same. If no person shall make such a claim within one week from the affixing of such notice, such opium, or implement shall be forfeited, and may be delivered by the Magistrate in his discretion to the opium farmer.

38. Notwithstanding anything in this Ordinance contained, any opium seized on board of any steam-ship bound or about to proceed to the ports of Canton or Macao and which does not appear on the manifest of such vessel shall, if forfeited by a Magistrate, be detained by him until the disposal thereof has been determined by the Governor in Council.

39. Any opium forfeited and detained under the preceding section may be disposed of as the Governor in Council directs; and no police officer or other person lawfully holding or storing such opium shall be liable to any penalty under this Ordinance by reason of such opium not being accompanied by a certificate under section 12 or otherwise.

Procedure.

40. The Magistrate may, in his discretion, employ an analyst or other skilled person to report upon any technical point which may be in dispute in any prosecution under this Ordinance, and may at his discretion order the payment of such analyst or skilled person by the party in fault, or out of any fine recovered from either party, or out of the proceeds of any forfeiture ordered by such Magistrate.

41. In dismissing any charge or complaint under this Ordinance on the ground that such charge or complaint is false, or frivolous and vexatious, it shall be the duty of the Court to impose upon the person bringing such charge a penalty not exceeding that which the defendant would have incurred if convicted upon such charge or complaint, and such penalty shall be over and above any other penalties or liabilities which the said person may have likewise incurred in respect of his said charge or complaint or of his evidence in support thereof.

42. Over and above all other liabilities and penalties to which, by this Ordinance or otherwise, any person shall become or be subject in respect of his suing out, obtaining, issuing, or executing improperly and without sufficient cause any search warrant under this Ordinance, the said person shall be further liable to the penalties specified in section 49 to be enforced and levied as hereinafter provided.

43. In any proceedings before a Magistrate or on appeal to the Supreme Court relating to the seizure of any opium, implements, or other articles, the seizure whereof is authorized by any of the pro

visions of this Ordinance, it shall be lawful for the Judges of the said Court and for such Magistrate, and they are hereby respectively required, to proceed in such cases on the merits only, without reference to matters of form and without inquiring into the manner or form of making any seizure, excepting in so far as the manner and form of seizure may be evidence on such merits.

44. Except as hereinafter mentioned, no information laid under the Opium Ordinances 1884 to 1887 or this Ordinance shall be admitted in evidence in any civil or criminal proceeding whatsoever; and no witness shall be obliged to disclose the name or address of any informer, or to state any matter which might lead to his discovery; and if any books, documents, or papers which are in evidence or liable to inspection in any civil or criminal proceeding whatsoever contain any entry in which any such informer is named or described, or which might lead to his discovery, the Court or Magistrate shall cause all such passages to be concealed from view or to be obliterated so far as may be necessary to protect the informer from discovery, but no further. But if in any proceedings before a Magistrate for any offence against any provision of the said Ordinances or this Ordinance the Magistrate, after full inquiry into the case, shall believe that the informer wilfully made in his information a material statement which he knew or believed to be false or did not believe to be true, or if in any other proceeding the Court or Magistrate shall be of opinion that justice cannot be fully done between the parties thereto without the discovery of the informer, it shall be lawful for the Court or Magistrate to require the production of the original information, and to permit inquiry and require full disclosure concerning the informer.

Miscellaneous.

45. If any person charged with any offence under this Ordinance shall give a false name, or with intent to procure his discharge or acquittal shall produce or offer in evidence or cause to be produced or offered in evidence any certificate required by this Ordinance which shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Magistrate to have been issued to any other person or to be forged, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding 100 dollars in addition to any other punishment or penalty to which he may by law be liable.

46. Whosoever shall attempt to commit any offence in contravention of this Ordinance, or who shall aid or abet any other person in any such offence or in the attempt to commit any such offence, shall be liable on summary conviction to the same punishment and penalties as if guilty of the actual offence.

47. Persons employed in any department of the public service, and persons in their employ, or any of them, are disqualified from becoming or being in any way possessed of or directly or indirectly interested in any privilege or licence under this Ordinance, or the profits thereof, whether at law or in equity, and whether in their own right respectively or in the right of another, and from suing for or in respect of or in any way enforcing the same.

