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the most remote and unhealthy regions of the Empire; those convicted of selling morphia, except under a special Custoras permit, being liable to the same punishment in accordance with the law against knowingly selling poisons, and their shops will also be confiscated.
We would also pray that instructions be sent to the Customs authorities to enforce the Treaty provisions and put a stop to smuggling, so that the evil may be cut off at its root, and when definite regulations have been laid down we trust that the people will reverently obey thens, and that the prohibition of opium may then become really effective.
Un receipt of Imperial sanction the Board will issue the necessary instructions to the Governor of Kiangsu, as well as the high authorities of other provinces, the Revenue Council, the High Court of Justice, and the Governor of Peking.
This Memorial has been drafted by the Board of Laws after consultation with the Imperial Commissioners for Law Reform, and the delay in submitting it has been due to the time required for exchanging correspondence on the subject.
On the 16th July the following Imperial Decree was issued: "Approved."
Appendix (B).
Extract from the "Official Gazette" of October 6, 1908.
MEMORIAL by the Board of Finance giving the Returns of Imports of Foreign Opium and of the Native Production, together with the Sales thereof, and suggesting a Mode of Procedure in the matter.
(Translation.)
ON the 11th October, 1907, the Grand Council received the following Decree from the Throne :-
The sale of opium under official control is of supreme importance in the suppression of smoking, but a detailed inquiry must be made as a basis on which to act. The returns of foreign imports and of native production and of the amounts of sales must all be collated in detail. The Board of Finance is to depute capable and upright departmental officials to investigate the matter in its entirety with the utmost expedition, at the latest within one year from the present date, and a mode of procedure is to be submitted to us for our assent thereto."
The
In accordance with the Imperial command we deputed officials to the various provinces to make a full inquiry, and it appears that the amount of native production of opium in the 31st year of Kuang Hsu was 142,698 piculs, in the 32nd year 148,103 picula, in the 33rd year 119,983 piouls, thus showing a reduction of about 20 per cent. The sale returns for 31st year of Kuang Hs were 141,525 piculs, for the 32nd year 135,693 piculs, and for the 33rd year 97,738 piculs, thus exhibiting a reduction of between 20 and 30 per cent. amount of foreign opium passed through the various custom-houses in the 31st year was 51,920 piculs, in the 32nd year 54,117 piculs, in the 33rd year 54,584 piculs, thus exhibiting no reduction whatsoever. The returns for the present year report reduction of from 30 to 40 per cent. up to 60 and 70 per cent. in the areas of opium cultivation. With regard to foreign imports, the British Government has agreed to reduce the amount by 10 per cent. annually from January last on a total return estimated at 51,000 cases, it being the case that the reduction in the imports still falls short of the remarkable reduction in the native production and sale figures.
In our opinion the early suppression of opium depends entirely on the energy of the measures adopted to suppress it. The adoption of a uniform method of sale under official control is certainly a procedure of high importance in connection with its suppression, but we will now proceed to report to your Majesties certain difficulties in connection therewith as the result of our investigation of the subject.
1. The British Government has promised its active co-operation in the suppression of the drug, and has issued an order prohibiting the export of Hong Kong prepared opium into China It appears that in Hong Kong, where the opium imported from abroad is prepared, that, under the arrangements for sales under official control, fifteen cases daily are disposed of by the Opium Company, while, as a matter of fact, less than three cases are required for Hong Kong consumption, the remainder being illicitly exported into China. In view of the British Government having forbidden the export of Hong Kong prepared opium into China and of the suppression within two years of the opium houses which were so fruitful a source of taxation in the foreign Settlement of Shanghae, the creation by China of bureaux for the monopoly of the sale of opium will assuredly dissatisfy foreign nations, and appear to them to be due to profit-seeking niotives. This is the first reason for the impracticability of the arrangement.
2. The second reason against it is as follows: The gradual prohibition of opium over a period of ten years is in itself a humane measure, but a real determination to give up the practice, no matter how intense the craving for the drug, results in the complete abandonment of the habit within a few months. Now that the official classes have in most cases broken themselves of the practice within specified limits of time, while the rest of the population are earnestly striving to imitate them, it is obvious that, as the returns for the last year indicate a reduction of
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20 to 30 per cent., a few years more will witness the complete eradication of the evil. Were an official opium monopoly to be started, a definite amount of opium would require to be fixed upon for purchase on the basis of that fixed upon in regard to foreign opium, and what use could be made of the amount of opium annually left over? It would be utterly useless long before the date assigned for its final suppression, and a possible result might be that the foreigners would compel us to purchase up the whole ten years' supply of the drug.
