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given bonds that no opium was grown in their districts. In regard to the suppression of smoking, stringent regulations have been issued by the Viceroy to enforce the registering and licensing of all shops dealing in opium; a table of fees to be paid for the licences and a scale of taxation on the quantity of opium sold were published. The prohibition of smoking among the official classes has been most sternly and successfully enforced. Smokers are required to take out licences, on which are inscribed the daily amount which may be purchased and also the name of the shop at which the purchase must be made. Any infraction of the licensing regulations is very severely punished. The Viceroy also issued regulations establishing a system of wholesale opium houses in Kiangnan. A strictly limited number of these wholesale houses were to be licensed in cach provincial capital, prefecture, district, &c., to control the sale of opium. Retail shops were only to be allowed to purchase from these wholesale shops, and not from the farmers direct or from the foreign importer. The publication of these regulations called forth a protest from the British firms interested in the import of opium, and His Majesty's Minister represented to the Chinese Government that they tended to constitute a monopoly and to restrict trade in a vexatious manner. He was assured, in reply, that the Viceroy at Nanking had explained that the regulations in question were only intended to apply to native opium, without affecting foreign opium at all, As a matter of fact, the scheme seemed to have been abandoned, or at all events suspended, though in a few towns a reduction was effected in the number of wholesale shops.
In regard to Shanghae, reports received from His Majesty's consul-general prove that the anti-opium campaign conducted by the higher non-smoking officials shows no signs of slackening zeal, and that the trend of public opinion in so enlightened a community as Shanghae is distinctly in favour of suppression of the vice. The police have shown such energy that Sir Pelham Warren felt justified in asserting that in the native city of Shanghae opium divans were extinct. In the international settlement a second batch of opium-smoking saloons was closed at the end of December, making one-half of the original number, and a third on the 30th June, some 313 divans yet remaining open; and the lamp tax, originally 50 cents, has been increased to 1 dollar per lamp.
The Governor of Kiangsu reported that at Soochow, the capital of the province, the number of shops for the sale of raw opium had been reduced during 1908 from 1,900 to 555, while the number of smokers showed a decrease of 50 per cent.
It was further reported that at Soochow opium smokers were debarred from appearing as plaintiffs in the courts in civil cases.
The opinion of His Majesty's consul at Nanking is that the outlook is distinctly promising, as all the higher officials--and especially the Viceroy--are so much in earnest in their efforts to eradicate the evil. He reported that opium smokers were fewer, that dens were mostly closed, and that the area of poppy cultivation about Nanking was considerably decreased.
His Majesty's consul at Chinkiang has reported at various times that in Chin- kiang itself the dens had all been closed, though in the out-of-the-way towns and villages they still plied their trade. A register had been made of all opium-smoking
officials and forwarded to the Viceroy, and owing to the severe attitude of the higher authorities smoking had decreased among the official classes; and this example, backed by public opinion, had had some effect in also reducing the number of smokers in other classes.
The Governor of Kiangsu, in the memorial to which I have already referred, after detailing the steps taken to eradicate the habit of smoking both among the official classes and the general public, stated that in 1906-7 the number of opium shops in Kiangsu was 12,790, while the daily consumption amounted to over 30,990 taels weight, and that these figures had fallen to 2,830 and 10,800 respectively.
ANHUL
Sir Alexander Hosie had to state that very little had been done in this province and that the authorities were apathetic. The reports received in the early part of the year from missionaries, &c., continued to be very unsatisfactory, but lately there had been a great change in the tenor of their information. Many of the officials-and especially the governor-have proved themselves to be in earnest (though smokers still occur among the district magistrates), and the result of their efforts can be seen in a greatly reduced area of cultivation. His Majesty's consul at Wahu reported at the beginning of the year that the opium dens appeared to have been closed in most of the
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larger cities, but not in the country villages or on the high roads. The general consensus of opinion was that the production of opium in 1908 in the province had been reduced from one-half to one-third as compared with previous years; in some districts the growth of the poppy had been absolutely prohibited, and what had been already sown had been uprooted. At the capital of the province, An-Ching, the authorities were enforcing the system of licensing opium shops and opium smokers, and a licensed opium merchant had been fined twenty times the value of some Malwa opium which he had sold to a small dealer from the country who was not licensed to carry on the trade. Dr. Hart, the medical officer to the consulate, at the same time reported that there had been a decrease in the number of smokers, owing to the increased cost of opium, but that there had been an increase in the number of people using opium pills.
Writing again at the end of March, His Majesty's consul at Wuhu stated that the suppression of the cultivation of the poppy appeared to be more or less rigorously enforced in the country adjacent to the residences of the local magistrates, but that in the outlying districts the regulations were not infrequently ignored. In the north- west of the province, on the borders of Honan, poppy continued to be the staple crop, and a missionary who had just travelled through those parts expressed the opinion that nothing short of military compulsion would alter this, so defiant was the attitude of the local farmers. During the spring, however, the authorities displayed great energy, and the last reports received are distinctly encouraging. As a matter of fact, the southern part of the province is not really suitable for opium cultivation, and in the north most of the opium comes from various departments of the Fen-yang prefecture. A special officer sent out by the Board of Revenue reported that the production had been considerably reduced throughout the north of the province, except in the Suchow department, where the magistrate had in consequence been cashiered. The governor also in a memorial to the Throne reported the steps he had taken to suppress cultivation, and said that the officers he had sent our informed him that it had entirely ceased except in a few remote districts. He added, however, that he did not place implicit reliance in these reports, and would continue the vigorous measures he had hitherto employed. The various reports received from missionaries prove that in many parts considerable local opposition had to be over- come and the measures sternly enforced. One missionary from Yingchow, in the north of the province, wrote: During the last month there has been a tremendous slaughter in the opium crop of this district. It was a final chance to sow a spring crop-giant millet-on the land, after which the farmers would have been more unwilling to destroy the crop. The officials put on the final pressure."
He gave instances where the magistrate, to overcome the opposition, had personally superin- tended the ploughing up of the opium crop, In some districts, he said, there was no opium left; in others, four-fifths of the crop had been ploughed up, and he expressed the opinion that the desired opium famine was now assured, which would compel all the poorer devotees to abandon the habit.
It does not appear that equal attention has been paid to the question of eradi- cating the vice of opium smoking. The governor instructed the prefects and magistrates under him to personally visit all country towns and villages to make sure that all divans were closed and that the people were duly notified of the opium regulations issued by the Viceroy, but though the closing of divans has been enforced, at any rate in towns, the licensing regulations appear to have remained a dead letter except at the capital.
KIANGSI.
There is practically no poppy grown in this province, so the question of the suppression of the cultivation is here of little importance. Other means must be used here to stop the supply of opium, either by restricting the amount of native opium imported from other provinces or by artificially raising the price. The reports of the missionaries as to the progress made towards eradicating the habit of smoking are very contradictory, but on the whole the quarterly reports of His Majesty's consul at Kiukiang seem to indicate a certain progress. Public opinion would appear to be favourable to the movement, and though opium can easily be bought secretly and smoked secretly, the very fact that it has to be done secretly indicates an improvement. The increased price of the drug has forced many poor people to abandon the habit. The higher officials really seem to be doing their best, but are handicapped in their efforts by the slackness and venality of their underlings. Opium dens have been
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