695
7
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Honan. In last Report it was stated that no honest attempt was being made to grapple with the question, but recent reports tell a different story. The area under poppy has been much reduced. Estimates differ, but in some districts the cultivation is placed at only one-tenth of last year's area and in others at one-fifth of the average. The reduction is ascribed to fear of high taxation. The reports also state that less opium seems to be smoked and that fewer shops are open. On the other hand, one correspondent says that in two district cities the opium shops were all closed, but in less than a month, by arrangement with the yamên runners, and in consideration of a monthly payment of some 590 cash they were reopened. All reports agree that anti-opium medicines are on sale, but they add that there are no useful results.
Kiangsu.--The progress of the anti-opium movement in this province continues to be well maintained. The provincial authorities have issued orders prohibiting poppy cultivation in Kiangsu after the present year. This will affect the north of the province, especially the Prefecture of Hsü-chou Fu, where opium has been extensively produced. One of the most general statements from the provinces is that no official steps have been taken as regards the registration of smokers. This, however, is now being taken in hand in Kiangsu, and the Taotoi at Shanghae has issued a Proclamation directing all opium smokers within the city to register themselves at the police offices before the 24th October, the penalty for non-compliance being that no unregistered persons will be given licences to purchase the drug when the time comes for their issue. Reports from the centre and north-east of the province state that retail opium shops sell without limit at advanced prices, but this will be remedied when smokers are licensed and their allowances indorsed on their licences. The progress of the movement in large cities like Sonchow is slower than at Shanghae, where there is now a stigma on opium smoking, and where young men shun the opium houses which have in the past been their fashionable after-dinner resorts. There can be no doubt that in Shanghae Chinese public opinion is as strongly as ever in favour of the campaign, and the good effect of the movement is unquestionable.
In the international Settlement at Shanghac 25 per cent. of the opium houses, which numbered 1,437, were closed on the 30th Junc, and lots were drawn on the 3rd October for the closing of a second 25 per cent. (350) on the 31st December. The opium houses that survived the first drawing did not benefit from the reduced competition to the extent anticipated. In the French Settlemens the opium houses still remain open; but the Council have given notice that the procedure in the inter- national Settlement will be followed in due course. One of the largest and most flourishing of the opium houses in the French Settlement has been voluntarily closed by its proprietor and transformed into a general bazaar,
Although the opium houses in the native city of Shanghae are closed, it is stated that opium smoking is carried on surreptitiously in a number of establish- ments, and it is presumed that the vigilance of the officials has somewhat relaxed.
A report just received from Nanking states that the Governor-General at Nanking and the Governor at Soochow have jointly deputed fourteen officials to proceed to different districts of the Kiangsu Province at the time of the autumn sowing of the poppy to collaborate with the local authorities in seeing that the Regulations as to reducing the area under cultivation are strictly complied with.
Anhui.--This province suffers from official apathy. Reports say that the opium- smoking houses are generally closed, at least in the large cities, and that in a few districts a considerable reduction in the area under poppy cultivation has been effected in consequence of uncertainty as to the future and of the fear of heavy taxation. Medicines, whose principal ingredients are either opium or morphia, are very generally sold as a cure for the opium habit. The Regulations regarding the registra- tion and cure of smokers have not yet been enforced. At the port of Wubu the coolie class are allowed to smoke in straw huts erected on waste land for the purpose. In the north of the province very few traces of any attempt on the part of the authorities to enforce the Regulations are discernible. A correspondent at An-ching, the capital of the province, writes that the places where most smoking is done are the different yamêns, that it is specially noticeable among yamên runners at inns when acting as escorts, and that a good percentage of travellers carry their own opium kits.
Kiangsi.In this province little opium is produced, and the attention of the authorities is occupied with the registration of opium shops and smokers. The bulk of the opium consumed comes from Szechuan and Yünuau. Native importers have, before importation can take place, to report at the official bureau at the place of destination, and have the amount they wish to import indorsed on their registration
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certificates. They have also to keep registers in which all their transactions must be entered, and the registers have to be produced for inspection at the end of each month. An annual decrease in the import is also provided for. After registra- tion the opium can only be sold direct to the smokers and not to the retail merchants as heretofore.
Chekiang. In last Report it was stated that the official attitude towards opium was one of total indifference, and, as no reports have been received, it may
be presumed that no special activity has been discernible. It ought soon to be possible to ascertain whether the order to reduce importation and cultivation has been obeyed.
Fuhkien. In the districts round Foochow there has been a marked reduction in cultivation as compared with last year, correspondents recording diminution of areas ranging from 60 to 90 per cent. In the north and centre of the province poppy in flower was seen in profusion during the spring, but no comparison with previous years is given. In the east very little difference was observable, while in one district an increase was noted,
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In the districts round Amoy, in the south of the province, the authorities are making a determined effort to suppress the growth of the poppy. The Magistrate of one district goes out almost daily to the surrounding villages and forbids the farmers to sow the seed, and he threatens to destroy the crops and confiscate any fields on which he finds poppies growing. He also threatens to remove from office the Elders of any offending villages. In another district the Magistrate has confiscated and destroyed a number of opium pipes. All smoking is now done in secret. exhorted the people to give up smoking, and has given his underlings under 60 years of age three months in which to relinquish the babit. He has also prohibited the further cultivation of the poppy. In a third district a strong Anti-Opium Committee has been formed, and mainly in response to the efforts of its members the local officials have been stimulated to action resulting in all the opium-smoking establish- ments being closed. Proclamatious have been issued, and, although a considerable amount of illicit smoking continues, there has been a marked decrease in the sale of the drug, and many of the opium shops have given up business. In Amoy itself the Sub-Prefect has issued Proclamations against the cultivation and consumption of the drug, and sees that his orders are carried out. He personally conducts raids on places where opium smoking is going on, on shops, and even, it is said, on private residences. When sinokers are caught in the act their apparatus is confiscated and destroyed and they themselves indiscriminately and severely beaten.
In
Hupei. Little or no real progress" is the burden of the reports from Hupei; but it is admitted that there has been a restriction of the area under poppy cultivation. May the Hupei Missionary Association presented a Memorial to the Governor-General of Iupei and Hunan in the following terms:—---
"The Executive Committee of the Missionary Association, a Society consisting of some hundreds of pastors, teachers, and medical men resident in all parts of the Hupei Province who have come from the various countries of Europe and America and their Colonies, venture most respectfully to address his Excellency Ch'en K'uei- lung to congratulate him on his appointment to the Viceroyalty of the Liang Hu, and humbly to present to him the following Memorial, which shows:-
"That we are deeply interested in all that concerns the welfare of the Chinese Empire and people; not a few of us have lived in China for some decades, and the longer we live here the more we love the country, rejoicing from our hearts in all We have signs of its prosperity and mourning over all its sorrows and adversities. all of us seen with great satisfaction the endeavours of your Excellency's illustrious predecessors to advance the cause of education, social progress, and material prosperity among the people of Hupei, and knowing that all true progress must in every country be accompanied by the rectification of moral evil, we have seen with pleasure that in the rules of the various colleges and schools that have been opened of late years thie use of opium has been strictly forbidden alike to teachers and pupils, and that in the camps similar rules have been enacted forbidding the use of opium in the army. nearly two years we have been eagerly watching for the publication throughout this province of the Imperial Edict of the 3rd day, Sth moon, 32nd year, and hoping to hear that the officials of Hupei were vigorously soeking to diminish the sale of opium and morphine and to limit the cultivation of the poppy; but as yet, from all we can see and hear in the various parts of the province in which we live, we have reason to fear that the evil continues with but little abatement. We have learned with deep
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