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[CONFIDENTIAL.]
Copy of letter from Messra. BUTTERFIELD & SWIRE, HONG KONG.
Messrs. ALFRED HOLT & Co.,
Dear Sirs,
LIVERPOOL.
OPITM SMUGGLING.
16th February, 1916.
Wo duly received your letter of 10th December with copy of that of 14th idem to Shanghai dealing specially with this subject, and the various documents referred to have come safely to hand. Singapore's news giving the native informer's report that the Opium smuggling "combination is a Firemen's Kongsco having branches at Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and England and the ringleader' is Jack A Tai" appears to be to the point considering the evidence you send us, but it is not yet clear that Jack A Tai, although deeply involved, and possibly a partner, is the actual ringleader, and curiously the documents do not show that Singapore is included in Yuehn King Chin's activities, for where Singapore is referred to it looks as if Liverpool is intended, and there is no evidence in the portions of the corres- pondence sent us of an established agent at Singapore such as shown in existence at Liverpool, Hong Kong, Shanghai, in America, Canada and Australia. One would naturally expect Singapore to be included, and that place may be dealt with or referred to in the other matter that remains to be dealt with on your side, or some other combination may serve the Straits. However that may be, Jack A Tai has been deeply involved in the Hong Kong business and the documents and guarded enquiries suggest the following conclusions.
Kwok-Tze-Shan is the present head of Jack A Tai here associated with the Blue Funnel and Taikoo business, which confirms your information, but from the correspondence we' judge, with all reserve, that Lou Pou Kee is the ringleader and organiser of the Liverpool and Far Eastern traffic, as also surmised generally by your solicitors. We notice that his name is mentioned by Tan Chao Ping in the Melbourne letter of 15th May, so that his name is recognised far afield. That same letter refers to three gentlemen in Liverpool," who apparently are Yuehn King Chin alias Charles Ming, Lon Pou Kee, and another. We cannot trace the name of this third person anywhere, and suspicion suggests one of the Kwok or Jack A Tai family, whose interest it would be not to appear. Yuehn King ('hin appears to be a central source of supply for all parts of the world; Lou Pou Kee is his partner with authority, and since the whole of the business is supposed by local authorities to have originated in Hong Kong he is probably the mainspring of the whole of this particular procuring "ring." He is reputed to be the proprietor of the Po Hing boarding house for firemen and sailors, and his address is given on one of the letters as ejo Po Hing, 28 Des Voeux Road Central, a place near Jack A Tai's store from which crews are probably recruited. The association of Lon Pou Kee with the Firemen's Boarding House ia natural, and bears out Singapore's informant's reference to the smuggling combination being a Firemen's Kong See or Guild; but we are trying to find out more of this man's identity. His side of the Opium business here was obviously started or taken over by Kwok Tze Shan during his absence in Liverpool. Kwok apparently had a respectful regard for him, and we suspect close relations, and wonder whether they are partners. Kwok terms him his elder brother, but we take that to he merely the honorific Chinese style of address, and the man appears to be of a different family if we may accept Lou as his true name, and Lou himself in the correspondence refers to a nephew Lou, When Lou Pon Kee returned from Liverpool the Far Eastern business appears to have entirely passed to him, and Kwok's name vanishes from the correspondence and it is Lou who proceeds to Shanghai to fix up remitting difficulties and enlarge business with Man Kan Kee, who appears to be this ring's chief agent there. We note by the way that Man Kan Kee or Wan Kin Kee's address is corner of Seward & Woochang Roads, Shanghai. Your accountants suggest that Yuehn King Chin elias Ming, alias San Toy, took over from Lou Pou Kee at Liverpool. A query is, did San Toy or Yuehn King Chin trade previously in a general way or in Opium with or without Lon Pou Kee, or did Lou Pou Kee go specially
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