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ایی
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IC
No 122.
,
24098
ik 14 25,
11
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONGKONG. 6th April, 1923.
My Lord Duke,
I have the honour to state that certain difficulties in connection with the system of payment of rewards to informers have been receiving the consideration
of this Government.
2.
This question has become of increased
importance in recent years for various reasons, such as the high price of Government opium and the large supplies of illicit opium available for smuggling into the Colony, and
the imposition of higher taxes on liquors and tobacco,
which render smuggling profitable and call for effective measures to safeguard the Colony's revenue. The checking
of the illegal import of arms and drugs into China through
the Colony also depends to a large extent on a supply of
information, which does not appear to be obtainable without
the payment of substantial monetary rewards.
3.
If it were possible to insist on all rewards
being paid direct to informers by senior officers of the
Police and Revenue Departments the objections to the system
would be considerably reduced. But it is claimed that the
identity of informers must as a rule be concealed if they
are to be of further use; and visits to high officials
naturally tend to defeat this object. Under present
conditions also senior officers often have not time to
attend personally to informers.
4.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, K.G.,
$0.
ko..
&c.
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