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C. O.
33553
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
(REG! 12 OCT 09 [September 6.]
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
SECTION 1.
(33512]
No. 1.
Acting Consul-General Wilton to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received September 6.)
(No. 13.) Sir,
Yunnan-fu, July 15, 1909. I HAVE the honour to forward herewith a copy of my despatch No. 29 of the 14th July, addressed to His Majesty's Minister at Peking, enclosing my opium report for the June quarter.
Inclosure 1 in No. 1,
I have, &c.
E. C. WILTON.
(No. 29) Sir,
Acting Consul-General Wilton to Sir J. Jordan,
Yunnan-fu, July 14, 1909.
I HAVE the honour to enclose copies and translations of three Chinese official proclamations--one issued by the Central Anti-opium Bureau at Yunnan-fu on the 29th April, and the others by the governor-general in May last.
It will be observed that the Anti-opium Bureau have conceded a fortnight's grace to the passage of opium through the li-kin barriers, in further extension of the period of three months reported in my No. 4 of the 12th January last. This proceeding may give rise to the idea that the provincial authorities are relaxing their efforts against opium now that the former governor-general, Isi Liang, has gone, but I do not regard the proclamation in this light. It seems to accord with the ordinary procedure in China, where time limits are less rigid than in Western countries.
The acting governor-general, Shen, in conversation admitted to me that it would be impolitic to deal with extreme rigour with the holders of existing stocks of opium, but he believed that the suppression of the cultivation would render it impossible In view of the for opium smokers to renew their supplies at the end of this year. poverty of the people of Yunnan and their resentful attitude against the suppression of their principal crop and the short allowance of time granted to them in which to seek other means of livelihood, the policy of the acting governor-general appears to be not unwise. It is probable, however, that the stocks in hand this year will be sufficient to supply opium smokers for a much longer time than his Excellency deemed it advisable to admit.
Mr. Coggin Brown, of the Geological Survey of India, who has been travelling this year through western and northern Yünnan, told me that he had seen a good deal of opium still being grown in out of the way parts of Yunnan, noticeably around the hamlets to the north-west of Yang pi, that is to say, to the west of Talifu. The English missionaries at Tali had informed him that opium was still being cultivated in Meng hua ting, to the south of Tali. Mr. Coggin Brown was, however, impressed by to Western the extraordinary reduction that had been made since his visit last Yünnan, and confirmed the opinion that the poppy is nowhere to be found growing along the main roads.
year
In Eastern Yunnan strong measures have been taken and soldiers sent to uproot standing crops of opium, but the farmers have been generally compensated to a small amount. At Yuan chiang chou, it is known at Yünnan-fu that the magistrate has persuaded the opium-growers to sow no opium in those parts during the ensuing autumn. His ambiguous remarks to the growers have been construed by them to As he is vacating mean that no restrictions will be placed on its cultivation in 1910. his post before the autumn of 1910, his successor may look forward to some unpopularity and difficulties.
Mr. Graham, an experienced missionary of the China Inland Mission, returned to Yunnan-fu in June last, travelling deliberately from Hankow via Hunan and Kueichou. He reports that opium is being grown openly in the latter province, and
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