3
Shang Yang, in the Yen Ping Prefecture of the same province, a proclamation, dated the 11th March, was issued by the sub-prefect, forbidding the transport of opium from Foochow into the interior from the first day of that month, and stating that persons who proceeded to Foochow to make purchases would have their opium impounded and be themselves punished; and on the 9th May the district magistrate of Sha Hsien issued a proclamation fixing the 18th May as the date for the cessation of the import from outside of opium into the town and villages of the Sha Hsien district. Copies of these two proclamations, which are in direct violation of treaty engagements, are enclosed.
All these restrictions imposed on the opium trade in the province of Fukien have occasioned British merchants at Foochow very serious losses entitling them to com- pensation, and although they were at once brought to the notice of his Excellency the Viceroy of the Min-Che by His Majesty's consul at Foochow, with a request for their But no withdrawal, and formed the subject of repeated representations by this legation to the Wai-wu Pu, it was not till the middle of July that they were withdrawn. sooner have they been removed than equally objectionable regulations containing fresh restrictions are imposed, for in August the commissioner of police at Foochow issued a proclamation embodying regulations applicable to traders and smokers of opium.
These regulations, as stated in the proclamation, were sanctioned by the Viceroy and put in force by his Excellency's instructions. The third of these regulations makes it compulsory for raw opium shops which purchase foreign opium to take out passes ("san lien tan") from the Opiuni Eradication Office, and ordains that opium bought This is another breach of the procedure without such passes shall be confiscated.
laid down by treaty, and one of those restrictions which the Chinese Government solemnly undertook in article 7 of the agreement should never again be imposed. A copy of this proclamation, with regulations attached, is enclosed.
At the port of Changsha dealers in raw I come now to the province of Hunan.
This procedure was abolished opium were compelled to pay the smokers' licence tax. on receipt of the telegraphic instructions sent by the Wai-wu Pu in June, but was reimposed under instructions from the Board of Finance in the following month. But by proclamation and regulations issued by the financial commissioner, the judicial commissioner, and the police intendant on the 24th July, a new system was enforced whereby a tax of 160 cash is now being levied on every Chinese ounce of raw opium in utter disregard of paragraph 2 of article 7 of the agreement of the 8th May, which distinctly states that "Indian raw opium having paid the consolidated import duty shall be exempt from any further taxation whatsoever in the port of import." A copy of this proclamation with appended regulation is enclosed.
Again, at Shanghai and Soochow, in the province of Kiangsu, dealers are called upon to pay the smokers' licence in contravention of the Wai-wu Pu's instructions of June, the Shanghai magistrate even declaring that he has no knowledge of these instructions, while his Excellency the governor of the province, in a telegraphic reply to His Majesty's consul-general at Shanghai, quotes from a communication received by him from the Board of the Interior, to the effect that a joint memorial presented by the Board of the Interior and the Board of Finance, proposing that it be left to the Viceroys and governors of provinces to determine whether the smokers' licence fees should be collected direct from the smokers or dealers be held responsible for collection and payment, had been approved by Imperial rescript, and he adds that these instructions had been acted upon, as the authority of the Wai-wu Pu's orders was naturally restricted by a sanctioned memorial. Copies of a rescript by the Shanghai magistrate to a petition by the Opium Guild, and dated the 1st August, in which that official states that he had not received notice of the Wai-wu Pu's telegraphic instructions and of the governor's telegraphic reply to His Majesty's consul-general at Shanghai, are enclosed.
In bringing these cases of provincial restrictions on and illegal taxation of the trade in Indian opium to the notice of the Wai-wu Pu, I must solemnly remind your Highness that the regulations under which they are imposed, regulations framed by officials of all ranks as well as by anti-opium associations and the like, are not only an infringement of the agreement of the 8th May, but that their mode of issue constitutes a violation of that instrument. Such regulations, to be valid under the agreement, should be issued by the Chinese Government, and the Chinese Government alone. is it seemly that there should be several Government departments dealing with the question in Peking and issuing contradictory instructions. The Wai-wu Pu was the department which made the agreement, is responsible for its fulfilment, and should alone issue the necessary instructions.
Nor
Since the agreement was signed this legation has been deluged with complaints of its violation, and there is only one way of putting a stop to a state of things which has become intolerable, and the continuance of which must inevitably lead to further claims for compensation. The Chinese Government must carry out the obligations which they undertook under the agreement and themselves issue and publish any regulations which they consider necessary for the enforcement of the last paragraph of article 7; and I have the honour to request your Highness to give me an explicit assurance that this course will be strictly followed in future, and that the issue of further provincial regula- tions of any kind shall cease.
I avail, &c.
J. N. JORDAN
51
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.