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the Taotai's Proclamation containing the Anti-Opium Regulations. Two teachers from official schools successively mounted the platform and held forth on the evils of opium smoking. Mr. Alexander related how in the Malay Peninsula a certain root had been discovered which when taken internally would cure all craving for opium. At this point there was a rush to obtain the medicine and great disappointment when it was learned that Mr. Alexander had not brought a supply.
Hankow.
Missionaries Twenty per cent. of the land in Honan is devoted to the poppy. report that at Kaifeng nothing has been done up to the 16th January towards prohibiting opium growing and smoking, while at Ching-tzu kuan nothing whatever had up to the 31st January been attempted, and the people thought the Central Government's Rules were not sincere. At Chinchou the li-kin of 23 cash has become a duty of 81 cash per tael (1 oz.), and sales are not allowed except through the opium office. The news of the coming prohibition caused some excitement among smokers; some took to drink and the rest go on as before. One Magistrate is said to have urged his people to make the most of this chance of profit by growing all they can. Most of the Kansu higher officials smoke opium.
In Hangchung no steps had been taken up to the 1st March, and the Proclamation of the Rules attracted little notice. The whole prefecture is under poppy with the exception of land too poor for it--the result being scarcity of foodstuffs and loss of prosperity.
From Hengchou it was reported on the 7th March that no opium was grown in that prefecture, and that of the population perhaps one in three smoke it; nothing has been done to check consumption among the people who have not been generally informed of the new Rules,
As regards the Province of Hupei, His Majesty's Consul-General reports that he has no knowledge of any official publication of the Rules, but the general tenour of references which have appeared in the native press shows a determination to institute an official monopoly of the sale of the prepared drug and a reluctance to sacrifice the revenue derived from the taxation of the opium divans, since general trade is already burdened as heavily as it can bear, and the provincial exchequer has lost the substantial income derived from the coinage of cash pieces, and has been drained by educational and military innovations.
Amalgamated Opium Li-kin.--A native newspaper published on the 2nd April "the monthly income from this source is 300,000 or 400,000 taels. With so large an income as this no wonder that we find it hard to put into force our opium prohibition."
Ichang.
Inquiries made by His Majesty's Consul amongst officials, missionaries, and others with regard to the anti-opium movement, have elicited the fact that no steps have been taken to enforce the recent Regulations.
Tien-tsin.
Proclamation issued by the Consolidated Opium Tax Bureau of Chihli.
"WE have learned that certain lawless rogues pretending to be in official employ, under cover of the Imperial Edict forbidding the cultivation of the poppy, have recently terrorized ignorant rustics and used numberless devices to demand and extort money from them. Those who make a living by the growing of opium have taken alarm and changed their mode of life. To such a pitch has this been carried that in cases where the poppy has been already planted it has been dug up again, and where it has not yet been planted the owners have taken warning and simply abandoned their fields and allowed them to become waste land. In this way honest people have suffered heavy losses, truly a pitiable and hateful thing to think of! It is not apparently known that, although the cultivation of the poppy has been prohibited by the Government, yet the Regulations most clearly provide for a time limit of ten years during which the area under cultivation is to be annually diminished. No extra tax whatever is levied on land where the poppy is grown,
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and opium may be transported to and sold in any part of the Empire. There is a consoli- dated tax on opium which is levied in one payment. The tax is not oppressive nor is the prohibition harsh, but prohibition is attained by means of the tax, an admirable conception and a just measure. In cities and frequented places this has long been brought home to the people by means of Proclamations. But the poor dwellers in villages and remote places are not yet fully cognizant of it, and misled by the lying reports of thieves, believe that the cultivation of opium is a forbidden occupation. I ask you, if the poppy is not cultivated whence is the tax to be drawn? This is a matter which concerns both the livelihood of the people and the national revenue, and if these villains are allowed to freely carry on their nefarious schemes they will work incalculable harm. It is necessary that they be arrested and dealt with, and therefore out of pity for the ignorant and unlearned (who are their prey) they will neither be tolerated nor admonished, but instantly punished.
"This Proclamation therefore is issued for the information of the people of the whole province. From the date hereof, all growers of opium must continue in their former avocations, and gradually diminish the area under cultivation as is laid down in the Regulations. If evil characters continue to carry on the extortionate practices referred to above you may seize them and send them to this office, and if the charge be well founded they will be handed over for punishment to the territorial officials."
The following comments may be made on this Proclamation :----
1. The Proclamation conforms to the letter of the Regulations, but is utterly opposed to the spirit which is supposed to animate the Central Government, i.e., the desire to eradicate opium at all costs.
2. The gentleman in charge of the Bureau is obviously extremely concerned at the falling off in the opium tax receipts and consequently in his own emoluments. There is no doubt that he, and 99 per cent. of the officials similarly situated, would prefer to see the area under poppy cultivation increased rather than diminished.
3. On the other hand, it is evident that the measures taken by Yuan Shih-k'ai have resulted, directly or indirectly, in a decrease in the said area.
Peking.
An Imperial message has been sent to all Tartar Generals, Viceroys and Governors stating that a Memorial has been received asking for the issue of strict instructions for the suppression of opium, and commanding that the Regulations be put into effect in respect of the cultivation, consumption, and sale of opium. Any want of vigour is to be severely punished. As to the proposed public loan to supplement the diminished opium duty receipts, the Nanking Viceroy and Governor of Kiangsu are commanded to consider the question and report in a Memorial.
(Signed) W. J. GARNETT.