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an extent the period within which the cultivation of the poppy was to be prohibited in a province which was the second in importance of the opium-producing provinces. Many strong partisans of the anti-opium movement held that the suppression should take place more gradually and extend over four or five years, so as to allow the farmers more time to substitute other crops and to avoid arousing too active resistance on their part. Sir A. Hosie spoke with justice of the herculean task that the Viceroy had set himself. The reports, however, since received from Mr. Wilton, His Majesty's consul-general at Yunnan-fu, and Mr. Rosc, the acting British consul at Tengyueli, have proved that Isi Liang was fully justified in adopting such radical measures, and the success which has attended his energetic efforts goes far to prove how much can be achieved even in the very worst provinces towards the final eradication of the opium habit if only the higher provincial authorities are energetic and determined.
In the early part of the year it looked as if the people were inclined not to take the Viceroy's proclamation seriously, and though for miles around the capital no poppy was to be seen, in many more remote districts it was sown just as usual. In Kütsing-fu, Lopingehou, and other districts in Eastern Yünnan large tracts were planted, and the farmers declared that they would resist with force any attempt to interfere with their crops, but they found that the Viceroy was in earnest and was prepared, if necessary, to employ niilitary force to enforce his orders for the uprooting of the crops. The same state of affairs prevailed at the end of last year in many districts of West and South-West Yunnan, large areas of opium being planted in the belief that the Viceroy would never have the power to enforce his prohibition. In the district of Tsu-yung the area of cultivation was said to extend over 90 miles in length and attempts of the police to dig up the plants were forcibly and successfully resisted. Gradually, bowever, the reports received from missionaries and officials began to show that headway was being made. His Excellency Hsi Liang left Yunnan towards the end of February and the people evidently thought that the Acting Viceroy Shen would not show the same energy as his predecessor and that things would fall back to their former state. They were fortunately mistaken. Shen began by exposing one of his own official servants for three days in a cage for owning a secret opium den, he issued orders to search for hidden stores of opium, and gave instructions that loans advanced to opium growers by prospective buyers need not be enforced. The period during which opium would pass the customs and li-kin stations was prolonged, but only for a few weeks, and this step was taken to calm the growing discontent of the traders who had large stores of opium to dispose of. He dispatched soldiers to assist in rooting up the growing crops and stationed small bodies of troops in places where opium was cultivated. Apparently, however, it was not safe or possible last spring to carry the anti-opium crusade into the districts under the aboriginal chiefs of Yunnan, where large quantities of opium are grown-according to some accounts, two- fifths of the whole supply of the province though His Majesty's consul-general at Yunnan-fu puts it at only one-fifth, and that is probably nearer the mark.
The Acting Viceroy, in a memorial to the Throne, stated that the production of opium had been reduced by 80 or 90 per cent. Of course he excluded the semi- independent native districts from his calculations, but even then His Majesty's consul- general considered this estimate exaggerated, but he informed His Majesty's Legation that the Viceroy Hsi Liang, in conversation with him shortly before his departure, had claimed that the cultivation throughout the province including the districts not directly under the Chinese authorities had beca reduced by one-half.
Mr. Coggin Brown, of the Geological Survey of India, who travelled this year through Western and Northern Yünnan, was much struck by the extraordinary reduction that had been made since his visit last year to Western Yünnan, and cou- firmed the opinion that the poppy was nowhere to be found growing along the main roads, though he had seen a good deal growing in out of the way parts, notably to the south and west of Tali-fu. Mr. Wilton reported that in Eastern Yünnan the authorities adopted very strong measures, and soldiers were employed to uproot the plantations of poppy wherever they were found, the farmers in most cases receiving a small compensation.
The authorities appear to have paid much less attention to the enforcement of the regulations for the suppression of smoking though the closing of the opium dens was apparently made effective, at all events in all the big towns. His Majesty's consul- general at Yunnan-fu was told by a trustworthy Chinese official in touch with the Anti-Opium Bureau that about 10 per cent. of the well-to-do classes, 20 per cent. of the middle classes, and 50 per cent. of the working classes in Yuunan-fu bad given up opium smoking.
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In view of the importance of the province of Yunnan as a source of supply of native opium, and of the difficulty of obtaining independent and reliable information as to the degree of success attained in the anti-opium campaign, His Majesty's Minister decided to authorise Mr. Rose, the acting British consul in Tengyueh, to undertake a journey of inquiry in his consular district. The country traversed by Mr. Rose was formerly estimated to produce about 36,000 piculs, or nearly one-half of the opium grown in the whole province of Yunnan, and he considers that this year's production will not exceed 18,000 piculs. In the districts which are under the direct rule of the Chinese authorities not a field of poppy was to be found, but amongst the semi-independent Shan tribes the diminution in cultivation was naturally much less. This result had not been attained without resort to drastic measures on the part of the Chinese authorities, of which Mr. Rose cites several examples. Riots had been suppressed by military force, and in once instance the decapitation of fourteen persons had been necessary to convince the farmers that the authorities were in earnest.
Mr. Rose's report is of such interest as showing at first hand the remarkable progress that has been made towards the total suppression of opium cultivation in the greatest poppy-growing districts of Yunnan, that I have printed it as an annexe to the present report. We may, I think, take it for granted that the progress in other parts of the province is at least on the same scale. The great problem which still awaits solution in Yünnan is the discovery of some crop to take the place of the poppy, and I understand that the present Viceroy is studying the possibilities of introducing rubber cultivation.
Yunnan, like Shansi, affords a splendid example of what can be achieved in the space of a few months by the energy and determination of a single administrator bent on the eradication of the opium habit.
There are two points which I think must strike any one who, after a perusal of what has been written above about the individual provinces, wishes to form a more or less definite judgment as to the degree of progress made throughout the Empire towards the suppression of the cultivation of opium, namely, (1) that there has hitherto been no uniformity of practice except in regard to the prevailing absence of any accurate survey or record of the area of land devoted to poppy growing; and (2) that there is only one method of making effective progress in a manner that will make it possible to give a definite answer as to the decrease in the production of opium in China at the end of the three years, and that is by issuing orders totally prohibiting the cultivation of opium after a certain date and taking the necessary ineasures, however harsh, to see that those orders are properly carried out.
As to the absence of reliable statistics, to which I have already referred, nobody can regret it more than the various members of this legation who have been responsible for the compilation of the general reports on the opium question. Their labour and their responsibility would have been much lightened if they could have confined themselves to reproducing reliable statistics which could speak for them- selves, instead of trying to draw some more or less definite conclusions from the mass of vague and contradictory reports placed before them. I think that it is better to admit honestly that in the circumstances now prevailing throughout China and with the machinery at the disposal of the Government it is not possible to obtain a proper survey in the previous provinces or accurate records of the area under poppy cultivation in successive years on which one could base reliable statistics as to the proportionate reduction in the amount of opium grown in China cach year.
It is evident that at first the Central Government were under tlio delusion that
such information would be forthcoming to assist them in their task, The Imperial decree of the 26th June, 1907, and the regulations of the 23rd May, 1905, called for returns from the provincial and local authorities as to the area of land under poppy cultivation and as to the number of smokers. Sir A. Hosie in his general report wrote, perhaps a little previously, that the acreage under poppy cultivation was in process of compilation by the local authorities, but that nothing had as yet been published.
Much had been expected from the report to be submitted by the Chinese Government to the commission at Shanghae, in the compilation of which the officials of the revenue and postal departments of the Imperial Maritime Customs who are spread all over all the provinces of the Empire, had assisted. In presenting this
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