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this year had shown a marked improvement in the attitude of the Viceroys and governors, who, with three or four exceptions already referred to, had loyally seconded the efforts of the Central Government, even going further in their measures than their instructions prescribed. What can be effected by a strong and determined governor, who can give definite orders and will not shrink from the employment of any measures, however stern, which may be necessary to secure the proper enforce- ment of his orders, has been seen in Shansi and Yunnan. Unfortunately not all governors, much less all local officials, show the necessary determination, but just as the Viceroys and governors have come to realise that the Central Government is in carnest, so the local officials soon realise that the Provincial Government is in earnest and act accordingly. In certain provinces it is hard for the governor to make his influence felt throughout all the province, and judging from the accounts of what has been effected up till now the vigour of the suppression varies, as a rule, in proportion to the distance from the provincial capitals, though, of course, even in the remotest districts an official who is in earnest can effect much. The venality and disloyalty of the underlings has greatly increased the difficulties with which the officials have had to contend, but fear of certain punishment following on detection has proved a powerful deterrent, and among this class also there has been a great improvement.
The most practical test, perhaps, as to whether a district is likely to get rid of the evil is to ascertain whether the magistrate and other officials are smokers. Where they are not and are possessed of a fair amount of energy and honesty, the licensing and other regulations are, in most cases, rapidly and easily enforced; but where the officials themselves smoke, the regulations merely provide them with a The Central Government therefore has new and profitable source of illicit income.
shown great wisdom in paying especial attention to the observance of the rule forbidding officials to smoke, simultaneously with the issue of orders in so many provinces for the total suppression of cultivation.
I have left to the end the question of the improvement in public opinion in regard to opium smoking. Many persons hold that the best method of curing the habit, as distinct from stopping the supply, is by the education of public opinion, by example, and otherwise; this view was clearly set forth in article 9 of the original regulations. There has been a marked improvement in this respect throughout the Empire. The rise in the price of opium and the fear of punishment have certainly been responsible for by far the larger share in the reduction of the number of smokers, especially among the poorer classes, but the marked change in public opinion has also had a beneficial effect in this respect. In old days it was considered good form for a young man to smoke opium; now the reverse is the case, and he no longer feels himself bound to indulge in his opium after dinner. Smoking is banished from public places, and though dens exist, they exist in defiance of the law like secret gambling hells in London. One may go so far as to say that there is a certain moral and social stigma attaching to the habit. Opium smokers, who are, of course, still very numerous, no longer confess to their failing, but indulge their craving surreptitiously; this in itself is a sign of the improvement in public opinion. Naturally the smokers themselves regard the anti-opium movement with hostility, or, at best, with apathy, but there is a growing body of public opinion which is prepared to welcome the adoption of any measures which may hasten the final extinction of a vice which many have come to regard as a national curse and disgrace. To sum up, I consider that distinct progress has been made during the period under review towards the attainment of the objects China set herself in 1906. The progress is certainly most marked in regard to the suppression of cultivation in those provinces where it was definitely prohibited, and we are justified in looking forward to similar results in the further provinces in which the growth of the poppy has now been forbidden. It is much more difficult to measure the progress made in regard to the prevention and cure of smoking, but in this domain also there has been improve- ment in most provinces, especially in the capitals and larger towns. The enforcement of total prohibition of cultivation will, even in the absence of any survey or reliable statistics, make it possible to ascertain, with a sufficient degree of accuracy whether the reduction achieved in the internal production and consumption by the end of 1910 corresponds to the reduction in the export of opium from India to China, and whether His Majesty's Government is therefore justified in continuing the annual reductions until the trade in opium from India to China is extinguished.
I cannot help feeling that we shall find that China has more than fulfilled her share of the bargain; but in order to ascertain this in a convincing and satisfactory
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manner it will be necessary to sec re independent evidence that the orders prohibiting the growth of poppy have been properly executed in the various provinces, especially in those provinces such as Szechuan, Kweichow, Shensi, and Kansu, where the largest amount of opium is still produced. I do not know whether the Indian Government intends to take any special steps before the expiration of the three years to ascertain how far the Chinese Government has fulfilled its promise; but having in mind the very clear and definite information obtained from the journeys of Messrs. Brenan and Rose in Shansi and Yunnan, I would suggest that one or two consular officers, with a knowledge of the language and some previous experience of the question, should be instructed to make extensive tours in the principal opium- producing provinces, especially in Szechuan, at the proper season in the course of the year 1910, so as to ascertain by personal inspection to what extent the orders prohibiting the cultivation of opium have been carried out.
W. G. MAX MÜLLER.
Peking, October 16, 1909.
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
The Cultivation and Consumption of Opium in Shansi.
AS recently as a year ago the province of Shansi was noted for its output of opium. The absence of any trustworthy statistics on the subject renders even au approximate computation of the quantity produced extremely difficult, but as the Board of Revenue's return states the amount for 1906 to be 9,666 piculs, it is safe to suppose that the annual production was considerably in excess of that figure; whilst a moderate estimate gives the area formerly devoted to the cultivation of the poppy as at least two-thirds of all the watered land in the province. In some parts, notably the Chiaocheng and Wenshui districts to the south-west of Taiyuanfu, and the Fenho Valley to the south, the proportion was much higher and practically all the fields in these regions were sown with poppy for the winter crop. The plant was also to be found in large quantities anywhere where rivers, mountain streams, or wells permitted of proper irrigation, and wheat was only grown in the higher and dryer land where the more valuable crop would not thrive.
Until the autumn of 1908 there had been no serious attempt on the part of the provincial authorities to deal with the opium question. Proclamations had, it is true, been issued in obedience to the edict of 1906, ordering a decrease in the amount of land under cultivation, and had resulted, to a certain extent, in the substitution of wheat for opium in 1907, but it was seen that the officials did not intend to enforce the prohibitions, and in 1908 the crop, if not as large as before, was still considerable; in fact, in some districts it is reported that the area under cultivation had even increased. In the same year, however, the authorities at Taiyuanfu, either on their own initiative or in consequence of pressure exercised from Peking, came to the conclusion that an attempt must be made to deal with the question in an energetic manner and decided as a first step to prohibit the cultivation of opium forthwith throughout the province. The sale of the drug and the smoking of it were to be considered later, but it was felt that these questions would be easier of solution once the production had been stopped. This was in itself, of course, no light task, as it meant depriving the agricultural classes of almost half their income at one blow. It is estimated that a field under opium, after deducting the various extra taxes levied on account of the drug, still brings in more than twice as much to the cultivator as it would if sown with wheat, barley, or other crops.
Proclamations were issued in the autumn of last year forbidding the people to sow the plant and threatening them with severe penalties for disobedience. These seem to have been taken more seriously than the official pronouncements of former years, though many of the natives continued in the hope that the prohibition would be no more strictly enforced than before, and there were not wanting foreigners of experience in the province who expressed their disbelief in the desire or ability of the authorities to force such an unpalatable measure on the people, apart from the difficulties connected with the inevitable loss of revenue accruing from the trade. The Government has, however, been undoubtedly successful in suppressing the cultivation of opium in Shansi this year, as I venture to think will be shown by this report, although it does not necessarily follow that the poppy has been banished from
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