Opium reciept

Opium receipt

Image Courtesy of: Albury Library Museum

The document is a license or certificate for a company, probably in Hong Kong, concerning the sale of raw tobacco or opium, dated November 26, in a specified year. The receipt was found in a collection in Albury that dated back until at least the 1920s.

Transcription:

[Large Header]: 粵興隆公司 (Yuet Hing Lung Company)

[Second Row]: No. (Handwritten details unreadable) 地字第 (Handwritten number/serial unreadable)

與第十八欸 (and Clause 18)

熟鴉片烟賣之 (related to the sale of raw tobacco/opium)

即日年分 (on this day and year)

[Bottom Handwritten Text]:

年十一月廿六日發 (Issued on November 26 of the [unreadable] year) - The year is not fully readable.

Summary of Translation:

Yuet Hing Lung Company

Serial number (unreadable)

This certificate must not be transferred to others.

Main Text:

According to the first regulation of Hong Kong in the year 1891 and Clause 18 regarding the sale of raw tobacco/opium, on this day and year, for personal use, (unreadable amount) of raw tobacco/opium.

Issued on November 26, (Year unreadable).

Note: Raw tobacco/opium for sale, raw.

Opium reciept

Image Courtesy of: Albury Library Museum

Here is a best-effort transcription and translation. A few characters in the middle are obscured by folds, stamps, and later handwriting, so I mark those as uncertain.

Transcription

粵興隆公司

[地]字第　號

此照不得轉給別人

按照香港
一千八百九十八年
第十一號
條例之[則／例則]

[共／准／與][十／一][貼／買？]
熟鴉片
煙膏
[一兩／兩公錢？]

係自己所用

光緒二十四年五月廿一日發

Notes on the reading

粵興隆公司 is clear.

此照不得轉給別人 is clear: “this permit/licence must not be transferred to another person.”

The legal citation is mostly clear as a reference to Hong Kong, 1898, No. 11 Ordinance:

按照香港一千八百九十八年第十一號條例…

熟鴉片煙膏 is clear and refers to prepared opium paste / smoking opium.

The quantity / pricing line is not fully legible.

The large black handwritten date appears to read:

光緒二十四年五月廿一日發

that is, “issued on the 21st day of the 5th month of Guangxu 24.”

Translation

Yuet Hing Long Company

[Local/serial] No. ___

This permit is not to be transferred to another person.

Issued in accordance with Hong Kong Ordinance No. 11 of the year 1898 and its regulations.

[For the purchase / issue of — uncertain quantity] of prepared opium paste (smoking opium), for the bearer’s own use.

Issued on the 21st day of the 5th month of Guangxu 24
(= 1898, matching the printed ordinance year)

Short interpretation

This appears to be a non-transferable company permit or licence slip for prepared opium, issued under a Hong Kong ordinance of 1898, and specifying that it was for personal use.