18
8
I visited the town of Hung-chiang, on the Yuan River, which was formerly the great market for Kueichou opium, and which has grown into a busy and prosperous centre on this trade alone, the likin on native opium amounting to as much as 15,000,000 taels a-year when the trade was at its zenith. The people are now reduced to poverty and the town already bears evidence of decline, which appears to show that the trade has really suffered a fatal blow. A small quantity is still smuggled in by the small roads in the Yuan-chou district and distributed from Hung-chiang with the greatest precaution, but the most liberal estimate places the amount annually introduced at about one-tenth of that originally dealt with.
It will be extremely difficult to eliminate the trade in, and the consumption of, opium from centres such as this, and the slightest relaxation of official measures will probably lead to the recrudescence of a trade in which officials, farmers, merchants, and people have so great a stake.
Throughout the journey we received the greatest courtesy from the officials and gentry, who did their best to ensure our comfort and to afford us protection. Vigorous efforts were made at first to hamper my movements to confine me to the main roads, and to prevent my penetration into the tribal country. I was inclined to attribute this to a fear that poppy might be discovered in the loosely administered mountain country. The result of a careful search, however, appeared to show that official opposition was dictated either by the anxiety of the local officials for our safety or by the natural We reluctance of our Chinese colleagues to undergo the hardships of a mountain tour. walked most of the way, after abandoning our ponies and finding our sedan chairs too exciting, but to the Chinese delegates, unaccustomed as they are to any form of exercise, the exhausting marches and the comfortless nights proved a terrible experience. The fact that they completed the tour in a friendly and helpful spirit was therefore very gratifying.
To sum up the results of the tour, we have conducted a searching examination of the province of Hunan, and we have neither seen any poppy nor obtained any evidence of cultivation. The campaign of destruction has evidently been carried over several years, and although a certain amount was sown this year in the remoter districts, in the mountains and in tribal country, I am of opinion that little, if any, remains, and that A certain amount of the heroic measures of the last few months have been successful. smuggling from the neighbouring provinces still continues, but it is inconsiderable and decreasing. A certain number of people still use the drug, but the high prices and the severe punishments meted out to smokers have had far-reaching results.
Hunan is in a favourable position for the elimination of the drug, in that it is fertile and prosperous, other crops being economically possible in most of the country, though the mountain districts will suffer considerable loss from the campaign. The agricultural and mineral wealth of the province is so marked, however, and the water transport is generally so good, that the province will be better able than many of the other provinces to tide over any loss in connection with the opium trade, should the present policy continue. At the same time, the high prices of the drug now prevailing, and the demand which still exists, will form a great temptation to producers, and the least slackening of the repressive measures may lead to an immediate recrudescence of cultivation.
The student-class in the big towns of Hunan are reported to be really desirous of eliminating the drug, and they have voiced their opinions through the medium of the press. The bulk of the people, however, are frankly interested in it, either as producers, consumers, or tax-collectors, and they constantly expressed the opinion that the drug could never be entirely abolished. A number of the gentry, the most powerful element ? in the province, remarked one day that the question at issue was surely that of Italian opium, not of opium pure and simple, and I have little doubt that he expressed the general opinion of the people of Hunan. Whatever may be their motive, however, there is definite evidence for the moment of a sincere desire on the part of the Govern- ment to free the province from the cultivation of the poppy and, after an experience of the opium question in several other provinces, I am able to report that Hunan has dealt with the problem with unexpected thoroughness and success.
ARCHIBALD ROSE.
May 25, 1913.
9
Enclosure 3 in No. 1.
Report on Journey in Hunan (Eastern Section).
A careful search
FROM first to last I have seen no trace of poppy cultivation. and exhaustive enquiries have alike failed to disclose the existence of any crop this
season.
My investigation began at Ch'i-yang Hsien, which was reached from Changsha viâ Pao-ching Fu, and ended at Hsiang-Yin Hsien, 40 miles due north of Changsha. The journey falls into five distinctive divisions, which are as follows:--
1. Ch'i-yang Hsien to Liang Tien, 415 li (1384 miles). 2. Liang Tien to Kwei-yang Hsien, 165 li (55 miles).
3. Kwel-yang Hsien to Lung Tang, 205 li (683 miles).
4. Lung Tang to Ping-chiang Hsien, 785 li (261 miles).
5. P'ing-chiang Hsien to Hsiang-Yin Hsian, 185 li (613 miles).
The first division comprises lands which are favourable to poppy growing, and which have produced poppy in former years to a considerable extent.
The second is a fair example of those remote and outlying districts in which the poppy is generally supposed to be still in evidence. The path I travelled was an unfrequented one--well away from the beaten track.
In the third stage my road ran parallel to the Kiangsi border at a distance of 10 miles from it. The lands passed through were mountainous border lands with cultivated valleys.
The fourth division comprises border districts, but of more open and less mountainous aspect.
The fifth stage surveys the country from the Kiangsi border district of P'ing-chiang Hsien, eastwards to a point 40 miles due north of Changsha.
Poppy Cultivation.
Poppy was successfully grown in the season 1911-12 in some of the districts through which I have passed; in others the officials intervened, the crop was torn up, and the grower punished. At Ping-chiang Hsien for instance, in April 1912 a grower was fined 1,000 tiao (about 720 dollars) and his crop destroyed.
During the summer of 1912 proclamations were issued and notables sent round to impress on the local officials, elders, and landowners of the province that no poppy would be tolerated in the coming season, and that the provincial authorities would shrink from no extremity of action to ensure the final freedom of the province from opium.
Since November last (the sowing season) all the districts through which I have passed have been visited from time to time by search parties of soldiers, with orders to root up any poppy found, to arrest the growers, and to shoot down all opposition. A landowner in the Chien-chou district was shot in January 1913 under such circumstances, though I understand that he was the victim of a false accusation.
Secrecy of cultivation is scarcely possible, conditions being such as they are country districts in China; and discovery was rendered doubly sure by offer of rewards to informers, and by the posting up of boxes for the receipt of anonymous denunciations.
The Tzu Chih Chu (local government councils) and the Tuan Tsung (militia captains) have been made collectively and individually responsible for their districts. And finally, notables have been sent out periodically by the General Opium Suppression Bureau. The activity of this bureau has rendered impossible any apathy on the part of the district officials; and this result has been assisted by the fact that since the revolution local authority is vested no longer in one man, but is divided between three officials respectively: the magistrate, the judicial officer, and the commandant of the local troops.
Poppy cultivation in this province is only possible, in my opinion, where the local landowners are in a position to defy their officials; in none of the districts visite l by me does such a state of affairs exist. All these districts are well supplied with troops of the regular army, and are within easy reach of the provincial capital.
[2965 q-1]
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