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measures against importation have proved effective, and I do not therefore think that an actual inspection of Honan is required in order to justify the province being placed upon the closed list. I would propose that it should be declared closed simul taneously with Fukien, and any other of the provinces that may, after inspection, be found free from opium this spring.
The province of Kiangsi presents a momentary difficulty. The reports from the province have not spoken definitely of cultivation, and there seemed every prospect that Kiangsi would find a place on the list of closed provinces. But the Kiangsi authorities have requested the Central Government that there should be no inspec tion of the province for poppy cultivation this spring, for the reason that the rebellion of last year has left the southern part of the province in a disturbed state. and the provincial authorities do not feel confident that their prohibitions of poppy cultivation have been observed. A report just received from His Majesty's consul at Kiukiang of a disturbance at Ningtuchow, in the south of the province of Kiangsi, confirms the reason given by the Chinese authorities.
Under article 3 of the 1911 Agreement" the closing of the ports of Canton and Shanghai to the import of Indian opium shall not take effect except as a final step." The postponement of inspection of Kiangsi province must therefore necessarily post- pone any question of closing Canton and Shanghai.
Little or no native opium is grown in the province of Kuangtung which could probably at any time establish a claim to be placed on the closed list. In Kiangsu, the province in which Shanghai is situated, there is understood to be a considerable amount of cultivation, and in the natural course of things its closure could not take place at the earliest until the spring of next year.
No. 15.
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received May 4.)
Sir,
Peking, April 20, 1914. WITH reference to my despatch of the 17th January last, I have the honour to report that the investigation of Fukien for opium poppy cultivation, in accordance with the provisions of the Opium Agreement of May 1911, has been completed, and that the province has been found to be practically cleared of poppy growth. I have the honour to enclose herewith copy of two reports by the investigating officers, Mr. Consular Assistant Blackburn, for North Fukien, and Mr. Consular Assistant Turner, for South Fukien. These gentlemen travelled in their respective districts in com- pany with the Chinese metropolitan and provincial delegates, and both of them speak in appreciation of the co-operation of their Chinese colleagues in the work of investigation.
While it is satisfactory to know that the province has been cleared of poppy cultivation, it must be noted that this result has only been achieved by an extensive and drastic system of suppression on the part of the Chinese authorities. Without such official suppression which in some instances preceded the investigation party's visit by a few days, or even a few hours only-a far different story would have been told by the reports, and it would be rash to prophesy that the effects of this spasmodic and special suppression will continue into the next season.
The terms of the agreement are, however, fulfilled, and I have therefore notified the Chinese Government that the importation of Indian opium into the province of Fukien will be prohibited as from the 1st May, 1914. I have the honour to enclose copy of my despatch to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Sir.
Enclosure 1 in No. 15.
Mr. Blackburn to Sir J. Jordan.
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN.
March 21, 1914.
I HAVE the honour to report that, in accordance with the instructions contained in your despatch of the 31st January, I have, in company with Mr. Yeh K'o-liang,
23
deputy of the Central (Government, and Mr. Chen Shou-hsiang, deputy of the Fukien Provincial Government, made a tour of investigation in the north of this province, and that, as far as I have been able to ascertain, the cultivation of the opium poppy has been entirely suppressed.
There being no information in the possession of the consulate which would lead me to suspect that opium was being cultivated in any particular place, I arranged my itinerary so as to visit the largest number of the most notorious opium-growing centres with the least waste of time, though I was subsequently compelled to modify to some extent my original route owing to the limited time at my disposal, the extremely difficult nature of the country traversed, and the inclemency of the weather The roads are all paved paths 2 feet to 4 feet broad, carried over the mountains by steps, which after rain become so slippery that it is only possible to move slowly when it is possible to travel at all.
left Foochow on the 17th February, commencing my investigations from Kuant ou, on the Min River, whence I proceeded northwards, visiting in succession the following districts: Lien Chiang. Lo Yuan, Ning Tê, Fu An, Fu Ning, Shou Ning, Cheng Ho, Sung Ch'i, and Chien Ou (Kienning). From Kienning I took boat and returned by river, visiting Yan P'ing district en route, and arriving in Foochow on the 19th March. I have the honour to make the following observations in connec- tion with the various districts I visited:
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Lien Chiang was formerly a large opium-producing centre, but is now almost entirely under wheat, rape and rice. The missionaries did not report any opium here last year, and the magistrate informed me that hardly any attempt had been made to sow this season.
Lo Yuan has never been an opium-growing district, and there is no sign of any disposition on the part of the people to cultivate it.
Ning Te-Formerly one of the largest opium-producing districts.
The missionaries state that the whole plain, up to the gates of the city, used to be covered with poppy, but there is now nothing visible except wheat and rape. We visited Paitu, a large village 50 li north of Ning Tê City, which used to have a great reputa - tion for the quality and quantity of the opium produced there. It was at Hotung, in this same neighbourhood, that Bishop Price reported having seen soldiers on their way to destroy opium at the end of last year, but I could not obtain any information as to the precise locality where such destruction took place.
From Paitu we went to Sui Ch'i, in Fu An district, by boat, in order to effect a saving of time.
Fa dn was in former days by far the worst opium-growing district in the north of Fukien, but though I spent some days in this neighbourhood and made as complete a search as possible, I could find no trace of present cultivation. The magistrate, Mr. Yü, seems a most capable and energetic man, and he has himself spent five months out of the last fourteen in the mountain districts personally superintending the uprooting of the poppy. I am told that there are 1,200 persons engaged in the anti-opium campaign in this district.
in
Fu Ning ranks second to Fu An as an opium-producing district. It was on the road between Fu Ning and Fu An that Rev. Curtis reported having seen poppy last year, but there was none visible when I passed along this road. Dr. Mackenzie, of the Church Missionary Society in Fu Ning, informed me that some four weeks before my arrival a peasant was discovered to be cultivating a few square feet of poppy his garden.
The man was sentenced to be shot, but on the field of execution his punishment was commuted to 2,000 blows. This discovery, coming on the eve of the commission of investigation, appears to have considerably frightened the magistrate, for he immediately sent out 150 men to scour his district, offering large rewards for information as to cultivation. No further poppy was, however, reported.
Shou Ving. Formerly a large producing centre. The inhabitants are miserably poor, and the temptation to plant such a profitable article as opium is correspondingly great; but the state of terror to which the inhabitants have been reduced is well illustrated by the following: In Fa An and neighbouring districts are grown large quantities of a kind of artemisia, called “ai-tzu, I had remarked it especially because its leaves to some extent resemble those of the poppy, though in other respects the plant is quite different. In Shou Ning district I noticed that this plant was entirely absent, and on making enquiries I ascertained that the farmers themselves had rooted up not only this plant, but every other which in leaf or flower in the remotest degree resembled the poppy, for fear lest I should mistake them for
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