(Translation,) Sir,
2
Enclosure 1 in No. 1,
Wai-chiao Pu to Mr. Clive.
August 2, 1920. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Sir Beilby Alston's letter of the 12th May, in which he enclosed three photographs of poppy fields in full bloom in the province of Fukien, two in a part under northern jurisdiction and one under southern jurisdiction. The letter expressed the hope that an example would be made of those responsible.
On receipt of the above letter this Ministry wrote to the officer occupying the joint posts of Military and Civil Governor requesting him secretly to send an officer to the localities concerned for the purpose of making an investigation. From the reply which has now been received from him it is learnt that, disregarding the photograph of poppy fields in a part of Fukien under southern jurisdiction, he handed the remaining two photographs to the former magistrate of Te-hua district, Li Hung-ch'ou, and to his own aide-de-camp, Liu Chin-yung, and despatched these officers to make close He had subsequently received from them the examination of the localities concerned.
following joint report :-
"
We proceeded together on the 1st June with all speed to the territory of P'u-t'ien, and after exhaustive search in all directions discovered not so much as the But at Hua-ting trace of a single poppy plant within the lines occupied by our forces. and Hou Shail, two places on the boundary of the Tien and Hsien-yu districts, opium has been illicitly cultivated in a few places, and here Mr. Cole took a couple of photographs. These two places are both some 10 miles from the district city, and taking the distance into consideration they are probably the two photographs of places referred to in the British Minister's note as being within northern jurisdiction. Thus there can be no doubt that the places where the photographs were taken were Hua-t'ing and Hou Shan.
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Now these two localities are in the neutral ground between the northern and southern lines, In general, the troops keep strictly within their own lines for fear lest, by crossing the boundary agreed upon, misunderstandings and collisions might arise. In consequence, the above two places were rarely visited by our forces, with the result that a few of the stupid and ignorant country people, greedy for their petty profits. engaged in illicit cultivation. Subsequently the district magistrate, Pan Wei, dis- covered the state of affairs, and wrote on the 28th April requesting Colonel Wang Hsien Chien to send his aide-de-camp, Ch'en K'an, to the locality in order to enforce the uprooting of the crop, and the country was then cleared of the poppy. remainder of the Pu Han' territory is entirely under northern control and i nnone of the places through which we passed was there any trace of the poppy."
The
The Military Governor, when forwarding the above report, observes that it appears that the two photographs sent by the British Minister were taken at places in the neutral zone between the northern and southern lines, and that as soon as poppy cultivation was discovered officers were sent to uproot it and clear the country of the crop; it can be seen that he, in his capacity of Military and of Civil Governor, together with his subordinates, has been not insincere in, his efforts to suppress opium. Governor requests me to write to you in accordance with his reply.
In transmitting the above to you for your information, I avail, &c.
(Seal of the Wai-chiao Pu.)
Sir,
Enclosure 2 in No. 1,
Mr. Clive to Wai-chiao Pu.
The
August 13, 1920.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's letter of the 2nd August on the subject of poppy cultivation in Fukien, and propose in this reply to show that the information transmitted to me as coming from the Military and Civil Governor of that province is a tissue of deliberate misinformation only confirming the doubts which this Legation has previously been compelled to express regarding the
3
information furnished to it by your Excellency's Ministry as to poppy cultivation in China generally,
The Governor states that he has not been insincere in his efforts to suppress opium. In evidence of this, he quotes a report by two officers who left Foochow for one of the producing districts on the 1st June and discovered not so much as a trace of a single poppy. The failure to discover the plant was not surprising, in view of the fact that the opium harvest was completed in that region during the last ten days of April; it merely shows that during the succeeding month the ground had been ploughed up the cultivation of other crops, as was to be expected, and not that any efforts had been made to suppress cultivation during the period when cultivation was possible.
362
for i
The two officers delegated by the Governor are forced to admit that a certain amount of poppy had been cultivated, but endeavour to show that this only occurred in ont-of-the-way places not visited by the Governor's troops. This information I can only describe as a deliberate falsehood. Cultivation of the poppy has in many cases taken place in the immediate proximity of, in full view from, the quarters of the detachments of the Governor's troops and in full view of roads constantly traversed by military and Moreover, I have abundant evidence, other officers under the Foochow authorities. collected from British eye-witnesses, that cultivation was general in the districts of Pu-t'ien, Fu-au and Hui-an. As a proof of the truth of this fact, I need only say that the price of opium has fallen in that region during the last two years from 16 dollars per oz. to 0-90 dollars per z.
In case this be considered insufficient proof, I have the honour to enclose six further photographs of poppy-fields, of which some are taken inside and some outside the walls of Hui-an city.
Furthermore, the statement in the report quoted by the Governor that the district magistrate of P'u-tien Hsien discovered that opium was being grown, and on the 28th April requested Colonel Wang Hsien-ch'en to send an officer to the locality for the purpose of uprooting the plants is an untruth. I am unable to believe that a magistrate in whose district opium was being widely cultivated under express encouragement of the office of the Military Governor whose chief aide-de-camp, Colonel Wang Hsien-ch'en, had been enforcing the payment of tax thereon, had to wait until the harvest was complete before he knew anything about it.
I trust that your Excellency will communicate the above to the Military Governor of Fukien, and will recommend him in future to draw up his reports in a manner which will bear a greater resemblance to the truth than that which you have forwarded to me in your letter under reply.
I avail, &c.
Enclosure 3 in No. 1.
Notes of Officiating Inspector-General of Customs.
R. H. CLIVE.
Opium-In the Yang-tsze region, and indeed over China generally, the opinm question has become acute. China has entirely failed to keep her part of the Opium Convention, and it appears that opium is being freely cultivated in most of the provinces. In Kweichow, Yunnan and Szechuan notably, with Tuchun connivance and encouragement, large areas are given over to the growth of the poppy; and from information received, it seems that these areas are being steadily added to. Hardly a boat, large or small, passes down the Yang-tsze without conveying its quota of the theoretically forbidden drug. Men-of-war, foreign and Chinese, revenue and salt vessels, every type of craft, from the river-steamer to the sampan, all are in the trade. The prohibition of the importation of Indian opium has opened the way for, and encouraged and fostered, an enormous production of Chinese opium, while there is no doubt from the seizures occasionally made that the foreign drug, though hampered, is still snuggled into China in considerable quantity through such organisations as the Macao opium farm. The growth of military government in the provinces, and their practical independence of central control, have entirely stultitied the attempt-genuine enough no doubt at first--to stamp out the use of opium in China. The position is now infinitely worse than it was when the traffic was legal. Opium can now be got everywhere; in many regions it is quite cheap. While police and other officials are
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