1.3.
NEW :
PADNOS 2
19
Art. 10. To enter into negotiations for the prohibition of the import of foreign opium in order to close the sources of supply.
The prohibition of the growth of opium and of its consumption is a measure of internal policy which we are justified in taking without further circumspection. But the question of foreign opium which is imported from other countries hinges on our foreign relations, and the Imperial commands should therefore be sought to direct the Board of Foreign Affairs to make a satisfactory arrangement with the British Minister with a view to effecting an annual decrease within the next few years of the import of foreign opium pari passu with the decrease of native opium, so that both may be absolutely prohibited by the expiry of the time limit of ten years.
Besides Indian opium, the drug is also imported from Persia, Annam, and the Dutch Indies in no small quantities. In the case of Treaty Powers, negotiations should similarly be entered into with their Representatives in Peking to effect the prohibition of such import; while with non-Treaty Powers, we can exercise our own prerogative in strictly forbidding the import.
All Tartar Generals, Military Lieutenant-Governors, Governors-General, and Governors should also direct their subordinate authorities and Commissioners of Customs to take preventive measures along the trade routes and frontiers to stop smuggling.
As regards morphia and the instruments used for its injection into the skin, the effects of which are even more injurious than those of opium itself, proper effect should be given to the stipulations laid down in Article XI of the British Commercial Treaty and Article XIV of the American Commercial Treaty, and instructions be issued to all custom-houses to disallow the import of any morphia or instruments into China which are not for medical use; while a strict prohibition must be enforced against any shops in China, whether native or foreign, manufacturing morphia or instruments for its injection.
Art. 11. All Tartar Generals, Governors-General, and Governors of Provinces should direct the civil and military authorities in their jurisdiction to issue Proclamations promulgating these Rules for general observance.
527
EM
(Translation.)
Annex (B).
Imperial Edict.
Opium is in the highest degree detrimental to the people. In an Edict of last year prohibiting the use of it, the Council of Government were commanded to frame Regulations and to direct all yamens throughout the country to put a stop to it. In the third month of this year (13th April to 11th May), a further Edict was issued, commanding that general instructions be given to act in strict accordance with the Regulations which had been submitted to the Throne alike in respect of the cultivation, sale, and consumption of opium.
The welfare of the people is a matter of great concern to the Court, and this is a matter which must positively be put through. The Governor of Peking and the Tartar Generals, Viceroys, and Governors of the Provinces are commanded to issue strict instructions to their subordinates to put the prohibition into actual effect, to make it a matter of familiar knowledge in men's houses, to get completely rid of the evil. The Maritime Customs should keep a strict watch on the foreign opium which is imported, and the places in the interior which cultivate native opium must annually decrease the amount cultivated, in accordance with the dates sanctioned. It is further commanded that the relative merits of officials in this respect be recognized. If the instructions are zealously carried out by an official in his own jurisdiction, it is permitted to memorialize the Throne asking for some encouragement to be shown him. If an official merely keeps up appearances and while outwardly obeying secretly disregards these commands, he is to be denounced by name for punishment.
It is also commanded that an annual return of the land under opium cultivation be made, by way of verification and to meet the desire of the Court to relieve the people of this evil.
June 26, 1907.
Annex (C).
Map showing the various Provinces and the Amount of Opium attributed to each.