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prohibition can be enforced until 1910 by the issue of conflicting instructions. Having originally been called upon by the Central Government to reduce the area under cultivation by 50 per cent., be decided that this half-measure would only lead to abuses and false declarations, and determined therefore to forbid any production whatever. But it was represented to him by the local authority at Shan-hsien in the Ts'aochou Prefecture early in December that the poppy had already been planted in that locality for the coming season, and that the turbulent character of the people rendered disturbances probable if the crop were uprooted.
The allegation that the crop had been sown is understood to have been a mere excuse, as the poppy appears to be sown usually in Shantung in the month of March. In any case, the Governor at first firmly refused to entertain the representation, but weakened later, for when the Viceroy Tuan Faug asked for information from Shantung for the purposes of the Opium Commission, the Governor stated in his reply that the area under cultivation had been reduced by about 60 per cent. in 1908, and would cease entirely after 1909, but that in the Prefectures of Ts'aochou and Yenchou the season's sowing had already taken place, and could not well be interfered with.
The Viceroy, dissatisfied with this answer, pointed out that in Northern Kiangsu cultivation had been entirely prohibited, and unless a similar rule was enforced in the limitrophe districts of Shantung, the efforts of Kiangsu would prove of no avail.
The Governor of Shantung thereupon issued urgent orders for total prohibition of production during the present year, but it can hardly be anticipated that they can now be strictly fulfilled.
It should be noted further, in connection with the foregoing, that the Governor's estimate of 60 per cent. reduction in the area of cultivation during 1908 is not supported by returns, and that the Governor has himself characterized the returns of local officials concerning the acreage under poppy cultivation as untrustworthy and misleading.
The measures in Shantung for suppressing the opium habit among officials have also yielded results by no means commensurate with the undoubted zeal of the Governor. The prescribed examinations have been conducted in a notoriously perfunctory manner, and opium-smoking officials still remain in office in the provincial capital. Among the people also little success has been achieved. Unlicensed shops continue to sell the drug to all comers in spite of fines and confiscations, and His Majesty's Acting Consul, in summarizing the result of the year's work, is led to the conclusion, with which I fully concur, that in spite of the Governor's efforts the habit never will be stamped out until the cultivation of the poppy and the importation of opium have completely ceased, thus rendering it impossible for smokers to obtain supplies of the drug.
I have already alluded to the stoppage of cultivation in Northern Kiangsu, and the recent reports of His Majesty's Consul-General at Shanghae, and of His Majesty's Consul at Wuhu, deal with other aspects of the opium question in the Kiangnan Viceroyalty. Sir Pelham Warren reports that in his Consular district the anti-opium campaign conducted by the higher non-smoking officials has shown no signs of slackening zeal. Proclamations have been issued for the strict enforcement of the prohibition against further cultivation, while at Soochow opium-smokers are reported to Le debarred from appearing as plaintiffs in the Courts in civil causes.
At Shanghae itself a second closing of a proportion of the opium-smoking shops in the Settlement was made at the end of the year, reducing the original number by one-half.
From Wuhu Mr. Consul Goffe reports that the opium dens are now closed in most of the large cities of Anhui, though this is far from being the case in the villages and on the high roads. In the cities, moreover, clandestine smoking is still prevalent, but the Governor is considered to be in earnest in his endeavours to carry out the Regulations effectively. As regards cultivation, it is generally estimated that a reduction has been made in 1908 of nearly 50 per cent, while a decrease of smokers among the middle and poorer classes has been observed by the medical officer of His Majesty's Consulate.
I now pass to the great opium-consuming and producing Provinces of Shansi and Szechuan. In respect of the former, reports from Tatungfu in the north, and Luchang Hsien and Yu-wu Hsien in the south of Shansi, make mention of efforts being made by the authorities to suppress the use of the drug, of stringent Proclamations against cultivation, and of the official treatment of victims to the habit. Another Report
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covering the centre of the province speaks also of stringent Proclamations, pro- hibiting all further cultivation of the poppy under a penalty of ten times the regular land tax due on poppy fields, together with confiscation of the land itself. "The Proclamations, it is observed, are regarded seriously by the peoplo, and one informant of experience computes that about four-fifths of the land formerly devoted to the growth of the poppy has been already sown with wheat, the remainder being held over in the hope that there may be some relaxation on the part of the Government.
In Szechuan, the position is described by the Viceroy himself in the Memorial of which a translation is inclosed. The summary prohibition of all further cultivation in this province, which, as the Viceroy observes, is "both the largest producer and consumer of opium," has evidently been condemned as impracticable, but the diminution in ten years is considered too long, and steps have been taken whereby the total acreage under the poppy, already reduced in 1908 by 50 per cent., will entirely disappear in two or three years.
This statement is supported by information already embodied in the third Report, and there is reason to believe that the enlightened Viceroy, Chao Erh IIsun, will succeed in carrying out the further reduction of cultivation. His proposal to deal with the retail trade by means of an official monopoly is similar to the schemes initiated in other provinces, and so long as it is confined-in its wholesale purchases-to the native article it is probably the best plan possible; while the substitution of American cereals for the poppy will eventually lead, it is to be hoped, to a modification of the present restrictions upon the export of grain.
The Reports which have come to hand from the Provinces of Kiangsi, Hunan, and Fukien, are short, but fairly encouraging. In Kiangsi, which is not a large producing centre of opium, future planting has been prohibited, but the measures for suppressing smoking are not regularly enforced. In Ilunan, the registration of licensed shops has been completed in the provincial capital, and strict measures are enforced--so far, somewhat unsuccessfully-to prevent illicit trade in the drug. No apparent decrease in the number of smokers has yet been observed, except possibly at Siangtan. In Fukien no doubt is expressed by missionary informants as to the drastic reduction in the area under cultivation, and there is a strong consensus of opinion that the number of smokers has considerably diminished.
No reports of recent date have reached me respecting the Provinces of Kansu, Shensi, or Yunnan-Kueichon.
In Hupei and Honan the anti-opium movement is more active in the vicinity of the provincial capitals than in outlying districts, but it is generally agreed that the use of the drug amongst the officials in the army and the student class has largely decreased. A certain reduction in the area of cultivation is reported in the latter province, but there is no evidence to show that the total prohibition, which has been enacted for Honan, will be made effective.
The various reports reviewed in this despatch have been sent from time to time to Sir Alexander Hosie at Shanghae for the information of the Opium Commission, and will, I think, justify the conclusion that considerable progress was maintained during the last quarter of 1908. In several cases they show that the provincial authorities are prepared to force the pace, and to outstrip the original time-limits for suppression by several years. Should their efforts at total prohibition of cultivation prove successful, appears inevitable that they will find themselves confronted with a serious deficit in revenue, to meet which no adequate steps, as far as I am aware, have yet been taken.
A copy of this despatch is being sent to the Opium Commission.
(Translation.)
I have, &c. (Signed)
J. N. JORDAN,
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Extract from the "Official Gazette" of January 21, 1909.
MEMORIAL by the Viceroy of Chih-li on the measures for the prohibition of opium already taken within his jurisdiction, and suggesting the total prohibition of opium cultivation from the beginning of the first year of Hsuan Tung. Since October 1906 the various regulations issued by the Government Council, the Board
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