We have no means of knowing exactly how much opium reached Formosa prior to 1920, which wi the first your of complete records supplied to the League of Nations. In 1916 however this same Mr. Koku '<then Chief of the Formosa Opium Monopoly Bureau-—stated that the revenue derived from opium what year amounted to Y.324,825, in 1917 Y¥.280,605 and in 1918" Y.611,266 Now it is very evident that during these three years the number of Jamokers must have decreased by. 12,000, why then almost double th income from opium in 19182 Ther no statement to show that it was due to a higher selling price, in fact if the League reports be correct, Formosa must be selling opium at a criminally cheap rate if her opium revenue remains as stated, for in 1020 the League report shows that Formosa "actually consumed" 155,206 Ib. of prepared opium, As the opium imported for smoking comes from India we might expect that the selling price would approximate to that of Hongkong, but if we fix it at ¥.10 an ounce (which is lower than' Hongkong price) then the revenue from opium must have been more than 20 times that stated by Mr. Koku, unless a an exceptionally cheap rate. Perhaps it is the cheapness which encourages their registered addicts to smoke such a yearly quantity as 195,206 tb—accompaniod as with such a high death rate—if so, may it not fairly be stated th opium suppression in Formosa is simply the extinction by death of opium smokers. 'The time from the adoption of the Taiwan Opium Law in' 1900 to the calculated extinction of the final registered smoker 15 years hence will equal a period of nearly 40 years, and a system of opium control of that character can hardly be termed one suppression,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.