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allotted six and Ma Hang three opium inspectors instead of the usual one, whilst the latter's officer in charge, a gentleman of picturesque proportions in keeping with bis strong attitude as a local administrator, has further been raised to the dignity of a
chib shih," or magistrate.
"
Missionaries at Tong An reported that in the immediate vicinity of the city little or no poppy had been sown in the previous autumn, but farther afield, especially to the south, the soldiers had had a busy time clearing the country in January. They believed the whole district to be at present quite free. A lady who had made the opium movement a keen study informed me that, according to rough observations made by her, 50 per cent, of the cultivable land within a few miles radius of the city was under poppy in 1912, but during frequent journeys this year, mostly off the main routes, she had not seen a single plant. Another lady, who had just returned from a visit to the Ankhoe district, had also seen no poppy growing. The country north of that city is mountainous, and produces very little poppy, the plant when fully grown being only 8 or 10 inches high, and yielding little juice.
As the main road from Tong An to Ch'uan Chow was reported to be then free from poppy by a foreigner who made the journey in December last, I decided to strike across country from: Ma Hang, dipping down south to Khoe Tang, on the sea border opposite to the large island of Kim Mng, and thence making Chuan Chow via An Hai and Chioh Sai. Between Tong An and Ma Hang the country was literally a blaze of poppy last spring, but not a vestige was now to be seen. The magistrate at Ma Hang, which has long been notorious for its connection with the opium industry, informed me that little poppy had been sown in the autumn, attributing the fact to the people's intelligence in appreciating the arguments of his proclamations. but it is probable that his treatment of offenders, which consists, in the first place, in burning their houses, confiscating their lands, and fining them heavily, and, in the second place, in beheading them if they receive these correctives with ill grace, and the presence of several companies of northern troops in the district, have been more potent deterrents to growers. It is, however, remarkable that the abandonment of an industry which, according to the magistrate's estimate, was worth 2,000,000 dollars per annum to the people of Ma Hang alone should have provoked so little resistance, and it is probable that this district will require careful watching in the future.
The inspection in this part of the country has been carried out with great thoroughness. Large barley fields, whose extent of area might have concealed a few stalks, and patches of sugar cane have been carefully examined by the inspectors, whilst suspicious houses have been entered, even a few heads of poppy growing in earthenware pots in courtyards or on the house roofs being a sufficient source of profit to induce villagers to run the risks of detection. Here, as in most parts, of South Fukien, barley appears to have largely taken the place of the poppy.
Between An Hai and Ch'uan Chow an agreement was entered into last spring between the officials and the people, by which the latter were permitted to harvest the crop on giving an undertaking that no sowing should be made in the following season. This contract seems to have been faithfully carried out by both parties, for I heard of none having been planted in the autumn, whilst Ch'uan Chow missionaries informed me that in the course of up-country journeys at the new year they had seen no sign of poppy. In the adjourning district of Lam An, however, where no such compromise was made, resistance to the authorities necessitated military measures, the plant being forcibly uprooted in December. From Chuan Chow I made a day's excursion to Lam An and the neighbourhood without finding any trace of opium.
On arriving at Hui An I found that the Anti-Opium Commissioner of Amoy, Ju Mr. Ding Neng Guang, was then in the district scouring the country for poppy. common with magistrates of other districts in the province, Mr. Shih Wei Ch'ung, the Hui An magistrate, when called upon for his report, had notified the Foochow head office that his district was free from the plant. This appears to have been a deliberate misrepresentation of fact, since the district opium inspector had sent in to him at the end of last year a list of places (all in the Tau Pak: region, north of Hui An) where he had found poppy still growing. The magistrate, however, took no steps to uproot it, though he had plenty of troops at his disposal. The incorrectness of this report in due course reached the ears of the Amoy Commissioner, at whose request the Governor sent 200 more soldiers from Foochow, but the magistrate had not attempted to employ them. It was doubtless misgivings of the magistrate's zeal that suggested to Mr. Ding the advisability of having a final look at the district before the inspection commission passed through. Mr. Ding arrived
at Hui An eight days before me, and, after obtaining information from the local missionaries and the opium inspector, left with the latter and a force of soldiers for the localities under poppy.
