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were bound to enforce strictly the Imperial regulations, and the more energy they infused into this task the sooner would the opium evil be eradicated.
As regards the subject of my complaint, his Excellency admitted that conditions) in this province differed from those that prevailed in Shantung, but said he could not discuss the question with me until he had had an opportunity of perusing the reports and correspondence with regard thereto. He promised to communicate the result of his enquiries to me in the form of a despatch in a few days' time.
This despatch, as you will observe, merely quotes the Prohibition Bureau's report without comment. I gather that this report correctly expresses his Excellency's views on the subject, and that he does not consider it necessary to reply to the arguments which advanced in my despatches and at our recent interview.
A prediction which I made at this interview is already in course of fulfilment, I said I considered the authorities were mistaken in applying these prohibitory regulations to the raw opium trade with Hong Kong. If they prevented this trade from being carried on in an open and legitimate manner in Canton, it would certainly be diverted to other places, such as Kongmoon, Samshui, and other West River ports. If driven from there, opium would still find its way in by illicit channels, and the growth of a vast trade in smuggled opium, not necessarily Indian, between Hong Kong and Canton would provide the Canton Government with a problem far harder to deal with than the present legitimate and well-regulated trade.
Since the beginning of this month no Indian opium has been imported through the foreign customs at Canton, but the import into Kongmoon and Samshui las increased tenfold during the last few weeks. This, as I have pointed out to Messrs. Sassoon and Co., would seem to indicate that their business is not altogether at a standstill.
The information I have obtained in conversation with the Viceroy's foreign secretaries and local dealers in opium leads me to believe that the Canton Government are about to make a determined attempt to obtain a monopoly of the trade both in prepare and raw opium, and that they rely on the new Viceroy to make the attempt successful.
In this endeavour they will have the active support of such bodies as the self- government society and the sympathy of that growing class of respectable Chinese who sincerely believe that the salvation of their country lies in the total prohibition of the use of opium in the shortest possible time.
Under these circumstances I feel that I ought to await your instructions before making further and more urgent representations to the Viceroy based on the treaty rights of our merchants to deal in foreign opium and the declared intention of the British Government to uphold these rights.
I have, &c.
(Translation.) Sir,
Inclosure 4 in No. 1.
Viceroy Yuan to Acting Consul-General Fox.
HARRY H. FOX.
Canton, September 17, 1909. WITH reference to your despatch to my predecessor, dated the 27th August, 1909, on the subject of the new regulations for the limitation of the sale of raw opium, stating that you had learnt that the Opium Prohibition Bureau had suddenly without warning arrested the manager of the Chuan Fu Cheng raw opium shop in the Hsing Lung Street, you requested that a careful enquiry might be made into the circumstances,
On receipt of your despatch the Acting Viceroy Hu instructed the bureau to make an enquiry and report, and a note was at the same time sent to you in reply. The officials of the bureau state that, by the order of the late Viceroy Chang, dated February-March, it became their duty to issue licences to shops selling raw opium and to individual buyers. This procedure was in accordance with the regulations submitted to the Throne by the Government Council and approved. A proclamation was issued at the time, and all raw opium dealers were summoned to the bureau and commanded to observe the regulations. The statement that no warning was given is therefore difficult to understand.
The raw opium shops, however, while professing acquiescence, secretly ignored the regulations, with the result that very few people took out buying licences. For
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several months past, with a reckless indifference to instructions, the dealers have been
Cillicitly selling opium in this way. The bureau had discovered that ten or more of the raw opium shops had been obeying the regulations, and were willing to carry out these precautionary measures, but two shops, the Ch'uau Fu Cheng and the Chuan Fu Hsing, relying on their comparatively large capital, had attempted to monopolise the trade. Their arrest by the police officials was supported by conclusive proof, and the sentence imposed on them to stop business, which was reported to and approved by the Acting Viceroy Hu, was a measure of exceptional clemency. The man, Liang Hsi Hou, who was arrested, was the manager of the shop in question, and the intention of the police was merely to obtain from him the licence of the shop for cancellation, when he would be released. The owner of the shop, however, in a reckless manner was making delays and remained in hiding. The measures that had been taken were those laid down by the regulations for the punishment of recalcitrant raw opium shops, and were in no way the concern of foreigners.
The raw opium shops numbered over twenty, and all were carrying on their business as usual. No dislocation was being caused to the trade of either Chinese or foreign opium merchants.
The officials of the bureau further remarked that the Imperial commands for the prohibition of opium had been in force for three years, and that confirmatory edicts had repeatedly been received. The whole nation had received these edicts in an obedient spirit, and the foreign Powers were unanimous in their sympathetic assistance. It was therefore their duty to carry out their instructions with the utmost energy, for the whole principle of controlling opium would be defeated were indi- viduals to be allowed to buy opium without a licence or opium dealers to sell to such persons. It would also be impossible to second in a worthy manner the friendly assistance of foreign kindly disposed Powers.
With regard to the increase in price of prepared opium, there was no violation of the terms of the Chefoo Convention, as the price was increased (i.e., a tax levied) after the opium had been imported and the packages opened.
In June-July of this year the British consul-general had forwarded a translation of a memorandum drawn up by the Governor of Hong Kong on the subject of the prevention of the smuggling of opium into Hong Kong. The Governor stated that it was beyond the wit of man to devise a satisfactory method of stopping the smuggling of opium into Hong Kong, for the reason that the price of opium in Hong Kong and the Straits was many times higher than in the south of China. If it was desired to stop this traffic, and thereby fulfil the promise contained in China's undertaking with Hong Kong, the only possible method was to raise the price of opium in China and bring it to a level with the price obtaining in Hong Kong. There would then be no profit attaching to the smuggling into Hong Kong. If, therefore, measures could be taken, to secure this increased price, the prevention of the smuggling traffic would meet with success, and assistance would be rendered both to their efforts to stop consumption and to the revenue of China.
This, the bureau observed, was a really intelligent and far seeing exposition of principle, from which it was obvious that an increase in the price of prepared opium did not involve a breach of treaty, and would have the effect of stopping the smuggling of opium into Hong Kong. The present deliberations on their opium policy were being conducted on the lines of the Governor of Hong Kong's expression of opinion, and would not cause dislocation either to Chinese or foreign opium traffic.
I have the honour to communicate the report of the Opium Prohibition Bureau for your information, and avail, &c.
(Seal of Viceroy.)
(No. 110.) Sir,
Inclosure 5 in No. 1.
Acting Consul-General Fox to Sir J. Jordan.
Canton, September 24, 1909. IN continuation of my despatch No. 108 of the 22nd instant, I have the honour to transmit copy and translation of a despatch which I have felt it my duty to address to the Viceroy, drawing his Excellency's attention to certain inaccurate statements contained in the Opium Prohibition Bureau's report, copy of which was forwarded to you in the despatcli above referred to.
I have, &c.
HARRY H. FOX.
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