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were approached by China with a view to the reduction and ultimate extinction of the Indian import, there were no two courses open.
The result was the conclusion of an agreement at the beginning of 1908, by which, with effect from the 1st January |1908, the Government of India undertook to diminish progres- sively the total amount of opium sold at Calcutta by 5,100 chests a year for a period of three years, which it was expected would indirectly diminish the amount imported into China; and if the Chinese fulfilled their share of the agreement to reduce cultivation in China to a similar extent, they further agreed to continue annual reductions of 5,100 chests until the total export reached the figure of 16,000 chests. Over the five year period 1901-05 the average annual export to all countries was 67,000 chests, of which China took 51,000, so that progressive annual reductions of 5,100 chests would have brought export to China to an end in 1917, the limitation having begun in 1908, when the total export to all countries was 61,900 chests. The difficulty presented by the Malwa trade was overcome by a decision to throw the greater part of the burden of reduction upon the Bengal monopoly, and the situation was further eased by the fact that owing to bad seasons and the competition of the native Chinese drug cultivation had for a long time been declining in the Indian States. The net result was a very great diminution in Indian cultivation.
Mr. Leach, Councillor to the Peking Legation, reporting to Sir J. Jordan in November 1907, stated that the appreciable amount of success obtained up to that date by the Chinese Government in their "stupendous task of attempting by legislation to eradicate a national and popular vice in
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a country whose population is generally estimated at "400,000,000," showed that the task could be fulfilled, and that the Chinese people in general considered opium smoking a vice. In a further report, transmitted to London by Sir J. Jordan in June 1908, Mr. Leach remarked that since his previous report the chief feature of the situation had been the continued energy of the Central Government and the growing apathy of provincial officials, but he produced gratifying evidence of reduction in cultivation froin many provinces. In November 1908 Sir Alexander Hosie reported that there was no question as to the continued sincerity and zeal of the Central Government, which was backed by public opinion and a young but growing patriotism, and Sir J. Jordan agreed that, "considering the magnitude of the task, the success which has so far attended the movement is as great as could reasonably be expected." In October 1909 Mr. Max Muller, Councillor to the Peking Legation, reported that distinct progress had been made, especially in Shansi and Yuunan, and considered that the great test would arise in the case of Szechuan, the chief opium province, where sowing in the
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autumn of 1909 had been prohibited. In April 1910 it was reported that cultivation in Szechuan had been greatly checked, and it was then arranged for Sir Alexander Hosie to make an extensive tour of inspection during the 1910 season. In March 1911 Sir A. Hosie reported that cultivation has been suppressed in Szechuan "for the present"; that there had been a reduction of 75 per cent, in the production of Yunnan, where raw opium had risen to six times its value in 1907; that in Kansu production had increased in some districts and had been energetically diminished in others; that very little decrease had been effected in Sheusi, but that cultivation had been entirely suppressed in Shansi.
Negotiations were begun at Peking in the latter half of 1910 for a continuance of the 1908 arrangement, the Govern- ment of Indin agreeing that there was sufficient general evidence that cultivation had been substantially reduced in China to warrant their waiving statistical proof, and a new agreement was drawn up and signed on the 8th May 1911. Under the terms of this agreement the Government of India agreed (1) to the payment of an import duty three times the existing amount in return for the promised abolition of pro- vincial taxes; (2) to the partial closure of China to Indian opium by provinces, including not only stoppage of transit passes, but also treaty port closure, Shanghai and Canton excepted; (3) to the total extinction of trade before 1917 on proof of total cessation of opium production in China; and (4) to revision of the agreement on due notice by either party. On her side China agreed, amongst other things, to reduce production in China pari passu with the reduction of exports from India.
In addition to the limit to the China trade imposed by the agreement, the Government of India agreed, in order to lessen the danger of smuggling into China, and as an earnest of their desire to assist that country, strictly to confine the remainder of the Indian exports to the legitimate demands of the non- China markets. The figure arrived at for these markets, the result of elaborate calenlations based on Board of Trade statistics and the average exports for the period 1905-09, when no inducement for smuggling to China had existed, was 14,000 chests; the Government of India cut down their non-China › exports to this figure in 1911, and in order to make assurance doubly sure, spontaneously reduced this to 13,200 chests in 1912. The whole of the very large revenue from the China trade was now lost to India, as well as the revenue from that part of the exports to non-China markets which was sacrificed as an unsolicited and indirect contribution to China's success.
Then followed the revolution in China, Szechuan being among the first provinces to revolt. Poppy began to be grown again everywhere. Cultivation in Yunnan was reported to be continuing as early as November 1911, and in the Cheng Tu