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Indian yarn; while it is evident that the poorer the people the smaller their taxable capacity.
6. Difficulties and Prospects.-The difficulties in the way of opium reform in Szechuan have been mostly indicated when considering the preventive smoking measures, the position of the farmer, the question of taxation, and the effect which total prohibition will have on commercial and fiscal arrangements generally. Hence the existence of secret opium dens and other conditions entirely at variance with official proclamations and protestations, As things now stand, proclamations and regulations are of little solid account. The important point is whether the total prohibition of cultivation is, at the present time, a practicable possibility. There is room for very considerable doubt, and it is the irony of fate that complete suppression will fall most heavily on the three distant provinces of Szechuan, Kweichow, and Yunnan. The communications in all are bad and difficult, and the two latter are in their present undeveloped state poor provinces, each receiving a large annual
contribution from Szechuan.
Following in the footsteps of Hsi Liang, the last Viceroy of Yunnan, the Viceroy of Szechuan has sent forth a fiat ordering that no poppy shall be planted this autumn in the province under his jurisdiction. A viceregal proclamation, dated the 4th August, and posted in Chungking, threatens that the poppy will be trampled down, and that land-owner, tenant, and headman will all be fined and punished." It does not, however, carry a threat of confiscation of the land as does a proclamation recently issued by the Pa Hsien, which also asserts that guarantees have been furnished by the headmen of the various localities undertaking to prevent cultivation. Time alone will show to what extent these commands have been obeyed; but it may he mentioned that the Pa Hsien is shortly to vacate his post, and it is not of good augury that in Ch'uan Tung the progress made towards the restriction of cultivation the season before last was sacrificed in 1909, and that no effective steps have been taken to check indulgence in the drug.
More
A somewhat more hopeful story is told by Mr. Smith's correspondence in his thirteenth opium report, and a considerable improvement is noted at Shih Ch'uan, Ngan Hsien, Paoning, Kuan Hsien, Tzu Chou, and Mien Chu. All these places, however, are in the silk district, while Tzu Chou has sugar and Kuan Hsien medicines. important, perhaps, still is the fact that, with the exception of Paoning, they are all in the circuit of the Cheng-Mien-Lung-Mao taotai, which office is now associated with the taotaiship of industries, the incumbent being resident at Ch'engtu under the eye of the Viceroy. I am told also that none of these districts are considered to be large opium-producing centres, and the same is said of Suifu, Luchow, and Fushun. The two former report a largely reduced area under cultivation, and Fushun no poppy at all. It may be here permitted to allude to one of these anomalies which ever beset the path of enquiry into things Chinese, namely, that at Suifu, which is at the junction of the land and water route to and from Kweichow and Yunnan, most of the opium consumed comes from the former provinces. In fact, in Szechuan generally the well-to-do classes prefer the Yunnan drug, which, though more expensive, is superior in quality to the local article.
A factor which cannot be neglected in considering the difficulties in the way of the opium reform movement in Szechuan is the will of the people. Mr. Phillips in his report on the subject for November and December last, instances the case of Yung Ch'uan Hsien, where a newly arrived magistrate showed himself over-zealous, and had to be removed to appease the populace. The Chinese up to a certain point, and within somewhat extended limits, are a patient race; but the degree to which they will tolerate the increased taxation rendered necessary by opium and other reforms is a cause of some anxiety. Leaving aside the addition of 3 cash a catty on salt, three new taxes have been introduced at Chungking since my arrival in April last, The first, a tax on pigs of 100 cash per head, was imposed for the benefit of the self-government assembly; the second, a charge on tea-shops of 10 cash per table per diem, was necessitated by the loss of revenue attendant upon the closing of the opium dens, and is levied for the purpose of the new police force; the third is the further levy of 200 cash on pigs for remittance to the Board of Finance. A fourth impost is that reported by my predecessor in his intelligence report for the December quarter 1908, and is in form somewhat similar to a graduated income tax, the proceeds to go to the self-government assembly. What do the people get in return for these imposts? Opium, their most valuable crop, is threatened with extinction, and for the rest, allowing that something has been done for the beggars, vagabonds,
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and needy poor, and in the matter of street-lighting, the city of Chungking is, as stated in my intelligence report to which reference has already been made, as dirty and malodorous as it was five years ago, while the new police have sadly degenerated. The question as to what is to take the place of opium has already received some attention, and the ideas of various correspondents have been stated. Silk is the staple industry of Szechuan, and that it is capable of expansion would seem to be beyond doubt. Sir Alexander Hosie, in his report on the province (“China,” No. 5, 1904), which was written before the question of opium suppression had arisen, expressed the opinion that "the present number of trees could be quadrupled without injury to the usual crops, and the silk production correspondingly increased." In another place, speaking of the methods of reeling, he says: "It seems to me that foreign reeling plant might be introduced into the province with advantage to home engineering establishments and the natives engaged in the silk industry." Chinese authorities would appear not to be in ignorance of the possibility of further development, and some steps have been taken, in the shape of schools, for instructing the uncultured in the methods of sericulture. Private enterprise, too, has not been wanting. It would, however, be unwise to be optimistic. The radical change in the commercial and fiscal conditions of Szechuan which I have shown will result from the abolition of opium is a serious matter, and capitalists and markets are not found in a day. In so far as Ch'uan Tung is concerned, there is, as has been previously stated, every reason to think that, should the poppy not be allowed, its place in the near future must mainly be taken by the customary winter crops of pulse, cereals, and rape.
The
In the light of all that has been said, it will be easy to realise that the task which the Chinese authorities have set themselves to perform in Szechuan is one of exceeding difficulty. We know that the order has been given that no poppy shall be planted this autumn, and can only wait upon events. Personally I do not consider that total prohibition is possible, and the opinion of a Chinaman who has given some thought to the matter is that the cause of opium reform in this province rests very largely on the adequacy or otherwise of the measures now taken. He holds that total prohibition of cultivation is the only effective measure, and that, if the area under poppy is reduced 70 or 80 per cent. during the coming winter, and if there is no relaxation thereafter, success will be attained, but that if there is to be further vacillation and laxity on the part of the officials failure will threaten.
In conclusion I may state that, the report of impending total prohibition having reached the south, orders were recently received from Kuangtung, Kuangsi, and elsewhere for supplies of opium to the value of 700,000 taels or more.
H. E. SLY.
Chungking, September 18, 1909.
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