CO129-363 - Public Offices & Others - 1909 — Page 224

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settlements in that country which His Majesty's Government might wish to exclude from discussion.

5. In conclusion, I am to suggest that, in the event of an international con- ference being held, the powers given to the delegates to enter into an agreement should not be pleuary, but, as in other similar cases, should be of an ad referendum nature.

I am, &c.

R. RITCHIE.

109216

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]

CHINA TRADE.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[41851]

No. 1.

Mz 2 DEC 09

[November 15.]

SECTION 1.

223

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received November 15.)

(No. 387.) Sir,

Peking, October 21, 1909. IN continuation of my despatch No. 517 of the 14th November, 1908, I have the honour to transmit herewith a further general report on the opium question in China, drawn up by Mr. Max Müller, councillor to this legation.

This report shows that considerable progress continues to be made in the task which the Chinese Government undertook three years ago. There has undoubtedly been a very sensible diminution in the consumption and cultivation of opium, and a public opinion has been formed which will greatly strengthen the hands of the Government and the provincial authorities in the drastic measures which they contem- plate taking in the near future. Total prohibition within a measurable time is undoubtedly the policy which finds favour at the moment, and considering the conditions of the country and the difficulty in verifying the progress of gradual reduc- tion, it is perhaps the best method of dealing with the problem. That the end, however, is so near as many of the official pronouncements would seem to indicate is, I venture to think, very doubtful.

We have full and reliable information about only two of the provinces-Shansi and Yunnan-and the annexes to Mr. Max Müller's report furnish eloquent testimony of the good work that has been done in both. At the opposite extreme stand Shensi, Kansu, Hupei, and Szechuan, in all of which comparatively little has been accomplished to check either the consumption or cultivation of the drug. The last-named province, which is by far the largest producing area in the Empire, will furnish the supreme test of the success or failure of the programme of total prohibition, and as the order has gone forth that no poppy is to be sown this autumn the issue on which so much depends is doubtless being fought out as this report is being written.

I cordially endorse the suggestion made at the end of this report that consular officers, with a knowledge of the language, should be sent to visit the principal opium producing provinces in the course of the year 1910. Mr. Max Müller has, so far as our available materials permit, given a most exhaustive and highly instructive account of the present state of the opium question in China; but, as he himself states, it is only by tours of personal inspection, such as have been made this year in Shansi and Yunnan, that we can ever hope to arrive at the actual facts.

I have, &c.

J. N. JORDAN,

Inclosure 1 in No. 1.

General Report by Mr. Max Müller respecting the Opium Question in China.

IT is now nearly a year since Sir Alexander Hosie, commercial attaché to His Majesty's Legation in Peking, wrote the last general report on the progress of the campaign against the use of opium in China. In forwarding that report to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Sir John Jordan, His Majesty's Minister in Peking, after pointing out how fragmentary and often contradictory the information was from which these opium reports were compiled, wrote as follows: "The general impression which I derive from a study of all the available evidence is that, considering the magnitude of the task, the success which has so far attended the movement is as great as could reasonably be expected."

During the year under review an event has happened in the history of China which might well have had a serious effect on the progress of the movement for the abolition of the use of opium. On the 14th November, 1908, the Emperor Kuang- hsü died and his demise was followed on the next day by that of the Empress Dowager. He was succeeded by his nephew, the Emperor Hsuan-t'ung, a mere

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