50
The delegates appointed by this Ministry are as follows:-
Kiangsi: Mr. Ch'ien Kuang Hsi, Acting Junior Secretary, Wai-chiao Fu. Kiangsu Mr. Chao Hang Nien, Senior Secretary. Shensi: Mr. Lu Chun, Senior Secretary.
and I am informed that the delegates appointed by the Ministry of the Interior
are:-
Kiangsi Mr. Huang Chao Hsiung, Senior Secretary.
Kiangsu Mr. Deputy Mu Chia Yueb.
Shensi Mr. Deputy Ts'ao Ya Po,
These officers have been instructed as to their duties, and I now have the honour to enclose copies of the instructions issued to them by this Ministry and the Ministry of the Interior.*
As regards Yunnan, several telegrams have been received from the Governor stating that in places in the west and south and on the Burma border, such as Lan Tsang and K'a Ti and in the region from the Kao Li Kung Mountain to the Chien River and at Pienma, the inhabitants are savage and fierce, and the country is difficult and dangerous. Soldiers had already been sent far into K'a Ti to uproot the poppy, but they were resisted by the savages, who relied on the difficulties of the ground, and an officer and several men had been killed. Additional troops are now being despatched to disperse the savages, but the cleansing of the district cannot be accom- plished in a day. Again, the native chieftainships under the jurisdiction of the Tengyueh. Lungling and Chenyuan magistracies are inhabited by tribes of a low state of development, who for years have resisted attempts to enforce the prohibition of opium. Troops are at the present moment being employed against them, but the district is not yet pacified. The Governor requests, therefore, that I should make it clear to you that in order to avoid danger the inspection commission should not visit the above-mentioned places.
The matter has already been mentioned to Mr. Brenan for communication to yourself, and I have the honour to request that you will telegraph to Mr. Eastes, British consul at Tengyueh, whom you have appointed British delegate, to act in conformity with the Governor's wishes.
I avail, &c.
(Seal of the Wai-chiao Pu.)
No. 29,
Mr. Alston to Mr. Balfour.--(Received September 10.)
Sir,
Peking, August 6, 1917. WITH reference to my despatch of the 13th March, and in accordance with the instructions contained in your telegram of the 23rd February, I have the bonour to transmit herewith the reports received from the consular officers appointed to inspect the provinces of Kuangtung, Yunnan, Kueichow, Kiangsi, and Kiangsu for opium cultivation under the 1911 Agreement. The formal report of the remaining province of Shensi has not yet reached me, but the inspecting officer informed me by telegraph on the 28th ultimo that he had completed the inspection and had found no opium cultivation.
It
In the province of Yunnan alone was any cultivation of opium actually found, and that in one spot. It will be remembered that when applying for the inspection of Yunnan, the Wai-chiao Pu, in their note of the 15th March (of which copy was forwarded in my despatch of the 28th March), expressly alluded to the continued cultivation of opium in the tribal districts in the south-west of the province. should also be borne in mind that the political relations of the provinces of Kuangtung, Yunnan and Kueichow to the Central Government have for some time past been of the most uncertain description, while the financial relations of the two last named have been prejudiced by the loss of their opium revenue to a far greater extent than is the case in any other provinces.
In view of all the circumstances, therefore, I am of opinion that the results shown in the report are-if anything better than could reasonably have been expected.
• Not printed.
51
Judged by the standards applied in the case of the inspections of other provinces held in previous years, the investigations just completed, with their clear evidence of drastic suppressive action on the part of the local authorities, would suffice to support the claim of the Chinese Government that these six provinces should be added to the list of those into which the entry of Indian opium is prohibited.
Sir,
I have, &e.
(For the Chargé d'Affaires).
MILES W. LAMPSON.
Enclosure 1 in No. 29.
Acting Consul Eastes to Mr. Alston.
Tengyueh, June 26, 1917. I HAVE the honour to submit herewith a report on my recent opium-inspection tour in the southern and western circuits of this province.
I have, &c.
Enclosure 2 in No. 29.
A. E. EASTES.
Report on a Tour of Inspection for Opium in West and South Yunnan.
THE instructions of His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Peking, communicating the arrangements made with the Wai-chiao Pu for the joint inspection of the province of Yunnan for opium, in accordance with the terms of the 1911 Agreement, reached me on the 7th March.
Mr. Alston informed me of the desire of the Government of India that the The Governor of inspection should be as thorough as possible in the time available. the province was to appoint the Chinese inspection delegates and arrange details with His Majesty's consul-general at Yunnan-fu.
Mr. Goffe, through whom the above instructions were communicated to me, added that he had suggested that I should travel to Szemao-the treaty port in the southern or Puêrh circuit and thence to Tali and on to Likiang, and he enquired when I could start. I replied the following day that I could start in ten days time. Two days later I received a telegram from the Governor of Yunnan announcing that he had appointed Yu Jên-lung, the Taoyin of the Tengyueh circuit, to be the Chinese delegate.
From the first, the Tengyueh Taoyin made it clear that he intended to put obstacles in the way both of an early start and of the exercise by me of unfettered discretion regarding the route to be followed. Having failed to induce me to agree to defer inspection of all places not yet officially declared free from opium, he attempted to discourage visits to a large number of localities alleged in many instances, I believe, without the slightest foundation-to be fraught with danger to such a mission as ours. Simultaneously with these tactics, he bombarded me with demands, each more insistent than its predecessor, to communicate the route I proposed to take, so that adequate arrangements might be made in advance for my protection." My original refusal, based on the precedents afforded by joint insrection of other provinces in previous years, was subsequently, with the approval of His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires, modified by communicating a bald outline of the projected tour.
The result was what I had expected. The first district mentioned on my meagre list was Lungling, already reported entirely free from opium; not twenty-four hours later, two more Chinese deputies were despatched to tour the Lungling district, to make assurance doubly sure.
On the 18th March a letter from the Taoyin acquainted me with the news that the inspection of the province of Kueichow and of the eastern circuit of Yunnan was
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