CO129-498-14 Illicit traffic in opium and drugs 4-12-1925 - 30-11-1926 — Page 96

Confidential.

Copy.

BRITISH EMBASSY,

TOKYO.

3rd September, 1925.

Sir,

In continuation of my despatch of 26th June relative to

the case of Mr. Toshiro Saito I have the honour to inform you

that further enquiries have yielded the following supple-

mentary information.

2.

In February 1924 Toshiro Saito with a capital of

200,000 yen formed a joint stock company of which he himself

is a partner with unlimited liability. In October last this

company the premises of which are the same as those mentioned

in the concluding sentence of paragraph 2 of my despatch under

reference established a small artificial manure factory, (Guam

Fertiliser Factory) at the mouth of the Kizugawa at Osaka.

Mr. Saito has let it be understood locally that he obtains the

raw material for his manures from a phosphate rock island near

Hongkong, which he states he had bought from the Chinese and

over which he claims to have acquired the sole rights.

believed in Osaka however that the Chinese also export phos-

phates from the island in question which is thought to be

within the jurisdiction of the Hongkong Government though its

name is not known.

3.

It is

Enquiries which have been made at the Banks in Osaka

shows that Saito does very little business as a fertiliser

merchant, and hardly any work is in progress at the Kizugawa

factory. At the same time he is the owner of two 4000 ton

steamers which are ostensibly employed in carrying phosphates

to Osaka from the island in question.

His Excellency,

Sir Reginals Stubbs,

Governor & Commander-in-Chief,

Hongkong.

4.

The/