CO129-395 - Public Offices - 1912 — Page 248

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still hold stock preferring to sell, with slight risk of detection, at the present rate of equivalent weights of opium and silver.

The cultivation of the poppy goes on apace, and no effort is being made by the officials to hinder the peasants in their work. Letters from native evangelists in Chaotung aud Tungchuan to the Protestant missionaries in Yunnan-fu report that fields under bean crops, in which the young plants were already above ground, were ruthlessly cleared to make way for the more lucrative opium. The farmers, emboldened by their initial success and freed from active supervision, are now openly growing poppy without any effort to hide the nature of the crop by discreetly sowing a few seeds among fields of wheat and beans. Some days ago I saw several fields lying close to one of the high roads within a radius of 34 miles from the city gates and still in the Yunnan-fu plain, in which the poppy plants were from two to three inches high, and I am told that several fields of opium can be seen from the train between the capital and the first station down the line. Such freedom so near the seat of the Provincial Government a clear index to what must exist in remoter districts.

I have reason to believe, and others share this opinion, that the military governor has every intention of allowing as large a crop as possible this year without actually sanctioning the cultivation, and that he will take no active repressive measures. His action would appear to be decided by two considerations, namely, the fear of a big insurrection throughout the province by interfering with the determination of the peasants to

grow in every part this year at any cost, and, secondly, the prospect of bringing in a large revenue to the Government coffers at Yunnan-fu by the levying of li-kin on the new crop.

I have, &c.

(In the absence of the Consul-General),

H. W. GAMMON.

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and one in the office of the Mengtsz taotai; a deputy has been appointed to control each station.

3. Li-kin is at the rate of 100 t. 8 m. per 100 catties, other amounts paying proportionately. The export duty is fixed at 20 taels per 100 catties, to be collected by the taotai at Mengtsz.

4. The li-kin is to be paid at the two stations in Yunnan-fu and Mengtsz, and a receipt will be given. Other li-kin stations will merely examine the receipts and check the amounts. They are forbidden to extort money.

5. Throughout the province opium is to be taken to the nearest li-kin station for examination. A pass will be given and the opium sent to Yunnan-fu or Mengtsz, where it will pay li-kin. The Commissioner of Finance has already distributed to the various The li-kin stations are forbidden to stations stamped passes for this purpose.

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squeeze,"

6. After paying li-kin the opium is to be sent to Mengtsz for sale to the French merchants. This is the only recognised outlet, and any opium sold in other markets will be confiscated.

7. These regulations are expressly drawn up for the purpose of exhausting old stocks of Yunnan opium, and any persons found introducing the drug from other provinces will have his opium confiscated.

8. Traffic in prepared opium and the cultivation of the poppy are both forbidden, and heavy penalties will result from any infringement of either prohibition.

Enclosure 2 in No. 1.

Proclamation issued by the Military Governor of the Province of Yunnan on January 1, 1912.

THE prohibition of opium is a measure for the public welfare, and for the total suppression of the opium habit, the cultivation of the poppy and the selling and smoking of the drug must be rigorously and simultaneously forbidden.

In Yunnan at the present moment the cultivation of poppy is insignificant and the opium trade has been entirely destroyed; on the other hand, smoking still continues on a large scale. The reason for this is not far to seek. It is because the original period fixed for the sale of accumulated stocks of opium was too short, and as large reserves still remained, smoking was carried on as a matter of course. Unless measures are taken for the total suppression of the opium vice immense harm will result to the public. I have therefore instructed the Commissioners of the Interior and of Finance to draw up a set of regulations, and at the same time to open temporary li-kin stations to deal with the reserves of opium in Yunnan and collect li-kin thereon until the end of the second month of next year (16th April). The opium is to be conveyed to Mengtsz and there sold to foreign merchants. Those holding stocks can either sell to merchants or themselves send their opium to Yunnan-fu or Mengtsz where li-kin will be collected. Thus will the root of the evil be cut away! Confirmed smokers will perforce be cured of their craving through lack of supply of the drug. On expiry of the time limit the prohibition returns in full force, and any persons concealing à reserve of opium will be visited with heavy penalties when discovered.

By the issue of this proclamation I make it known to all that I am in earnest in this matter of destroying the opium evil. I will countenance no traffic in opium, in quantities however small, and will not permit any cultivation of the poppy in hidden places. I have already issued instructions to the Commissioner of Finance, and now give forth this proclamation for the information of the general public.

The following regulations have been drawn up :---

1. A period extending from the tenth moon (December) to the end of the second moon of next year (16th April, 1912) is granted within which all remaining opium is to he brought out and exported. After expiry of the time limit, severe punishment will follow the discovery of any person in possession of the forbidden drug.

2. Two li-kin stations are now open, one in the Commissioner of Finance's yamên

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