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CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
R
[43564]
No. 1.
740
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.].
217
[December 14c?
REat 2 JAN 09 SECTION 1.
(No. 299.) Sir,
Sir C. MacDonald to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received December 14.)
Tokió, November 13, 1908.
I HAVE the honour to transmit a very interesting Report which has been drawn up by His Majesty's Consul at Tamsui on the Opium Law of Formosa and the present condition of opium smoking in the island. The Report is based on statistics published by the Formosan Government, and on the official report of the census taken in 1905.
A reference to the Law itself, which forms an Annex to Mr. Chalmers' Report, will show how extremely drastic are the penalties for any infringement of its clauses. It appears, however, that though the Law of 1897 with certain amendments introduced later is still in force, the penalties prescribed are in practice very considerably modified, and a policy of gradual prohibition has long since taken the place of strictly enforcing the extremely severe measures detailed in the Law.
I have, &c. (Signed)
Inclosure in No. 1.
OLAUDE M. MACDONALD.
Report by Consul Chalmers on the Opium Law of Formosa and its effects.
General Remarks.
PREVIOUS to the acquisition of the island of Formosa by the Japanese in 1895, there appears to have been no restriction imposed on opium smokers, and it is reported in an earlier Consular Report that the Chinese soldiery received no small proportion of their pay in the form of opium supplied to them. With such open encouragement, it is not surprising that opium smoking was persistently indulged in by all classes under Chinese administration. No returns were made of the opium smokers, and even the Customs returns of the imports can afford no indication of the extent to which smoking was indulged in, as large quantities of Chinese native opium was imported in junks, which did not figure in the Customs returns.
The importation of the drug was prohibited by the Japanese Government in 1896, but it continued to be smuggled into the island, and in January 1897 the first opium law was promulgated. By this law the importation and sale of opium became a Government monopoly smoking licences were granted to those only who had already become confirmed smokers, and all others were strictly forbidden to smoke. This law, together with the amendments made by Law No. 20 of March 1898, and Law No. 2 of February 1902 constitute the present law on the subject. During those first years stringent measures were taken against the use of opium, and Buddhist missionaries from Japan appear to have made a regular crusade against it. As the result, a very appreciable decrease in the consumption of the drug, and a marked improvement in the general appearance of the Chinese natives seems to have taken place, but it is likely that this improvement was also largely due to a better regimen of food being obtainable, and to the fact that the more intemperate among the consumers of the drug left the island for their native land where their craving could be more freely indulged.
A
After the advent of the Japanese, the country continued unsettled for some tine; the rebels and brigands were either exterminated or fled the country; and there was a large exodus of the original inhabitants. The Japanese were not long in discovering that a too sudden and drastic prohibition of opium smoking led only to discontent and involved considerable suffering. In China drastic measures of immediate reform had been attempted on several various occacions, but always without permanent success. policy of gradual probibition was the efore entered upon, but, having relaxed the enforcement of the Regulations for the bove reasons, the handsome income derived by the State from the opium traffic son presented considerable temptation to overlook
[2050 o-1]
B