48. If any unsuccessful search for opium has been made under section 29 or 30 of this Ordinance by the request or at the instigation of the opium farmer, and there is no reason to suppose that any opium in contravention of this Ordinance has been thrown away or otherwise disposed of with a view to avoid detection, the opium farmer shall replace and repack any goods which may have been unpacked by reason of such search, and shall make good any damage he may have caused thereby, and the amount of money claimed for any such damage shall be adjudicated upon by a Magistrate, and shall be recoverable as a civil debt under the provisions of "The Magistrates Ordinance, 1890.”

Penalties.

49. Every omission or neglect to comply with or act done contrary to the provisions of this Ordinance shall be deemed an offence, and for every offence against this Ordinance or against any regulation made thereunder not otherwise specially provided for, the offender shall, in addition to any forfeiture of opium and implements provided for by this Ordinance, be liable on summary conviction to the following penalties:

(1.) For every first offence, a penalty not exceeding 500 dollars, or imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding three months;

(2.) For every subsequent offence, a penalty not exceeding 1,000 dollars, or imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding six months.

50. A portion not exceeding half of the pecuniary penalty recovered from any offender against this Ordinance may at the discretion of the Magistrate be awarded to the informer, and in every case relating to prepared opium the remainder of any such penalty recovered shall be paid to the opium farmer except in the cases provided for by section 38.

51. Whosoever shall assault, resist, or wilfully obstruct any excise officer in the due execution of his duty shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and upon conviction thereof shall be liable in the discretion of the Magistrate to be imprisoned for any term not

exceeding one year, with or without hard labour, or to a penalty not exceeding 250 dollars.

Repeals, &c.

52. Ordinances No. 1 of 1884 and No. 17 of 1886 are hereby repealed, but such repeal shall not affect any thing lawfully done or commenced to be done thereunder, or any privilege granted thereunder; and every regulation, bond, licence, or appointment made or issued under the above repealed Ordinances shall continue in full effect as if made or issued under this Ordinance until such regulation, bond, licence, or appointment shall be duly cancelled, amended, or withdrawn, or shall expire.

53. This Ordinance shall come into operation on a day to be proclaimed by the Governor.

Passed the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, this 2nd day of November, 1891.

A. M. THOMSON, Acting Clerk of Councils.

Assented to by his Excellency the Officer administering the Government, the 13th day of November, 1891.

W. MEIGH GOODMAN, Acting Colonial Secretary.

A. B., of

SCHEDULES.

(A.)

Appointment of Excise Officer.

"THE OPIUM ORDINANCE, 18 ."

in

is hereby appointed to be an Excise officer under the above Ordinance, and is duly vested with all the rights, powers, and immunities of such officer under the provisions of the said Ordinance, until

18 or until this Licence is revoked by the

Not transferable. To be returned after the opium is used.

Notice. The Governor in Council has granted the exclusive privilege of preparing and selling prepared opium within the Colony to

from

The opium now purchased and sold cannot legally be used or retained in your possession after noon of the third day from the above date without the consent of

(C.)

Public Notice of Expiry of Farm.

THE exclusive privilege of preparing opium, and selling and retailing opium so prepared will cease on

18. No prepared opium

purchased from us or our licensees can be used after 18 at noon, without the consent of the new holder of such exclusive privilege as aforesaid.

CORRESPONDENCE relating to the Finances of Greece (Law of Control; Contract with "Société de Régie;" Protocols of Financial Commission; Position of Funding Loan; &c.).-January-May, 1898.

No. 1.-Sir E. Egerton to the Marquess of Salisbury.-(Received January 26.)

MY LORD,

Athens, January 21, 1898.

I HAVE received an official note from the Hellenic Minister for Foreign Affairs transmitting a copy (herewith inclosed) of the projected Law of Control, Règlement, and Protocol, for the information of Her Majesty's Government, and expressing the hope of the Hellenic Government that, with the assistance of the Powers, they may be enabled to present to the Chambers, at the same time as the other financial measures, the Project of Law concerning the war indemnity.

I have, &c.,

The Marquess of Salisbury.

EDWIN H. EGERTON.

(Inclosure.)-M. Zaïmis to Sir E. Egerton.

Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, Athènes,

le 8 Janvier, 1898.

EN exécution de l'Article II des Préliminaires de Paix signés à Constantinople le Septembre, 1897,* le Soussigné, Président du Conseil, Ministre des Affaires Étrangères de Sa Majesté Hellénique,

* Page 546.