by opium. It is too readily taken for granted that the cultivation of the poppy trenches on the food crops of the people, but it must be remembered that it is a winter crop, and shares the ground with wheat, rape, beans, peas, and barley. Szechuan still (in 1904) produces sufficient flour for home consumption, and the export of wheat of former years has given way to opium, which the farmer finds a far more profitable crop. An English acre of wheat will, on the average, yield grain of the value of £1. 5s. 6d., whereas a similar area will produce raw dry opium of the value of £1, 16s. 8d.”
The population of the province is estimated at 45,000,000, and Sir Alexander is of opinion that 17 per cent. of the adults and 7 per cent. of the entire population are addicted to smoking.
In regard to the province generally, it may be said that, to start with, the authorities did not carry out the provisions of the Edict with any degree of completeness or sincerity, and that but little was done to abolish or restrict the habit. Matters have now improved, and official activity is more noticeable in many directions,
It must not be forgotten that the question is much more difficult to deal with in Szechuan than in other provinces on account of every one being personally interested in opium to a far greater extent than the inhabitants of any other province,
In Cheng-tu, the capital, the following steps have been taken to carry out the Decree.
Refuges for the cure of the habit have been opened, and though they are not much patronized, there appears to be a real attempt on the part of the non-official and shop-keeping class to overcome the habit, while the officials do little or nothing to stop their own smoking.
The 500 dens in the city have been replaced by 300 well-appointed official divans for consumption on the premises, and though this arrangement carries out neither the letter nor the spirit of the Decree, it is a step in the right direction, and the complete prohibition of smoking in a city of 400,000 inhabitants where 50 per cent. of the male population smoke would undoubtedly have caused disturbances.
All persons using these official divans have to register themselves, but except in the case of the coolie class the authorities are unable to enforce this order with any degree of thoroughness. The richer classes have either laid in a store of the drug or purchase it secretly. Smoking is effectively prevented in colleges, schools, industrial institutions, the police, and the army.
At Kai Hsien, the largest opium-producing district in the province, where every available spot is under poppy, slight steps have been taken to obey the Decree. The Mandarin himself has given up the habit, and the yamên people have reported themselves. Some of the dens have been closed, and people have been beaten for smoking, but they are hostile, and destroyed four out of the twenty offices erected for collecting the opium tax.
In view of the unpopularity of the "tungshui" tax, which in some places the authorities were unable to collect, and in order to ameliorate the position of the opium merchants, the Acting Viceroy asked permission of the Board of Finance in Peking to revert to the former tax on opium, the objection of the people being that the tax deprived the poor of their pipe by making the price of opium prohibitive except as a luxury for the rich.
The result of the appeal to Peking was that the "tungshui" tax was abolished in July in favour of a tax of 27-28 taels per picul, with an additional tax of 5·28 taels for railway purposes on all opium, whether for local consumption or for export, this amount of 27·28 taels in the case of opium for export being divided into 20 taels as customs duty and 7·28 taels li-kin.
At Chungking half the dens were closed two years ago at the time the opium tax was increased, which shows the effect which taxation can have on the question.
An official Prepared Opium Office has been opened in the city for registering smokers, licensing smoking premises, and supplying the Government with prepared opium. The closing of the dens has been modified: 46 were allowed to remain open, 2 in each ward of the city, and this number was subsequently increased to 100, the proprietors depositing 50 taels guarantee for good behaviour. The poorer classes are registering themselves, and the rich have mostly laid in a store which makes them independent of the Government supply. The authorities show energy, fines, blows, and the cangue being administered, and a crusade carried on against unlicensed houses, illicit sale, and unregistered smokers.
The licensing system has not yet been adopted in the country districts, but it is to be on the basis of one guaranteed store in each village. In these districts most of the dens have been closed.
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From Fushun a missionary reports that the dens have been reduced from thirty-six to seven. The officials are energetic, and great sympathy expressed for the thousands of poor who work in the salt-well district and are unable to continue work without the drug. Heavy taxation has reduced consumption, and less ground is under poppy than last year.
In the Luchou district many dens have been closed definitely, others reopened under the name of "The Silver Exchange."
In the north-eastern portion of the province many of the gentry have given up the habit; some have entered hospitals, others are said to have cured themselves. Many dens have closed of their own accord, and the gentry have combined together to purchase and manufacture anti-opium medicine,
At Suifu the dens have been closed three times without disturbance, but many have reopened clandestinely, and though the police occasionally make ostentatious raids, they usually connive at what they dare not suppress.
Kueichow Province. Production, 15,000 piculs. All dens have been closed at Kueiyang, the capital, and a number of persons punished for taking in smokers.
An official Prepared Opium Bureau has been opened, also two refuges where 100 and 80 patients respectively are to be treated gratis.
In September, one had 10 indoor and 1,400 outdoor patients; the other, 7 indoor and 400 outdoor patients. Ninety days are allowed for the cure, which is said to be unnecessarily long, ten to fifteen being sufficient.
Yunnan Province.--Production, 30,000 piculs, of an estimated value of £1,000,000. The serious efforts of the Viceroy are looked upon by his subordinates, not only without sympathy, but with positive dismay. He has dismissed all opium smokers from his yamên.
In the neighbourhood of the city of Yunnan-fu there has been a considerable decrease in the area under poppy, but this is reported to be due less to the Decree than to the fact that the 1905-6 crop could not be sold at a profit, and that a large stock remained on hand. Both shops and dens have been inspected in the city, and the latter were subsequently all closed without disturbance,
An Anti-Opium Bureau has been opened to licence, regulate, and restrict the sale of opium, and in regard to the latter the authorities announced that the first year would be for exhortation, the second for zealous prohibition, the third for force.
The Bureau is actively at work, and eighty shops have taken out licences. To commence with, great difficulties were encountered in making a return of smokers owing to their reluctance to admit their vice. The manufacture and sale of opium utensils has ceased. Emissaries of the Bureau have visited each house and taken down particulars of every smoker and the number of lamps used. Preparations have been made to obtain returns of the area under poppy cultivation, which is to cease in the spring of 1910.
The sale of opium is to cease in July 1908, and an official Company is to purchase what is grown and sell it to those confirmed opium sots over 60 years of age who have been registered, and also, no doubt, to the Tonquin Régie (though this is not mentioned).
The Director of Agriculture has proposed that opium sots over 60 shall wear the red garb of a criminal, and be labelled, "So-and-so, Opium Convict," and the Governor has favourably received this proposal. There are some thirty-seven anti-opium drugs in use.
Thus it will be seen that a serious effort is being made to carry out the wishes of the Government.
Tengyueh. Here the Regulations are not taken seriously by the people. Exhortation is not expected to have much effect on them, and the authorities dare not use force.
At Talifu the people are reported to have restricted the poppy area of their own accord and to be growing other crops.
The eleven Articles of the Opium Decree of November 1906 will now be considered one by one, together with the steps which have been taken to carry out their provisions, special attention being paid to the Province of Szechuan, where most opium is grown and consumed.
Article 1. Restriction of the cultivation of the poppy in order to remove the root of the evil.
In Szechuan, beyond general directions for the gradual reduction of the area under cultivation conveyed in the Viceroy's Proclamation, no definite steps have been taken to carry out this Article. If returns are being made of the area under cultivation, they