee is an extensive buyer, and the correspondence shows him recommending many Chinamen to Yuehu King Chiu as fit to be trusted with parcels of opium. Many, if not all, of these Chinamen are employees of Messrs. Alfred Holt & Company, as appears from the references to "Blue Funnel" steamers. This is a popular method of describing the steamers belonging to the firm. The "China Navigation" steamers mentioned in the letters belong to Messrs. Butterfield and Swire. It has not been found possible to identify these men. The dates given for their arrival and departure are always indefinite, the ship on which they work is seldom named, and then only with a Chinese name which bears only a distant resemblance to the English, and it is not at all uncommon for a Chinaman to ship under a nickname. Under all the circumstances, it is practically impossible to say that any particular man, who may or may not be still in the employ of Messrs. Alfred Holt & Company, is the man referred to in the correspondence as a carrier of opium.

The identity of the more important purchasers in China and elsewhere is on the other hand fairly easy to discover, though here again some individuals may appear only under nicknames, The names and addresses of most of them are well known. Some of them are persons of con- siderable wealth and good reputation among their fellow traders, and can give references to other Chinese merchants of good standing when their honesty or solvency is called in question.

The transactions are sometimes of great magnitude, though as a rule only a few pounds are carried by each man. Thus Wen Chiang and Tsai Hwai carry 200 to 500 lbs. on a single journey to China, and Chin Kwang on one occasion carried no less than 1,000 lbs, weight, worth £3,000 sterling, to Melbourne. On one "Blue Funnel" steamer, the Cyclops," the Customs Officers at Singapore seized the astonishing quantity of 13 tons, worth perhaps £30,000 at Shang- hai. A similar quantity was seized on the "Mentor" at Hong Kong, and quantities not far short of a ton have been seized on the "Pelens," * Ningchow," and "Rhesus" at Shanghai, and the Tydeus at Singapore. On the American route a very large seizure was made on board the "Calchas." A complete list of all these seizures so far as the details are at present available, is attached as Appendix E. This shows, more eloquently than verbal description, the magnitude of the trade.

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In spite of these frequent seizures the trade remains profitable, and the successful smuggling is still enough to make it worth while to persist. It is possible to calculate the rate of profit from the transactions which are recorded in detail in certain parts of the correspondence. In one the profit is $5,323 on a capital outlay of $2,943, or 180%. In another it is $9,030 on $5,250, or 170%. In a third it is $8,400, on $5,880, or 142%. In a fourth it is $5,100 on $3,270, or 180%. These figures, taken from the correspondence, reveal only the profit which is made on a retail transaction, the opium being sold by Yuehn King Chiu to the fireman or other carrier at a fixed price. The profits made by Yuehn King Chiu and his partners, must be considerably greater on the whole. Opium prepared for smoking is worth about ten times as much as crude opium. The successful smuggling of a ton of opium, purchased at about 15/- a Ib., and sold for £8 or £10 a lb. means a profit of from £15,000 to £18,000, after payment of expenses, The profits on successful transactions are enough to compensate for a large proportion of failures. There have been seized on board Messrs. Alfred Holt & Company's steamers alone, between July, 1914, and the end of 1015, about 12 tons of opium, representing an expenditure of about £20,000, and a loss of profit of at least £150,000. That the trade can stand losses of this magnitude is sufficient proof of the profitableness of those transactions which escape detection.

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