CO129-510-8 Policy on sale of Opium 12-1-1928 - 24-7-1928 — Page 41

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high price served only to restrict the sale of

Government opium and did not in the least restrict

opium consumption, rather the contrary.

10. I ascertained that the Macao Government';

opium monopoly, which was inaugurated on the

1st July, 1927, officially sold a blend consisting

of one part of Indian to two parts of Persian opium

at about 78 a tael, and that the Canton "Opium

Suppression Bureau" offered a good quality of non-

Indian blend (part Persian and part Chinese) at

about £6 a tael. These figures indicated the prices

which Macao and Canton respectively considered

necessary to protect their monopolies. Moreover,

they were figures which our own knowledge of

the prices of certain illicit brands confirmed.

11. In these circumstances I decided to make

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a determined effort to drive smugglers out of the

Hong Kong opium market and to re-establish effective

Government control. with this end in view, I

proceeded to utilize the stock of confiscated

Persian and Chinese opius then in the hands of the

Superintendent of Imports and Exports. It would,

of course, have been absurd to endeavour to sell

this stock at 714.50. I should not have sold a

tael. Accordingly, guided by the information

obtained from Lacao and Hong Kong and by knowledge

which the Superintendent of Imports and Exports

had as to the prices fetched by illicit opium,

I decided with the concurrence of my Executive

Council to put on the Hong Kong market three

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brands