.
-
499
Details as under:
March 1925:
November 1925.
Opium
Pure Morphia..
Morphia mixture for
.20,000 ounces
-148 ounces
Pill making....413 packages, varying from a few ounces to flour sacks. Morphia pills by the million, and thousands of pipes and brass opium containers,
Number of seizures made in Houses, Shops,
Railway Stations, etc...
Amount of opium seized.....
Amount of Morphia and Heroin.
Morphia and flour mixed for pill making.
Morphia in packages of various sizes..
1.302
21.105 ounces
1,816 ounces
1,280 ounces
2,647 packages
Morphia pills in bags and packages about.......8,086,000 pills Smoking utensils (pipes, lamps, etc.) abouL........... 10,000
71
In both these burnings the bulk of the opium was in small packages, this fact together with the poor quality of the pipes and lamps confirm what a Cabinet official stated to the writer: "We can enforce the law against the poor but not against officials. Tientsin. During 1925 there were 18 seizures of narcotic drugs by the Mari- time Customs. All were on Japanese steamers and all the drugs were from Japan. The seizures amounted to
Heroin Cocaine Morphia
2,586 ounces
300 30
15
11
These seizures would not equal a quarter of that burnt in Peking alone, therefore the conviction cannot be avoided that many times the seized quantity gets through.
FUKIEN
Reviewing the whole province reports give the impression that less poppy was planted this season. Whilst this is beneficial to the people, it in no sense indicates reform. Where military compulsion has been relaxed the farmers have not planted opium. The selling price for the farmer is recorded in some places to be as low as 80 cents an ounce and this, with the excessive land tax and the high price of food, offers no encouragement.
The Secretary of the Fukien Branch of the International Anti-Opium Association writes: "Briefly let me state that there has been a great deal of opium planted throughout the province this year. This planting has in the majority of cases been forced by the military officials. In some respects the people have felt that it was almost a hopeless situation. Anyone who protested against the tactics of the military leaders was in some manner arrested, or false charges brought against 'This has meant that very them for being implicated in opium business. few voices have been raised against opium growing in the interior parts of the province. The bandit situation is unusually bad throughout the
province. They too have had their share in promoting the cultivation of opium."
Chinkiang. Nan An and Burri An. The poppy taxes in these places are farmed out to a notorious merchant named Tseng Hou-kuan of Amoy for the sum of $1,000,000 by the Military Governor Chou Yin-jen. Taxation offices are established under the Defence Commis- sioner Kong Chao-tung. Troops were sent to villages to urge poppy cultivation, those who refused were arrested and fine‹l.
The notorious monopoly merchant Tseng was on one occasion attacked by the people and almost assassinated. Now in March when the poppy is almost ripe, the Defence Commissioner is sending his troops to collect the third installment of the taxes, and the people who cannot afford to pay it have left their homes and are hiding.
Trang Komm. In opium taxes Tung An district comes first in South Fukien, as $2,000,000 is expected in this one place. Tung An is divided into 4 sections. The taxes in this district are monopolized by the provincial representatives, Cheng Shao Wu and Tsai Yu Chun. The latter lives at Tung An and the former at Kuan Kou, the north section. The people call them the "Poppy Kings". These two persons are followed by troops, wherever they go.
Making. This place covers a space of 50, but for all that more than $800,000 is raised from poppy. The Chairman of the Makong Merchants' Guild got the monopoly and forces the people to plant.
Au Hui, Chuan Chen, Shan Tuà Cheny in the Nan An district, and Peng Hu in the Yung Chun district. Some of the places are under military authorities and others under local men with authority from the Governor. The local men do not push cultivation as do the military, and whilst these districts are not uniform yet taking them altogether I judge that the poppy planted this year is not more than one-third of last year's cultivation.
Ing Tai District. Opium is sold openly all over this district. It comes mostly from Hinghua district to the south of us, where large crops have been grown during the last five or six years. No opium has been grown here since the military General was removed four years ago,
South Fukten.
Chin Nan. The Finance Re-adjustment Office at Chin Nan issued notices in November 1925 urging all farmers to plant opium at the usual tax of $12 a mou.
Quinoy. Here an opium monopoly has been established and farmed to a joint stock company of officials and gentry for the sum of $200,000. This sum is to be paid to the Navy authorities. The greatest share- holder is Yang Shou-t'u the magistrate.
Amoy. It is estimated that $20,000 is collected monthly from the smoking dens of Ainoy by the Opium Inspection Office. These dens are graded according to the number of opium lamps and pay from $16 to $30 a month.
Stenyu. The poppy planted this year is enormous. Greater than last year.
In some localities half the fields are poppy. Villagers must pay the tax of $20 a mow whether they plaat opium or not.
Commander Chow assumed office on March 6, 1926 as Director of The Opium Inspection Office and immediately issued a long proclamation calling on the farmers to pay their opium taxes in return for which they would receive ample military protection. All taxes on