CO129-363 - Public Offices & Others - 1909 — Page 234

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a further reduction in the area of cultivation last season. The Viceroy furnished the acting consul-general with a list compiled from reports received from the magistrates, according to which cultivation had completely ceased in fifteen districts. had been reduced by one-half in four, while from two other districts the magistrates had reported that they were taking steps to reduce the area. On the whole the Chinese reports are borne out by those received from missionaries scattered over the province. The Viceroy claimed that in Peng Hsien, one of the largest opium-growing districts north-west of Chengtu, cultivation had entirely ceased, and this was confirmed by an American missionary, who wrote that poppy was no longer grown there, wheat and vegetables having taken its place. Eight other reports received from missionaries covering a wide area may possibly serve as an indication of what is taking place in other parts of the province. In every instance they report a considerable reduction in cultivation. Unfortunately there are districts from which the reports are far from encouraging, and it is evident that the reports forwarded to the Viceroy from many districts were misleading. For instance, in the Tanleng district the magistrate reported to the Viceroy that the area had been reduced by one-half, and that there were not more than ten fields sown with poppy, whereas a missionary wrote that there were hundreds of fields covered with the plant. Not very far from Tanleng, in Pengshan Hsien and Meichou, south of Chengtu, more poppy was sown last autumn than ever before, and poppy was even substituted for other crops. In the Ninyang-fu prefecture poppy was sown in large quantities last autumn, but a newly appointed and energetic official ordered the growing crops to be dug up. The missionary reports received through His Majesty's vice-consul at Chungking have been very contradictory, but on the whole they indicate no progress in the eastern side of the province; some talked of a reduction in the area of cultivation, but the great majority said that no steps had been taken in this direction, and many even reported an actual increase, especially in the immediate neighbourhood of Chungking.

The Viceroy of Szechuan, like other Viceroys and governors, appears to have realised that it was beyond the power of the Chinese to enforce strictly the com- plicated regulations that had been issued in regard to reducing the area of cultivation, and he also has issued a proclamation forbidding the sowing of any poppy at all this antumn. The effect of this proclamation will certainly be to diminish the amount of poppy grown still further, and, while it may not in such a vast province owing to the laxity and venality of subordinate officials, produce immediately the desired result, there seems to be every chance that opium may not be grown on a large scale throughout the province in a year or two. Ilis Majesty's consul at Chungking, in spite of the unsatisfactory reports he has sent, appears to be hopeful as to the ultimate result. The farmer in Szechuan is a patient and law-abiding person, not likely to offer active opposition to any measures that may be adoptel, and the missionaries are of opinion that a definite prohibition of cultivation and a little genuine activity on the part of the officials would soon put an entire stop to the cultivation of the poppy, When one considers that this means that roughly one-half of the entire supply of native opium in China would thus disappear, it is evident that both the central and the provincial authorities should spare no pains to attain such a desirable result.

In regard to the suppression of the vice of smoking, there is also some progress to be reported. Writing at the beginning of the year His Majesty's consul at Chengtu said that there was a marked decline throughout the province in the prevalence of the opium habit, which was gradually becoming unpopular among educated people of all classes. The retail opium shops or official opium dens established in 1907 were finally closed this year, in Chengtu on the 20th February and elsewhere in the province on the 22nd March, though I understand that in Chungking, where eighty-six dens remained open at the end of last year, the final closing could not be enforced till the 20th April. Since then the only lawful means of obtaining the drug has been from the official opium shops, which can only sell to holders of licences for consumption off the premises and the rule requiring the production of licence prior to purchase of opium is strictly enforced, though its real object is evaded by the indiscriminate issue to any applicant of travellers' permits allowing the holder to purchase 1 oz. a-day for five days. It is, I understand, difficult to estimate to what extent illicit traffic in prepared opium is carried on by this means, but it no doubt exists on a considerable scale.

The price of the officially prepared drug rose last year from 4:10 cash per ounce to 500 cash per ounce, and in the middle of July it was raised to 540 cash per ounce. This periodical increase would not, however, appear to have the effect of reducing

illicit sales as smuggled opium is necessarily sold at a cheaper rate than the officially prepared drug and the higher the price of the latter the greater the profit the smuggler can make.

The returns of prepared opium issued by the official factory to the distributing agencies in Chengtu show an enormous decrease on last year's figures, but I am afraid that a considerable proportion of this decrease was due to two causes: the inferior quality of the drug prepared at the factory, and the consequent increase in the amount of opium illicitly prepared and sold. Since the quality of the officially prepared drug has improved, its consumption has again increased. However, even taking these facts into consideration, there can be no doubt that the subjoined figures giving the monthly amounts of prepared opium issued by the factory during portions of last and this year indicate a diminution in the number of smokers and in the amount of opium smoked :

Chinese moon.

Kuang Hsu. 34th year.

Isuan Tung, 1st year.

Oz,

Oz.

1

54.825

10.182

2

61,248

7,590

2nd intercalary.

9,298

3

51,158

10,770

4

49,540

17,201

5

38,033

12

19,159

KUEICHOW.

Sir A. Hosie was obliged to paint a very black picture of the state of affairs in Kueichow, which he characterised as probably the most opium-sodden province in the Empire.

During the past year practically no reliable information has reached His Majesty's Legation, except a report from a missionary who travelled through the province in the spring and found that opium was being grown openly everywhere and estimated the area of cultivation as even greater than in previous years. The Viceroy, Hsi Liang, would appear to have confined his attention to the province of Yunnan and not to have made any attempt to have his energetic measures enforced in the province of Kueichow. It appears that when he travelled through the latter province on his way from Yunnan-fu to Hankow last March the young poppy in the vicinity of the main roads along which he passed were covered over with earth for the day.

The only other evidence we have to go on is a memorial by the Governor of Kueichow dated the 6th July, In it he admits that both the cultivation and consumption of opium in Kueichow had increased to an exceptional extent and that its abolition was correspondingly difficult. Here, again, the governor had come to the conclusion that total prohibition of cultivation was more easily enforced than gradual reduction, and he had issued an order that no opium must be grown after this year. Although this prohibition was in many cases disregarded last spring, he hoped that by the autumn the cultivation of opium would be completely abandoned and other crops substituted. He claimed that the consumption of opium in the province had already fallen by 40 to 50 per cent., and that 90 per cent. of the officials and 40 per cent. of the people had given up the drug. I cannot help feeling, however, that if these cstiniates were even approximately correct, some independent confirmatory evidence would have reached us. On the whole, I am inclined to consider Kueichow as one of the provinces in which the least progress has been made, and most therefore remains to be done.

YUNNAN.

Sir A. Hosie has already described the stringent regulations issued last year by the Viceroy Hsi Liang, according to which all cultivation was to cease in Yunnan by the end of the last Chinese year, P., the 21st January, 1909, and no opium was to be allowed to pass any customs or li-kin barriers after the 21st September, 1908. Opinions were divided as to the wisdom of the step taken by the Viceroy in curtailing to such

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