8
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Kiungchow district for a considerable time to come, except in the more important towns.
11. Swatow.
His Majesty's Consul reported on the 7th August last that the Taotai had instructed the various local Magistrates to notify that all opium shops must be closed within six months dating from the end of April. Several instructions were likewise issued calling upon the local officials to discontinue the use of opium, but little attention is being paid to these orders. Proclamations prohibiting the use of opium are said to have been posted in the district city of Cheng Hai, but so far they have not appeared in Swatow, nor have they been published in the local papers. The Magistrates' runners have, however, been round Swatow ordering the opium shops that they may only sell opium for consumption outside, but may not allow it to be consumed on the premises.
12. Tien-tsin.
Missionary reports received from His Majesty's Consulate-General are to the effect that nothing or very little is being done to carry out the Imperial Regulations. One writer reports things to be in statu quo. "No opium shops closed, no restrictions in any way, and probably, though it remains to be seen, just as much poppy will be grown this year as in the years gone by."
The Consolidated Opium Tax Bureau of Chihli, which issued a Proclamation in April last urging the cultivation of land for the poppy for the sake of the revenue, is only a branch Bureau, the Head Office being in Hupei under the control of a high Commissioner for the collection of the tax on native opium for the whole of China. This collectorate has most unquestionably the most official status. The Proclamation has never been disavowed by the Viceroy, Yuan Shih-k'ai, in whose power indeed it would not be to take such a step, the Bureau not being under his control.
13. Tien-tai (Chekiang Province).
A missionary reports that an official Proclamation was issued on the 18th May, of which the two chief points were-(1) officials and gentry were to give up opium; (2) opium shops were to be closed in six months. At the end of July a new Magistrate repeated the Proclamation, but nothing had been done up to the end of August towards the closing of opium dens or shops, nor towards restricting smokers, nor inspecting opium shops. Nor is there any change in the amount of land under poppy cultivation.
14. Tsoyun (Shansi).
A missionary reports that the people smoke opium as before the Edict, although the opium dens and shops have been closed. One shop has been allowed to remain open at which everyone has the right to buy opium. Smuggling of opium dens and shops goes on everywhere.
The farmers are cultivating an enormous area of poppy land this year.
15. Wuchow.
His Majesty's Consul reports favourably on the steps taken to enforce the Imperial Regulations, and the dens seem really to have been effectively closed about the 11th May. Two proprietors who ventured to disobey the terms of the Proclamation were brought up before the Magistrate, heavily fined and "cangued," as a hint to the rest that the officials were in earnest in the matter.
The gentry have been urged to set an example to the common people by giving up the habit within the period of one year.
Kweilin. At Kweilin, the capital of the province, it would seem that efficient measures have been taken by the authorities to carry out the prohibition of opium smoking. Proclamations have at different times been posted, and a missionary states that the authorities really appear to be in earnest about the matter.
Nanning. A missionary states that a Proclamation was issued on the 25th March by the Taotai ordering the closing of all opium dens within thirty days, and forbidding the manufacture of the various opium instruments smokers use.
The present state of affairs (as reported on the 21st August) at Nanning appears, however, to be far from satisfactory.
The opium dens are not closed, no active steps have been taken to suppress them, and smoking is openly indulged in, the various shops even having their divans and smoking appliances.
16. Jehol (Province of Chihli).
Opium dens have all been closed "officially," but opium smoking continues with unabated vigour in other houses after dark. I am informed by a missionary that never in his long experience has there been so much opium in the district or sold at so cheap a price as at the present moment. The officials dare not take too energetic measures against the use of opium for fear of a change of policy on the part of the Central Government, when their activity would be severely censured.