[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Governmel
PE:
C.O
0791
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[43218]
No. 1.
R 17 00
[November 26.]
300
SECTION 1.
Consul-General Wilton to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received November 26.)
(No. 22. Confidential.)
Sir,
Yunnan-fu, October 9, 1909.
I HAVE the honour to forward herewith a copy of my report on opium for the quarter ended the 30th September, 1909.
I have, &c.
E. C. WILTON.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Consul-General Wilton to Sir J. Jordan.
Confidential.)
(No. 45. Sir,
Yunnan-fu, October 9, 1909. I HAVE the honour to report that from sixty to seventy mule-loads of opium (85 cwt.) were seized at Chi Ching-fu (East Yunnan) in August last.
The acting governor-general informed me in conversation that the drug bad been destroyed by his orders. It appears that the opium was Kueichou opium and had been passed into Yunnan by the magistrate of Ping-yi (East Yünuan), who received a bribe of 15,000 taels (1,8007). The intention had been to transport it as far as Mengtse, where it would have been hauded over to a French firm for sale and use in Tonquin, I am informed on good authority that the magistrate of Ping-yi was a favourite of the acting governor-general and presumed therefore to pass the opium. The matter came to light on account of the local li-kin office not having received a share of the liberal bribe paid to the magistrate. It is doubtful if any official notice would have been taken had it not been for the action of the gentry of Chu Ching-fu, who were indignant that cultivation of opium should be forbidden in Yunnan and the drug be permitted to be imported from Kueichou, a province in which no practical measures have been taken for its suppression. The acting governor-general told me that he did not think that the magistrate would be cashiered, as he had managed to recover the opium-passes he had given, so that no official record existed that he had been guilty of a breach of duty.
No new steps have been taken at Yünnan-fu in regard to the suppression of opium, pending the arrival of the newly appointed governor-general, Li Ching-hsi. The gentry, the merchants, the people, and even the officials of Yunnan-if Yünnan-fu can be accepted as a guide in this respect-hope that the new governor-general will relax the existing stringent regulations against opium cultivation. It is current talk that he was a confirmed opium smoker and has not yet succeeded in breaking himself of the habit, although it is said that his very slow progress towards his new post is in a great measure due to his attempts, en route, to abandon his opium craving.
I have, &c.
E. C. WILTON,
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