[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
([200346]
(No. 263.) Sir,
ват
[October 19.]
59615
SECTION 1.
REC
No. REG? 5 DEC17)
Mr. Alaton to Mr. Balfour.-(Received October 19.)
Peking, August 20, 1917.
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of a report by Mr. Eric Teichman on the joint opium inspection of Shensi Province.
Mr. Teichman's tour involved travelling over some very difficult country, and his report furnishes an extremely interesting account of the conditions prevailing in that part of China. :
As a result of this inspection. Shensi has been declared free from poppy cultivation, and I have the honour to enclose translation of a letter from the Wai-chiao Pu notifying me of this fact.
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
I bave, &c.
B. ALSTON.
Report by Mr. Teichman on Joint Opium Inspection in Province of Shenei.
Result of Inspection
Previous History of Suppression
Present Suppressive Measures
Nature of Tour
Trade and Consumption
Constitution of Party.. Assistance of Officials.. Outlook for Future Description of Tour-
Tungkuan to Heingan Haingan to Hanchung Tanchuug to Toping Tuping to Fenghsiang
Fenghsiang to Yanchuu Yaochou to Tenan Tennu to larchang Hancheng to Sian
Sian to Paochi Paochi to Liupa
Liupa to Kuangyan
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I HAVE the honour to report that the joint opium inspection of Shensi, carried out by me in concert with deputies of the Central and Provincial Governments, was tinished on the 27th instant, and that we have found the cultivation of the poppy to have been successfully suppressed throughout the province. The tour was conducted under difficulties, owing to the prevalence of brigandage and political unrest, including a declaration of independence by the Governor during the inspection. But throughout a journey lasting three and a half months, in the course of which we visited most of the districts in the province, we saw no signs of the opium poppy being grown, save for an occasional head appearing, very rarely, as a weed amongst the other crops.
In former years Shensi ranked as one of the chief opium-producing provinces, and owing to the suitability of its soil and climate for the production of a superior type of opium, the somewhat turbulent and independent nature of its population, the remoteness and inaccessibility of its situation, and the huge profits accruing nowadays to the trade in the native drug, the authorities have been slow in falling into line with those of other provinces in the suppression of the poppy. As recently as the
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