CO129-472 - Others - 1921 — Page 16

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The letter of the 21st February from the International

Anti-Opium Association at Peking to the League of Nations

exhibits a complete lack of information as to the true facts

of the situation. The chief inaccuracies are as follows:-

(1) The Maono upium Monopoly is not dependent on that of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Governant has repeatedly endeavoured to terminate the existing arrangement whereby Hong Kong is used as a port of transhipment for Macao'a

supply of raw opiwn from India, but without success, owing

to the attitude maintained by the Maoao Government,

To be

(2) Besides Hong Kong and Singapore, Opium Monopolies are maintained by the Governments of the following territorim

in the far Znat; Simu, French Indo-China, Dutch East Indies.

(3) Smuggling. Now that China is the greatest opium producing country in the world, it is obvious that the

abolition of the existing legitimate track in the drug in

Hong Kong and Singapore would enormously increase the amount

of contraband traffic, already very large, from China into

thoms Colonies. The price of opium in China is at present

about one-tenth of that artificially maintained in Hong Konga

the volume of smuggling so created is already taxing the

resources of the Colonial Government to their utmost to suppress; and the increase which would inevitably result from any attempt completely to abolish the liọng hong and Singapore monopolies would be quite beyond the power of tione Colonies to cope with.

(4) The assertion that the Hong Kong monopoly will be abolished in the course of a few years has never been made

with official authority.

(5) The contract recently renewed with the Government of India for the supply of opium to Hong kong expressly stater that the Hong Kong Government is not bound to receive

any