Paraphrase telegram from the Governor of Hong Kong to the
Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Dated 26th August.
(Received Colonial Office 11.50 a.m. 26th August, 1927)
62
59
The Governor of Macao whom I have consulted in connection with
your telegram of the 19th of August informs me that his Goverment
can get as much Persian opium as they want. After going into the
matter very carefully his conclusion is that since the Macao
monopoly sells a mixture compounded of one part of Benares opium
to two parts of Persian opium his Government needs 120 chests of
Benares opium and 240 chests of Persian opium a year.
The Macao Government has no alternative source of revenue
immediately available to replace their opium revenue which
amounts to about 25% of their total revenue, If it were not for
the presence of Indian opium they would not be able to sell their
chandu at a price high enough to bring in the necessary revenue
from their sales of opium. The competition of smuggled Chinese
opium is so severe that Persian opium by itself could not be
retailed at a remunerative figure. This is borne out by experience
in Hong Kong. If they can count on a reasonable supply of opium it
ought to be possible for the Macao Government to control consumption
as has been done in this Colony. In the past there has always been
a serious leakage of opium from Macao to this Colony and to other
places. It is accordingly important, both from the point of view of
Hong Kong and from the point of view of the policy of opium
suppression generally that opium should be effectively controlled in
Macao.
The request which I received from the Governor of Macao was
to the effect that I should be granted authority to let his Govern-
ment have 10 chests of Indian opium a month, this quantity to be
made
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.