CO129-351 - Public Offices - 1908 — Page 452

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of the province. Bishop Cassels says: "There is a very remarkable decrease in the amount of land placed under opium cultivation this autumn. This is, I think, not the result of any fresh official action, but is due to the fear that impending heavy taxation will render opium growing unprofitable."

Dr. Smith, of the Canadian Methodist Mission, Yung Hsien, states: "In this district I am sure that not more than one-third of the total area has been planted with poppy this autumn. Yung Hsien is an important opium-growing district, and formerly quite two-thirds of the whole area was under cultivation."

Dr. J. R. Cox, of the same mission, writes of the Jen Shou district: "I notice a marked decrease in the area under cultivation this year."

With regard to my second impression, I quote Mr. Faers, of the China Inland Mission at Suifu, an old resident and keen observer. He says: "There is certainly less land under poppy this year. I attribute this entirely to the vigorous action taken by our new District Magistrate." Dr. Parker, of the London Mission at Chungking, informs me that the Pa Hsien Magistrate has "practically stamped out the poppy in the Chungking district." This is confirmed by Mr. Bristow in his Report No. 12 of the 5th December last: "I was surprised to find no trace of poppy cultivation on the right bank of the river (i.e., in the neighbourhood of Chungking), where last year the greater proportion of the available land was producing opium."

On the other hand, at Kuan Hsien, where the local official is an opium smoker, the missionary reports that no attention has been paid to the Proclamation ordering a reduction of cultivation.

In support of my third impression, namely, that a decrease of cultivation in one district may mean an increase in another, I again quote Mr. Faers. He writes, after referring to the reduction in the neighbourhood of Suifu: "I must admit that between Tzu Chou and Chengtu (on the road from Suifu to the capital) the poppy was universal." And Mr. Davey, who recently visited Chiang Ching Hsien, a district adjoining the Pa Hsien above referred to, tells me that opium is being cultivated in that district in increased quantities this year.

Turning now to the restrictions placed by the Chinese authorities on opium smoking, I have to state that, to the best of my knowledge, these exist at the present time only in name and not in reality. The preparation of opium has been made a Government monopoly, effective in Chengtu and the larger cities, only partially so in the smaller towns and country places; otherwise the opium smoker can obtain the drug as easily and almost as cheaply now as he could a year ago. To take Chengtu as an example: there is no registration of opium smokers; any one may go into an official opium divan and obtain as much opium as he requires; police control of these establishments appears to be purely nominal; opium is provided as heretofore in the inns, restaurants, and houses of ill fame; opium ash is still hawked about the streets, not so openly as formerly, but quite as generally; the opium refuges established in various parts of the city stand empty.

Reports from missionaries in the interior indicate a similar state of affairs. Opium dens reopened, no official supervision, no registration of smokers, prices slightly raised owing to taxes imposed on dens and boiling shops, is the tale most of my correspondents have to tell. Mr. Crabtree, of the Church Missionary Society, who recently made a tour in North-Western Szechuan, writes: "In no single case could I find the slightest attempt being made to check opium smoking. At Maochou (on the Chengtu-Sungpan road) dens are all closed, but opium can be freely bought and smoked in the inns. In many places I asked smokers if they had their opium licences, but in every case the answer was in the negative."

One is therefore forced to the conclusion that the local officials, as a body, are doing little or nothing to assist the movement for the eradication of the use of opium in this province. They doubtless take their cue from the Viceroy and his advisers in Chengtu, who, as their term of office will shortly expire on the arrival of the new Viceroy, are naturally disinclined to take any drastic measures, possibly involving a collision with agricultural interests, at the present juncture. The approaching change of Administration may also account for the fact that the Acting Viceroy appears to have made no serious attempt to weed out the many notorious opium-smoking officials holding office in the province. While opium smokers are debarred from teaching in schools or holding commands in the new army and police force, territorial officials, more especially District Magistrates, who are known to be habitual opium smokers are retained at their posts and even receive promotion. I select two examples from several that have come under my notice. Mao Yu Lin, the notorious opium-smoking Prefect of Suifu, more than once referred to in my reports, who should long ago have been cashiered for his inability to break off the opium habit—he has, I am informed, endeavoured to cure himself and is in consequence little better than a mental and physical wreck—has recently been appointed Director of the new arsenal at Chengtu. At Wei Yuan Hsien the Magistrate is unable to attend to the duties of his office because of the opium habit; in the adjoining sub-district of Kung Ching, the Assistant Magistrate in charge, also a heavy smoker, has recently been appointed District Magistrate and transferred to a more lucrative post.

There is happily a brighter side to the picture. The movement against opium among all classes of the people of this province is undoubtedly slowly but surely growing. There is a consensus of opinion on the part of those, both native and foreign, who are best qualified to judge that opium smoking is on the decrease. This applies more particularly to Chengtu and Chungking, cities where an enlightened public opinion is able to make itself felt in a more forcible manner than elsewhere.

In 1904 Sir Alexander Hosie, in his Report on the Province of Szechuan, estimated the number of male opium smokers in this city at 50 per cent. of the adult male population. Replies that I have received to inquiries on this point agree in fixing the proportion at the present time at not more than one in four, or 25 per cent. The proportion of women smokers is estimated at from 10 to 12 per cent., as compared with Sir Alexander Hosie's former estimate of 20 per cent.

More than one recent traveller has mentioned to me the growing demand for opium "remedies to cure the drug habit." Mr. Crabtree, above referred to, writes: "I am constantly being asked for medicine." Another missionary mentions that opium pills are in great demand among the country people at his station, and Dr. Smith, of Yung Hsien, tells me that on a recent occasion thirty people from one village came in and asked him to cure them of opium smoking. They were, as is usually the case, disinclined to undergo treatment, and greatly disappointed when the doctor told them that he had no sovereign remedy for opium in the shape of pill or powder.

A Delegate from Chiating, an opium-ridden city, informed the Conference that his Mission had offered to assist the local authorities by opening opium refuges under foreign medical superintendence, but that the offer had been politely but firmly declined. One or two other Delegates related similar experiences. This confirms my opinion, expressed in a former report, that the Chinese do not want, and will not accept, foreign assistance in this matter. It would be well if some of the more enthusiastic but less experienced members of the Protestant missionary body in Szechuan would realize this fact and devote less time and attention to the furtherance of what they term the "anti-opium crusade."

I have, &c. (Signed)

HARRY FOX.

Inclosure 2 in No. 1.

Précis of Reports respecting the Opium Movement.

Chefoo.

TOWARDS the close of 1907 an official Prepared-opium Bureau was opened, which consisted of a body of merchants intrusted not only with the opium trade generally in and around Chefoo, but who were also accorded the exclusive right or monopoly to manufacture and sell prepared opium.

The Bureau thus became practically the depository of all opium, raw and prepared, in Chefoo, having the right to take over all opium it required at a fair market price.

As a result of representations in the matter, the Taotai has promised to alter the Regulations so as to exclude foreign opium.

Chinkiang.

The opium dens in the British Concession have, as already reported, been closed. In regard to the opium shops in the Concession, the 1908 licences are revocable at any moment should circumstances render such action necessary, and will not be renewed for 1909.

In the Provinces of Hupei, Hunan, Shensi, Shansi, and Kansu Proclamations continue to be issued at intervals, without producing much effect, and the general...