[This Document is the Property of His Britannis Majesty's Government.]
OPIUM.
58579 October 30.] -
CONFIDENTIAL.
REC
SECTION 1.
REG 21 DEC 151
[161253]
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received October 30.)
(No. 259.) Sir,
281
Peking, October 6, 1915. WITH reference to my despatch No. 101 of the 3rd May last, I have the honour to forward, herewith, copy of a report by Mr. Eric Teichman, on a tour of investigation made by him in the province of Kansu in conjunction with a representative of the Chinese Government.
The result of Mr. Teichman's inspection having shown that the cultivation of the poppy in Kansu has been successfully repressed, I have informed the Chinese Govern- ment in a note of which copy is enclosed herewith, that the importation of Indian opium into that province will be prohibited from the 1st of November.
I
have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN.
Z
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
Sir,
Mr. Teichman to Sir J. Jordan.
British Legation, Peking, September 30, 1915.
I HAVE the honour to report that I have carried out a joint inspection of opium cultivation in Kansu in conjunction with Mr. Chang Wei, of the Wai-chiao Pu, and that the result of our investigation shows that the cultivation of the poppy in that province has been successfully suppressed. During a journey extending over the whole summer, in the course of which we travelled some 1,700 miles by road within the borders of the province and visited many unfrequented districts, we did not see a single field of growing poppy.
The greater part of the Province of Kansu suffers from insufficient rainfall, and the cultivation of the opium poppy on a large scale has always been confined to certain favoured regions where the rainfall is more abundant, or where the water supply is sufficient to permit of regular irrigation being practised. The chief of these regious are: the Yellow River and neighbouring valleys round Lanchow; the Yellow River valley round Ninghsia in the north; the valleys of the Sining River round Niempo, and of the P'ingfan River south of P'ingfan in the west; the T'au River valley near Titao; the Wei River valley from Kungch'ang to Ch'inchow; the districts of Pingliang and Chingchow on the Shensi border; the southern slopes of the Tsinling mountains in the south-east; and the irrigated areas between the Nanshan mountains and the Alashan desert in the west of the province, notably the Liangchow plain.
The
I visited all these districts during the season with the exception of the Ninghsia plain through which we passed on our return journey in the early autumn, and am of the opinion that very little opium was harvested in any of them this summer. best opium in Kansu was formerly produced in the Liangchow plain and other irrigated regions in the north-west of the province, whence it was exported almost exclusively to Mukden, Tien-tsin, and Taiyuanfu by the desert route. Poppy was planted in the Liangchow neighbourhood this spring, but the crop was, I believe, in every case destroyed by the officials while it was yet young. We made a careful inspection of this plain, which consist of a string of oases of great fertility running north into the desert beyond Chenfan, and saw no signs of opium cultivation. Poppy was also planted on a small scale and subsequently uprooted by the officials in the districts of Ningyuan and Fuchiang (Wei Valley), Chingchow (Shensi border), and Ninghsia (in the north). In a remote valley in the mountains south of Fuchiang, where I had information of secret cultivation, there was evidence of poppy having been uprooted a few hours before our arrival. This crop, a very small one, would have been harvested had the inspecting party not visited that particular valley, and it is probable that a certain amount of poppy has been grown in similar secluded
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