The returns of the area under poppy are both carelessly and irregularly made. Shensi Province. --Production, 10,000 piculs. Generally speaking, no action has been taken beyond the publication of the Imperial Edict. The gentry are indifferent, and apathy reigns supreme, the Regulations being totally disregarded. Ten per cent. of the land is under poppy, and more is grown this year than last. In one district the farmers have reduced the area of poppy land owing to the decision of the authorities to impose an extra tax on land growing the crop.
In the centre of the province, north and south of the Hwei River, the gentry have established an Anti-opium League and distributed medicine gratis. Opium shops are inspected and their books examined. The dens, though few in number, have not been closed.
In the district of Hangchung-fu a missionary reports that the inhabitants, on hearing of a Proclamation which was received but never published, threatened to boycott all foreign goods.
Kansu Province.--Production, 5,000 piculs. Practically no official action has been taken in this far-off and conservative province. Few dens existed, as the people prefer smoking at home, but where they were found they have been generally closed.
More poppy is grown than ever, and in one district an official urged the people to plant for all they were worth, and to make hay (or opium) while the sun shone; in consequence, five times as much was sown. One missionary sends a discouraging report that the high price of opium has induced people to take to drink, while another states that those in his neighbourhood are trying various medicinal herbs as a cure.
Shantung Province.---Production, 10,000 piculs. At Chefoo the issue of the Proclamations was sufficiently effective to induce the owners of dens, about 300, to close these establishments of their own accord, except in the case of one proprietor, who required compulsion, and was subsequently paraded through the streets in chains, bearing his pipe in one hand and his lamp in the other.
The officials are credited with a sincere desire to assist the movement, and the people also appear anxious to see opium abolished, but smoking meets with such general and popular appreciation that its suppression will depend on the bona fides of the Government, or rather on the energy of the local officials, and fortunately these seem to be really in earnest.
One refuge has been established for the cure of the habit. But little poppy is grown near Chefoo, and there has been no restriction of the area, although returns were being prepared of the amount of land under poppy cultivation. In one instance the farmers, alarmed at the energy of the Inspectors, destroyed the growing crop. The officials have registered themselves, and in one district 50 per cent. of them are reported to have given up smoking, and so have 70 per cent. to 80 per cent. of the people. From another district one hears that smokers do not register themselves, though shops are inspected, and a report has been drawn up of their approximate number.
Chinan-fu. As a result of enhanced taxation, only one-third of the land formerly devoted to poppy in the south-west portion of the province is used for opium.
An official Prepared Opium Bureau has been opened, and native opium is to be subjected to the following experimental taxation:
1. Land tax (amount not specified).
2. Licence tax for selling prepared opium, 5 taels. For a district monopoly 50 taels is charged, and 1 tael for each branch shop.
3. "Tungshui" Tax (115 taels) to be paid by the merchant at the first barrier, and prepared opium to pay from 70 to 116 taels per picul.
Kiungsu Province.--Production, 5,000 piculs. This province is the foremost in China in anti-opium measures.
In Nanking 100 dens were shut and their appliances destroyed because the proprietors refused to pay the new prepared opium tax. Effective measures of suppression are said to be in force among the student and military classes.
The official monopoly of prepared opium was to have commenced on the 8th September, but was suspended on the protest of His Majesty's Government that it came in conflict with Treaty provisions. The whole scheme is now in abeyance, and meanwhile all dealers in opium, raw or prepared, carry on their business as before, though no lamps are allowed on the premises. Rules relating to raw opium and the registration of smokers await the reply of the Viceroy's Memorial to the Throne.
Chinkiang.--All dens in the native city are closed, though some are still allowed to sell prepared opium for consumption off the premises, but only to known confirmed smokers. This was effected under the personal supervision of the Taotai, who, finding two proprietors smoking in their divans, administered 200 blows to the one and locked up the other.
The same procedure has been adopted in two other towns in the Taotai's district.
The British Concession at Chinkiang is the only British one in China where opium establishments existed; these have now been closed, an order having been issued by the Municipal Council prohibiting the sale of prepared opium within the Concession, thus anticipating any similar action on the part of the Chinese authorities. No real hardship was entailed by this order, for the licensed opium dealers, six in all, had each denied that he dealt in prepared opium.
Soochow.--All shops registered at the Prepared Opium Bureau received a licence and paid the tax. A Proclamation has been issued that the price of prepared opium is raised by one-tenth, and of this increased taxation two-fifths goes to the Li-kin Bureau and three-fifths towards the expenses of the Anti-Opium Bureau. This Bureau has opened a department for the care and treatment of those addicted to smoking.
First-class patients pay 6 dollars until cured; second-class, 3 dollars, half of which will be returned when the patient is cured; third-class are treated gratis. Accommodation is provided for 100 persons at a time. The proctor of the Anti-Opium Bureau has been cashiered for lack of zeal.
Shanghae. Here the authorities had to contend with the powerful influence and opposition of the rich consumers who derive their wealth from opium. These authorities, as well as the gentry and respectable merchants, were in favour of the Decree, and the closing of the dens became a fashionable and popular movement, Though trouble was anticipated, the closing of the 700 dens in the native city was peacefully and successfully carried out, the Opium Guilds having given way and supported the Taotai. Their suppression, however, did not appear to diminish the consumption of opium, shop sales rather increasing than otherwise. Finally the shops were closed.
An account of the attitude taken up by the Municipal Council of the International Settlement at Shanghae and by that of the French Concession is given at the end of this Report.
Anhui Province.---Production, 3,000 piculs. At Wuhu practically nothing has been done to carry out the Decree, though in certain districts some attempt has been made to keep students and new troops from the habit. There is general inaction, owing to fear of riots and the absence of means to quell them.
Though little poppy is grown in the province, a riot occurred near Wuhu in the summer, due to the arbitrary uprooting of the whole poppy crop in the district by the Magistrate, and generally as a protest against the Decree.
Just when the dens were to be closed, the Governor was assassinated, and the authorities turned their attention to revolutionaries and shelved the opium question.
At the beginning of August all the dens were closed in Wuhu in order to enable a report to be made to that effect, but by the beginning of September they were all open again.
In several of the country districts they have been more effectively closed, though smoking still continues in private, as shops are still open; but it has diminished to a certain extent.
At Ningkuo refuges have been established, while the officials and gentry are in favour of the Decree.
The poppy area is reduced to one-eighth of what it was last year, but this is due to the heavy squeeze then exacted.
In the south-west of the province the number of dens if anything is on the increase, and morphia is greatly used. Nearly all the anti-opium medicines contain either opium or morphia, and the cure therefore only continues as long as the medicine is taken.
Chekiang Province.--Production, 5,000 piculs.
Hangchow.--The gentry and better classes are favourable to the movement. The officials have registered themselves as smokers or non-smokers, mostly signing documents of a non-committal kind to the effect that if they smoked they should be given six months' leave in which to cure the habit, and that, if then still addicted, they would consent to be handed over to the police.
The dens are all closed, and the Anti-Opium Society has opened a school for opium smokers, where they can learn trades, and advances loans to approved ex-denkeepers in order to enable them to start some other business. The Society also purchased the ...
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