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Chung Wai Jih Pao,” of the 2nd April:
The Bureau for the Taxation of Prepared Opium at Soochow is to be converted into a Bureau for the Control and Taxation of Prepared Opium.
The Bureau for the Taxation of Prepared Opium will be abolished at the end of the 3rd Chinese moon, and the tax which would be paid by the raw and prepared opium dealers will be collected by the Bureau for the Control and Taxation of Prepared Opium. The Director of the Bureau for the Taxation, Liu, District Magistrate, has been ordered by Liu Taotai, of the Anti-Opium Bureau, to assume the duties of Receiver of the opium tax, He is to take up the management of the new tax when his old post is abolished, as a mark of appreciation of his past good work.
"Nan Fang Pao," of the 2nd April:
The tax on prepared opium in Soochow and the neighbourhood will cease to be levied at the end of the 3rd moon, when the Bureau for Taxation will be wound up and abolished. We hear that Liu, District Magistrate, head of the Bureau, in view of this, has given orders to his clerks, &c., in this office to draw up a clear statement of the accounts of all income and expenditure of this office, to be submitted to the Anti-Opium Bureau for their inspection. The duties of collection of taxes from all raw and prepared opium shops will in future devolve upon the Bureau for the Control and Surveillance of Opium.
"Chung Wai Jih Pao," of the 20th March:
The Bureau for the Surveillance of Opium Smokers was opened on the 15th March. Liu Taotai is Director, and proposes to secure the co-operation of the gentry to effect the object of the control of all opium matters. The gentry on the Committee of the Anti-Opium Society called a meeting of its members to discuss the matter. Liu Taotai, the Director, and Lu, Proctor, attended and addressed the meeting. The discussion was protracted, but at last it was decided that the Society should work in conjunction with the officials, and the meeting broke up.
"Hsin Wen Pao," of the 20th March :--
Liu Taotai, head of the Central Anti-Opium Bureau at Soochow, has settled that the monthly salary of the Director of the Bureau should be 100 taels; that of the Proctor, Lu, 50 taels; and that there should be one head clerk at 12 taels per mensem, two assistant clerks at 9 taels each; there will be also expenses for the maintenance of office servants and the meals of the staff, and various miscellaneous expenses. All these will be met by the Board of Reorganization for the time being, and a further sum of 500 taels should be borrowed from them for the preliminary expenses of organization, The Bureau was opened on the 15th March. When later the Bureau for the Control and Taxation of Prepared Opium shall be working, its expenses will be met out of the profits of the Anti-Opium Bureau. The above details have been submitted to, and approved by, the Governor.
"Shih Pao," of the 10th April:
In connection with the Viceroy's idea to establish a Bureau for the Sale of Prepared Opium, be recently ordered the Provincial Treasurer to appoint a deputy to act with a District Magistrate to investigate the opium hongs and larger opium dens, to find out the quantity of opiuni carried in stock by them, and the quantity sold monthly. No concealment was to be allowed, and when the inquiry was complete Regulations were to be drawn up and capital found for taking over the opium by the officials, and the establishment of an official bureau for dealing with it. On the establishment of the Anti-Opium Bureau as a working concern, the old duty on prepared opium will cease to be levied, but the price of the opium sold officially will be raised above the market value. On the 7th instant Taotais Liu and Lu went to the Anti-Opium Society in the Chung Chieh Road, and with Yao, one of the gentry, held a meeting to discuss measures for the suppression of opium smoking. It was settled that any one wishing to purchase opium should take out a licence enabling him to purchase the prepared opium from the shops. These licences are to be issued on the following system: The various trades will elect a head, who is to be responsible for all the members of the same profession, and take out their licences for them. People without definite professions must go to the branch Anti-Opium Society nearest their domicile, and will there obtain their licences duly filled in with the necessary particulars. The gentry in the various
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villages shall arrange for the establishment of a branch of the Anti-Opium Society, which shall issue licences indorsed with particulars as to the quantity of opium they consume, which quantity must be decreased month by month. All these measures will be put into force within three months.
"Shen Pao," of the 12th April:
Gives a fuller account of the proceedings of this meeting. It says over 100, including the Taotai Liu; head of the Board of Commerce Yu, Secretary of a Board; Liu Taotai, head of the Anti-Opium Office; and Lu, Proctor, among the officials, with Yao, founder of the Society, and Chang, of the Chamber of Commerce. It was resolved that on the 13th April a bureau for the purpose of curing and tending opium smokers was to be opened. Expenses, board and lodging, medicines and medical attendance, should be gratis. If, however, patients were cured of the habit and subse- quently resumed smoking they would be liable to a fine of ten times the expenditure incurred over their cure. If they had not money to meet the fine they were to be Offenders with small means were to be cangued for a month as a warning to others. fined in proportion to what their means were.
5. Restrictions on Smokers.
"Shen Pao," of the 12th April:
Opium smokers will have to go to the nearest branch of the Anti-Opium Society to obtain their licences. These branches will be established in all villages and market towns by the local gentry. Each trade will elect its representative, who will control the licences to be issued enabling the holder to purchase prepared opium. For example, a smoker whose profession is that of carpenter will have to go to the head of the carpenters' trade for his licence, and must declare the quantity of opium purchased by him monthly. Should he be unwilling or unable to decrease the amount smoked, and has means to enable him to afford it, he will have to pay an increase of 50 per cent. on the market price. Thirty men have been already nominated to serve as representatives of their respective professions.
6. Closure of Opium Dens.
"Shih Pao," of the 10th April:
Many opium dens are behindhand with the payment of the prepared opium tax due from them. Some days ago the Central Bureau of Finance at Nanking shut up all those which had not paid and broke their appliances. Altogether over 100 of the shops thus closed.
"Shen Pao," of the 12th April:
The opium dens are given six months to close their doors. In Soochow, returns give 1,900 odd shops of this class, of which four only do not provide facilities for smoking on the premises. Shops which have counters, showing them to be not only smoking dens but retail prepared opium shops, will be allowed to be converted into retail shops.
The Soochow opium shops have been warned by the Proclamation of the Anti- Opium Bureau that from the 13th April the price of opium will be raised, and that at the end of the 6th moon they will be all closed. A meeting was held on the 9th instant Some 200 were at the Hual Fang Huan tea-house, and the matter was discussed. present. We hear that it was resolved to petition the authorities to remove the prohibition and not to raise the price. The meeting was adjourned till the 12th
instant.
"Hsin Wen Pao," of the 12th April :
Soochow opium shops belong to two guilds-the Soochow and Canton Guilds. A large number are engaged in the business. Since the Anti-Opium Bureau has issued their recent prohibitory notices the two guilds hold daily meetings. As the prices of opium will be raised after the 13th instant, and people are leaving off smoking in When numbers, business is decreasing daily, and those engaged in it are very uneasy. opium shops are closed at the end of six months their profession will be gone and means of livelihood will cease. It has been resolved to petition at once for a postponement of
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