3. The third reason against it is as follows: The establishment of an official bureau would necessitate a most careful system of inspection. An enormous expense was incurred in Formosa by Japan in regulating her system of an official monopoly, and China's police system is but newly organized and as yet incomplete for carrying out such a system. Besides, wealthy opium smokers provided themselves with sufficient supplies of the drug to satisfy their future needs when the order for its prohibition was first issued. The establishment of an official monopoly would result in causing embarrassment to the poorer classes, while the rich would remain unmolested. A system of rigid inspection would imply domiciliary visits at any hour to all houses where opium smoking was suspected, and this would result in abuses and oppression.
In order to rid our people of this evil without enforcing any oppressive measures, the best course is to adopt an arrangement indirectly based on the principle of official sales, as proposed by the Department of Governmental Affairs, viz., that all establishments selling opium and all opium smokers shall be supplied with permits, omission to secure such being punishable by a heavy fine, and the scale of fees for the same being raised in amount on the basis of the proposals drawn up by present memorialists and the Ministry of the Interior.
In order to insure the still speedier suppression of the practice, poppy cultivation should be prohibited entirely within a period to be fixed, and Proclamations should be issued by the provincial authorities threatening members of the official classes porsisting in the habit with loss of their rank, and the rest of the population with enrolment on a list of opium smokers giving their names, ages, and places of residence, which should be published broadcast. All honours should be closed to them, and they should be treated as pariahs, so that a stimulus for the abandonment of the practice would thus be supplied by a man's natural ambition. This would show that the Government's prohibition of the practice is not due to a mercenary motive, and such a course would inspire respect abroad and render a further reduction of foreign imports of opium practicable.
Moreover, conditions vary in different parts of China. In the north and west the suppression of poppy cultivation is the most urgent step; in the south and east what is requisite is the suppression of opium smoking. It is in the maritime and riverine Provinces of Kwangtung, Funkien, Kiangsu, and Chekiang that foreign opium has a larger sale than the native drug, so that the prohibition of poppy cultivation in China would enable the foreigners to find a greater market for the sale of imported opiam, so long as the yearly reduction was no greater than at present. Hence prohibition of smoking is more pressing than stopping cultivation. In Yunnan, Kueichow, Szechuan, Shensi, Shansi, and Honan the inhabitants smoke only native opium, su that the reduction of cultivation implies a similar reduction of opium smokers. But as some equilibrum oust be maintained between supply and demand, and as most of the native opium consumed in the south-east provinces comes from Yunnan and Kucichow, the immediate suppression in its entirety of the cultivation of the poppy in these provinces is impracticable. Local conditions will have to be considered in conjunction with the amount of area under cultivation in each province, before determining as to whether a partial or entire suppression can be carried out. The total amount produced annually exceeds 100,000 piculs, and the proposals made by Ko Feng-shih relative to its suppression over a period of years were submitted by memorialists to the Governors-General and Governors of Kiangsu, Anhui, Shantung, and Honan, With the exception of the Governor of Shantung, who feared that a total suppression would result in illicit trafficking in opium, all three high officials approved of this measure being adopted, and the Provinces of Yunnan, Fuhkien, aud nei-lung-chiang have already reported the total prohibition of the cultivation of the poppy, so that in six provinces of China its cultivation will be totally prohibited by the second half of this year, and the entire production in the Empire reduced by 30 per cent.
The production in Fengtien, Kirin, Chihli, Shantung, Kiangsi, Chekiang, Hupei, Hunan, the New Dominion (Hsin Chiang), Kwangtung, and Kwangsi is very small and can be suppressed entirely after the second half of next year, which will imply a further reduction of 10 per cent. in the entire production of the Empire. In Shansi a large amount is produced, but its sale is confined to the province, so that it will be the Governor's duty to take steps for its entire suppression in due course. Regarding Szechuan, Kueichow, Kansu, and Shensi, most of the native opium consumed in China comes from these four provinces, and we now propose that an annual reduction of over 20 per cent. on the area under cultivation last year shall be carried out, until its entire suppression has been achieved. Success in accomplishing this result at an earlier date and in sowing the area in question with cereals shall be rewarded. A similar reduction of 20 per cent. must annually be effected on the amounts of opium from these four provinces placed for sale in the other provinces, so that in this way the reduction in the number of smokers will be commensurate with the reduction of the area under cultivation. Should it be found that any province, with a view to increasing its revenue, is not making the proper reduction in the amount of opium exported, the share allotted to that province under the Consolidated Opium Tax Regulations will be reduced by one half. As regards foreign profit opium, although a ten years' limit has been fixed, if there are no smokers there will be no accruing to the foreigners importing opium, and the traffic will ipso facto coase before the ten years fixed upon.
On the other hand, the establishing of an official monopoly would mean that many complications would arise, and that no reduction of the ten years period would be possible, and
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