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Anhui Province.
Dens are merely nominally closed. Official action is restricted to the issue of Proclamations. The movement is not generally popular. There is but little cultivation.
Chekiang Province,
Generally speaking, the official attitude throughout the province is one of total indifference, though smoking slowly and surely becoming discredited in the public mind. Such Anti-Opium Societies or refuges as still continue owe their existence to private enterprise.
At Ningpo, though the dens are closed to all new-comers, old customers can still smoke upstairs, or in any place not public. The reason given for previous official The inactivity inactivity was the difficulty of finding a new source of revenue. continues, with the exception of increased taxation on all opium sold in the district, which pays 8 cents per 1 tael weight. The official reason assigned for this tax is the difficulty of suppressing dens and smoking, the tax being a kind of licence on retailers, who report sales every five days. Cultivation has practically ceased owing to the fear of confiscation and taxation.
At Wenchow the dens, though nominally closed, are all reported to be illegally used, At Hangehow there is a general set-back since the arrival of the new Governor, who ignores the whole question, his apathy being imitated by his subordinates. Commissioners from Peking have visited the district and called for reports on the quantity grown and imported, both of which are in future to be reduced by one-tenth annually.
Fukhien Province.
Little, if any, progress, although the authorities of Foochow periodically collect and burn smoking utensils. Though comparatively little opium is grown in the province, the area of cultivation has been reduced by about one-fourth owing to the activity of the Anti-opium League.
At Amoy public opinion and Government action have helped to reduce the use of the drug, and numerous refuges have been opened by private persons or public subscription.
Kuangtung Province.
The Island of Hainan still pays a spasmodic and desultory attention to the Edict. At Swatow general apathy reigns supreme, while information from the surrounding country towns shows that the dens are quietly reopening, and that a state of hopeless confusion exists in regard to the Anti-Opium Edict and its enforcement. Fulminating Proclamations appear from time to time against the use of opium, but the result is practically nothing, though missionaries are inclined to think some good has been effected, inasmuch as those who now wish to abstain find some encouragement.
At Pakhoi, according to the official version of a deputy specially dispatched from Canton to make inquiries, smokers are registered and classified according to age, 5,000 tickets being issued in the town and neighbourhood. Opium shops are also registered and have to take out a licence and record sales. In Pakhoi ten shops sell raw and forty boiled opium. Ten per cent. of the population, male and female, are stated to be addicted to smoking, and there is little popular demand for reform.
At Canton there is nothing new to report. The drug is sold under licences, but the latter are easily obtained.
Kuangsi Province.
Smoking continues, and it appears hopeless to think of curing those already addicted to the habit. Others are afraid to start smoking.
Hunan Province.
A Wesleyan missionary, who has recently travelled 2,000 miles in the east of the province, was much struck by the evident genuineness of the measures taken to suppress opium smoking; in some places it is impossible to purchase the drug. In
9
Changsha the prohibition is effectively carried out, though the success is somewhat lessened by the popular sale of anti-opium medicines containing opium. The Provincial Treasurer, who is a warm supporter of the anti-opium movement, was prepared to guarantee that next year no poppy would be grown in the province.
Honan Province,
The movement is not popular, and little is being done, the chief obstacle to progress being financial and commercial considerations. No honest attempt is being made to grapple with the question.
Hupei Province,
Generally it may be said that nothing is being done. At Hankow a scheme has been agreed upon after conference with opium dealers by which in future the drug is to be officially prepared and sold by dealers. Intending purchasers must present au officially stamped authorization giving the date and the amount they are entitled to purchase. Illicit sales are to be heavily fined. Rules for reduction of cultivation are to follow.
Szechuan Province.
Though the area under poppy between Chungking and Chengtu has been much reduced, being frequently adapted to sugar cane, little progress has been made, and there seems to be no very general reduction of the area, while the rigorous measures of six months ago have been entirely relaxed.
An American botanist who has recently visited the district between Wan Hsien and Chia-ting-fu was impressed with the increased cultivation of poppy, which he estimated at a third greater than on the occasion of his previous visit in 1904.
However, it is confidently asserted that the cultivation is on the decrease rather than on the increase; that this decrease is in proportion to the energy of the officials, showing that power rests with the local authorities, though a decrease in one district may mean a corresponding increase in another.
The Acting Viceroy at Chengtu has appointed special officers to make investiga- tions in a large number of Prefectures in regard to the area under cultivation, while in many districts notice has been given to farmers to register all land growing poppy. Cultivation on unregistered land is prohibited, and a tax of 500 cash per mou will be imposed next year on all poppy land for which due permission has been obtained, It may be said generally that fear of official activity and of taxation is exercising a discouraging effect on the industry, and that there is a tendency among farmers to abandon the cultivation of poppy without a protest.
Restrictions on smoking now exist only in name. The preparation of opium has been made a Government monopoly, effective in Chengtu and the larger cities, only partially so in the smaller towns, but smokers can still obtain the drug as easily and almost as cheaply as they could a few years ago. Dens are now being generally One is, in fact, reopened, and there is a complete lack of official supervision. forced to the conclusion that the officials are doing little or nothing to obey the Decree, though in Chengtu they show energy in regard to anti-opium medicines, six refuges having been opened where registered smokers can receive free treatment.
But if the authorities are lax, the same cannot be said of the people, amongst whom the movement against opium is really gaining ground.
At Chungking there is a considerable decrease in cultivation-about seven-tenths -owing to the activity of the Magistrate. There are now only 81. deus, against 860 last year. The price of opium has risen from 270 cash to 500 cash per ounce, and cau only be purchased at the four official establishments.
Kueichow Province.
Here, as in Yiinnan, a far more genuine attempt is being made to stamp out the evil. At Kuciyang, the capital, the sale of opium utensils is prohibited; the area of poppy cultivation is to be reduced one-tenth annually, and growers must obtain certificates. An official bureau is also established at Kueiyang for the sale of prepared opium. Shops and smokers are registered, and anti-opium medicine freely distributed.
[1844 y-1]
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......ཡཾ་ག་དྷཱ་
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