It was known by the Hui An authorities that Mr. Ding was in the neighbourhood conducting a vigorous campaign, but they were ignorant as to what parts had actually been cleared and what remained to be cleared by him. In these circumstances, when I informed Mr. Chan Pai Kong in the evening that it would be necessary for me to go to Lam Po viâ Goa Chhu on the following day, there was considerable anxiety on the part of the Chinese delegates lest we might meet with poppy in that district. Many difficulties were raised, but Mr. Chan promised to do his best to overcome them.
On the following morning I was surprised to find that orders had been issued to proceed to Lam Po via Ko Koai and Tho Nia instead of as originally arranged. I protested strongly against this change of route, but Mr. Chan assured me positively that the latter route was impracticable owing to a high range of hills which could not be crossed. There was some suspicion in my mind that the Chinese authorities were uncertain of the country between Iap Chhu and Lam Po or that they were endeavouring to gain time, and this suspicion was strengthened later in the day, when, after leaving Tho Nia, a body of sixty soldiers returning to Hui An were passed. Mr. Chan's secretary admitted to me that these troops had been sent off late the previous evening to Lam Po to make sure that there was no poppy still there. The fact, however, that they were returning to Hui An viâ Tho Nia seems to bear out Mr. Chan's statement that the other route was impracticable. It is true that a high range of hills lay between lap Chhu and Goa Chhu and that there seemed to be no roads in this part of the country, the morning journey from Ku Jim through Ko Koai to Tho Nia being mostly over paddy fields. No poppy was seen, but near Ko Koai traces were visible of the uprooting in the foregoing week. A missionary at Hui An informed me that it was pulled up at this village seven days before my arrival, he himself having seen it in the fields on the previous day. It was note- worthy that the streets of the villages in this neighbourhood were deserted, the inhabitants, fearing retribution, having locked themselves behind their doors.
I may mention that at Hui An a foreigner in the employ of Messrs. Burroughs and Wellcome called on me, and informed me that he had been travelling in the south of the province for six weeks and had not seen a single plant. The places visited by this gentleman are marked on the attached map.*
Time was too short to admit of going to Sien Yu, but the magistrate of that district met us at Hong Tan, which is under his jurisdiction. He informed me that he had invited the co-operation of the missionaries in eradicating the poppy from his district, and had in his possession certificates given by them attesting that his jurisdiction was quite free. He was so confident that no more now remained that he was offering a reward of 500 dollars for information of any poppy still growing
At Hsing Hua I found Mr. Ding Neng Guang, who had finished his work in the Hui An district. He told me that he had had a busy week clearing out poppy, and believed that the district was now practically free. He had left subordinates behind to complete the task more thoroughly, however, as he himself had to go on to other districts.
The head of the Church Missionary Society at Hsing Hua assured me that no opium was now left in that neighbourhood, nor. as far as he knew, in the whole of the country between Hsing Hua and Foochow, where formerly large areas had been under cultivation. As far as Hsing Hua was concerned, the proclamations of the magistrate and the warnings of the gentry had generally sufficed to prevent a heavy sowing, or, where the seed had actually been sown, to persuade the people to abandon cultivation. At Sien Yu in the previous spring some trouble had been caused by the Foochow Government's repudiation of the local authorities' permission for the crop to be gathered in on condition that it should be the last, and the city had been ultimately captured by banditti, who championed the people for the consideration of 1 dollar per acre; but he believed that there was now no poppy remaining of which the officials had cognisance.
After an eventless journey of two days Foochow was reached on the morning of the 20th March.
The net results of the inspection, therefore, are that during a journey of over 500 miles through the principal producing centres of South Fukien no opium was
• Not reproduced.
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