[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
C O
[July 18.]
24833
SECTION 2.
REC
Pro 12 AUG 10
No. 1.
[25993]
(No. 10.) Sir,
Acting Consul Rose to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received July 18.)
Tengyueh, June 9, 1910. I HAVE the honour to enclose two copies of a report, which I have to-day addressed to His Majesty's chargé d'affaires at Peking, on the subject of the opium
in Yunnan for the season 1909 to 1910.
crops
I have, &c.
ARCHIBALD ROSE.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Report by Acting Consul Rose on the Opium Crops in Western Yünnan for the Season 1909-10.
General Condition of Crops.
THE city of Tengyueh is the administrative centre of the great poppy district in one of the principal opium-producing provinces of China, and the neighbouring city of Talifu has ranked in recent years amongst the most important markets for the drug throughout the Empire; the recent progress in opium prohibition in this district may serve, therefore, to throw useful light on the effectiveness of official action in enforcing the Imperial decrees. During the year 1908 the Yunnan Viceroy, his Excellency Hsi Liang, associated himself very closely with the ideal of ridding the province of the poppy crop, and the vigorous policy which he inaugurated at the provincial capital produced results surpassing all expectations. There was, however, a wide-spread belief among the people that his removal would tend to decrease the severity of the measures, and that many of the fields would again be brought under cultivation during the winter season of 1909-10. This hope has not been justified, the succeeding Viceroy; Li Ching-hsi, has for the present adhered closely to the policy of his predecessor, and I am able to report satisfactory results from the western eircuit of Yünnan.
Limit of Prohibition Measures.
During the spring of last year I was instructed to make a tour of the opium districts in the purely Chinese zone, and the result of my investigations was reported in a despatch dated the 9th June, 1909. It was found that, in the districts which were under the direct control of the Chinese authorities, there had been an carnest attempt to limit the cultivation, and that the poppy crop had been almost entirely eliminated. The production of the drug throughout the entire district, including the tribal country, was estimated to have fallen from 36,000 to 18,000 piculs, but it was anticipated that the measures of abolition had nearly reached their limit under present conditions. After recent personal observation in the non-Chinese zone, I am inclined to think that the estimates submitted last year were somewhat excessive, and that the success of the Chinese campaign had been greater than was generally believed.
The Tribal Belt.
An unusual factor in the work of poppy destruction arises here owing to the political constitution of the district, which covers, in addition to the purely Chinese zone, an extensive belt of Shan and tribal country, stretching for some 500 miles along the mountainous tract forming the western frontier of Yunnan and of China. This belt, although nominally recognising the suzerainty of China, is actually subject to a number of tribal chiefs and Shan sawbwas, who make a vigorous stand against any interference from the provincial authorities, and who rely on the inaccessibility of their
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