CO129-510-8 Policy on sale of Opium 12-1-1928 - 24-7-1928 — Page 53

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so as to exclude the illicit opium, which seeks

aumission from without. Any attempt to restrict

local consumption by maintaining an unduly high

price or by raising prices is comparable to an

attempt to restra n the flowing tide by retaining

and raising the topmost planks of a sluice-gate,

while removing the lower planks. Under such

circumstances, I asked myself, how could Hong Kong

justify to the League its blind adherence in 1926

to a price fixed for pure Indian opium in 1918%

1927?

25. You say in your telegram of the 7th December,

1927, that you are unable to find any sufficient

expectation of ultimate reduction as the outcome

of my measures. I submit that in a matter which

must obviously depend largely on external factors,

over which Hong Kong has no control, this Government

cannot reasonably be asked to assess the chances

of succe88. But I can safely say that by driving out

the competition of smugglers a genuinely effective

monopoly will tend to reduce opium consumption in

Hong Kong. An efficient preventive service and

the operation of severe laws will allow a certain

margin between the official and the illicit price

of opium. At all events the proceeds of the trade

will be diverted from the pockets of amugglers, who will thus be hampered in continuing and extending

their business. Restriction will come naturally when by diminution of the world's opium supply the

price naturally rises, and suppression when, by the

combined

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