434 C. O.
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government 6436
CHINA TRADE
CONFIDENTIAL.
REC
[April 10. 18 MAY 08
SECTION 2,
[12287]
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.~(Received April 10.)
Peking, March 17, 1908.
(No. 131.) Sir,
I HAVE the honour to transmit a copy of a despatch from His Majesty's Consul-General at Chengtu in regard to the opium movement, from which it would appear that the cultivation of the poppy is decreasing in that district, although little or no attention is now being paid to the other regulations of the Anti-Opium Decree.
Recent information from different parts of the Empire tends to confirm the view expressed in my despatch No. 93 of the 25th ultimo that there is a lack of sustained effort to overcome the opium evil and a tendency to revert to the old order of things. This seems chiefly due to the negligence of the official classes, for the people show a general willingness to carry out the wishes of the Government.
I inclose a short précis of reports on the subject which I have not considered of sufficient importance to form the subject of separate despatches.
I have, &c. (Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
(No. 2.) Sir,
Consul-General Fox to Sir J. Jordan.
Chengtu, February 8, 1908. IN continuation of my despatch No. 53 of the 16th October, 1907, I have the honour to submit my ninth report on the anti-opium movement in this province.
I have, during the past three months, endeavoured to ascertain what steps were being taken by the Chinese authorities to restrict the growth of the poppy, and to what extent the area under cultivation was being reduced this autumn. My official duties having confined me to the city of Chengtu during the period under review, I have been obliged to rely almost entirely on the reports of missionaries in forming my conclusions. I had hoped that the assemblage of over 150 missionaries from North, South, and West Szechuan (East Szechuan was not represented) for the West China Missionary Conference would place a mass of information regarding the anti-opium movement at my disposal. In this, unfortunately, I was disappointed. The brief paper on "Opium" read at the Conference dealt not so much with the movement itself as with the relation of the foreign missionary, and more especially the medical missionary, towards it; and the subsequent discussion on the paper was not very instructive. The Conference passed a Resolution, which I have been asked to hand to the Viceroy, expressing their "high appreciation of the efforts being made by the Provincial Government to rid the Chinese people of the drug," and assuring the Viceroy "that the members of the Conference were willing to do their utmost to help on this beneficent reform."
From a number of Delegates whom I interviewed on the subject of the area at present under poppy cultivation I received, generally speaking, replies of a conflicting and unsatisfactory nature; few, moreover, possessed any certain data on which to base a comparison between the present and former years.
The general impressions I received, after carefully considering all the information at my disposal, may be stated under three heads: the first, that there is on the whole a decrease in the area under poppy cultivation this autumn as compared with former seasons; the second, that in almost all places this decrease is in proportion to the energy displayed by the local official in carrying into effect the Proclamations restricting the cultivation of the poppy—in other words, that the power to reduce the area under cultivation rests almost entirely with the local authorities; the third, that a decrease of cultivation in one district may mean a corresponding increase in another.
In support of the first impression I quote Bishop Cassels, of Pao Ning Fa, whose opinion carries weight, as he has over twenty years of experience of Szechuan and is constantly travelling through his diocese, which practically embraces the northern half
[2918 - -2]
434 C. O.
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government 6436
CHINA TRADE
CONFIDENTIAL.
REC
[April 10.18 MAY 08
SECTION 2,
[12287]
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.~(Received April 10.)
Peking, March 17, 1908.
(No. 131.) Sir,
I HAVE the honour to transmit a copy of a despatch from His Majesty's Consul- General at Chengtu in regard to the opium movement, from which it would appear that the cultivation of the poppy is decreasing in that district, although little or no attention is now being paid to the other regulations of the Anti-Opium Decree.
Recent information from different parts of the Empire tends to confirm the view expressed in my despatch No. 93 of the 25th ultimo that there is a lack of sustained effort to overcome the opium evil and a tendency to revert to the old order of things. This seems chiefly due to the negligence of the official classes, for the people show a general willingness to carry out the wishes of the Government.
1 inclose a short (précis of reports on the subject which I have not considered of sufficient importance to form the subject of separate despatches.
I have, &c. (Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
(No. 2.) Sir,
Consul-General Fox to Sir J. Jordan.
Chengtu, February 8, 1908. IN continuation of my despatch No. 53 of the 16th October, 1907, I have the honour to submit my ninth report on the anti-opium movement in this province.
I have, during the past three months, endeavoured to ascertain what steps were being taken by the Chinese authorities to restrict the growth of the poppy, and to what extent the area under cultivation was being reduced this autumn. My official duties having confined me to the city of Chengtu during the period under review, I have been obliged to rely almost entirely on the reports of missionaries in forming my conclusions. I had hoped that the assemblage of over 150 missionaries from North, South, and West Szechuan (East Szechuan was not represented) for the West China Missionary Conference would place a mass of information regarding the anti-opium movement at my disposal. In this, unfortunately, I was disappointed. The brief paper on "Opium" read at the Conference dealt not so much with the movement itself as with the relation of the foreign missionary, and more especially the medical missionary, towards it; and the subsequent discussion on the paper was not very instructive. The Conference passed a Resolution, which I have been asked to hand to the Viceroy, expressing their "high appreciation of the efforts being made by the Provincial Government to rid the Chinese people of the drug," and assuring the Viceroy "that the members of the Conference were willing to do their utmost to help on this beneficent reform."
From a number of Delegates whom I interviewed on the subject of the area at present under poppy cultivation I received, generally speaking, replies of a conflicting and unsatisfactory nature; few, moreover, possessed any certain data on which to base a comparison between the present and former years.
The general impressions I received, after carefully considering all the information at my disposal, may be stated under three heads: the first, that there is on the whole a decrease in the area under poppy cultivation this autumn as compared with former seasons; the second, that in almost all places this decrease is in proportion to the energy displayed by the local official in carrying into effect the Proclamations restricting the cultivation of the poppy-in other words, that the power to reduce the area under cultivation rests almost entirely with the local authorities; the third, that a decrease of cultivation in one district may mean a corresponding increase in another.
In support of the first impression I quote Bishop Cassels, of Pao Ning Fa, whose opinion carries weight, as he has over twenty years of experience of Szechuan and is constantly travelling through his diocese, which practically embraces the northern half
[2918 - -2]
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