CO129-516-5 Policy of Hong Kong government on the purchase and supply of opium 25-2-1929 - 10-5-1929 — Page 40

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ever.

and the amount of opium which is now consumed

annually in Hong Kong is undoubtedly more than in

1922 - 1926, for the opium habit is as prevalent as

In 1918 China was reported to be practically

free of the poppy, but today the cultivation of the

poppy in China is more abundant than ever and the

various provincial authorities are chiefly concerned

to make, each and all, as much revenue as they can

out of the production and consumption of opium.

Nevertheless the quantity of Indian opium sold by

the Hong Kong Government Monopoly during 1928, in

which year we had an allotment of 196 chests, was

only 180 chests. But it is ridiculous to suppose

that a population which has increased by 14 per cent,

and in which opium smoking is as prevalent as ever,

did in fact consume 18 per cent less opium in 1928

than it did in 1926. The truth is, of course, that

the Hong Kong market is now supplied in the main

not by the Government Monopoly, hut by opium

smugglers, the reason being that the smugglers sell

opium at prices ranging as low as $2.00 a tael,

whereas the prices at which the Hong Kong Government

now sells opium are

(a) $50.00 for a three-tael tin of Kamshan, i.e.,

pure Indian opium, and

(b) $14.50 a tael for the Hong Kong brand, which

at present consists of 75 per cent of Indian opium

and 25 per cent of whatever kind of confiscated

opium is available.

It is, therefore, only well-

to-do Chinese with a taste for Indian opium who

purchase from the Hong Kong Government.

All other

opium-smokers get their supplies from smugglers.

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