CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910 — Page 375

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

OPIUM.

CONFIDENTIAL.

C O

[November 3.]

35950

SECTION 8.

[40048]

Rear 24 NOV 10 No, 1.

Sir A. Hosie to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received November 3.)

(No. 2.) Sir,

Peking, October 19, 1910. WITH reference to my despatch No. 1 of the 14th instant, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith, in duplicate, a report on the cultivation of the poppy and the production of opium in the provinces of Shansi, Shensi, and Kansu.

As I have only just received a second instalment of notes by Mr. Coales, dated the 1st September, from Ta-t'ung IIsien, a city five days' journey to the north-west of Lan-chon Fu, the capital of Kansu, and as his next communication may not reach me for months and is unlikely to influence the conclusion at which I have arrived in regard to that province, other parts of which have necessarily remained unvisited, I have deemed it advisable to transmit the report as it stands without further delay.

I have, &c.

ALEX. HOSIE.

Enclosure in No. 1.

Report by Sir A. Hosie on the Cultivation of the Poppy and the Production of Opium in the Provinces of Shansi, Shensi, and Kansu.

TABLE of Coins, Weights, Measures, and Distances mentioned in this Report.

1 Tael 1,100 to 1,400 2s. 6d. (approximately).

1 Chinese oz. = 14 oz. English.

1 Catty 16 Chinese oz. 14 lbs. English,

1 Pieni 100 cattles - 1334 lbs. English.

1 Mou=0·1515 acre English.

1 Zi = j statute inile.

NOTE-A tael of silver is not a coin. It is a weight which varies in every province and

indeed in every place in a province.

A li is renerally reckoned to be que-third of a statute mile, but it varies according

to the nature of the country. In mountainous regions it is shorter, and of level ground frequently longer than one-third of a mile.

A mou, a land measure fixed by treaty at 7334 square yards, also varies in extent

in different provinces.

I RETURNED on the 3rd September from a four months' journey in the provinces of Shansi, Shensi, and Kansu, which are known to have been great centres of opium production and exportation in the past, and two of which-Shensi and Kansu- continue to be great producing and exporting provinces. In my investigation of opium production in China I considered it advisable to visit Shensi and Kansu immediately on my arrival in China-(1) because they are the most inaccessible of all the great opium- producing provinces, and (2) because, unlike most of the other great opium centres, the season of production is the summer months, during which I could be on the spot, and thus be in a position to form an estimate of the extent of cultivation in various parts of these provinces, even should that estimate prove only approximate,

The information contained in this report, which deals specially with opium, is set forth at greater length in and forms part of a general report on the whole journey which I have prepared with a view to presenting a better and more comprehensive insight into the conditions prevailing in Shansi, Shensi, and Kansu, so that a closer acquaintance with the whole question of opium production in these provinces will be obtained if the two reports are read together.

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