CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923 — Page 301

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reported by telegraph that the colony had

asked for an additional 30 chests in that year, and had

given notice that their requirements for 1923 would be

20 chests per month.

Before authorising the Government of India to

comply with this request the India Office asked for the

views of the Colonial Office, and for

information

as to the reasons for the increased demands of the

Colonial Government. The question was referred to the

Governor of Hong Kong.

Meanwhile in a despatch dated 2nd June 1922

(which crossed the Colonial Office despatch asking for an explanation) the Gover enclosed a copy of the letter

to the Government of India in which he had asked for these

increased supplies. This letter stated that the

necessity for the increase was due to the fact that, for some time past, the Government had been boiling con- siderably more than the 10 chests per month, supplied by India, and had thus been reducing stocks accumulated in

1919. The sudden reduction from 45 chests to 10 chests

a month at the beginning of 1920 had been too great, and the greatly reduced sales which then justified it were due (though partly to decreased consumption) in the main

+

to the smuggling of illicit opium into Hong Kong on a

This illicit scale which was not sufficiently realised. traffic was now less prevalent owing partly to the unsettled conditions in the neighbouring provinces of Chine the temporary interruption of communications caused by strikes, but also to the greater success of the Government's preventive measures, including an

increase of staff and a vigorous system of banishment for smugglers. As a consequence of the reduction of

the

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