[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[33271]
No. 1.
[August 7.]
SECTION 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received August 7.)
(No. 310.) Sir.
Peking, July 20, 1012. WITH reference to my despatch No. 200 of the 30th April last, reporting on the recrudescence of opium cultivation in various provinces of China, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a copy of a despatch which I have received from His Majesty's consul-general an Yunnan-fu, stating that the opium harvest in the province of Yunnan has now been reaped, that the yield averages about 80 per cent, of pre-suppression days, and that, owing to favourable climatic conditions, the crop is of very good quality.
Mr. O'Brien-Butler further states that an official opiumu bureau with a working "capital of 1,000,000 dollars, half of which was provided by the Government in the shape of newly-issued notes, and the balance by former opium firms, which have invested in shares each of the value of 1,000 silver dollars, was established in May, and farmers were called upon to hand over all their opium to the bureau, which would pay them 30 cents a Chinese ounce, the intention of the bureau being to export the drug thus obtained to Tonquin, and there dispose of it to the Opium Régie at from 1 dol. 60 c. to 1 dol. 80 c. an ounce.
On receipt of Mr. O'Brien-Butler's despatch I at once addressed a memorandum to the Wai-chino Pu citing Yunnan as an illustration of the way in which China is carrying out her share of the opium agreement, and pointing out that the absence of any national policy on the subject of opium is evidenced by the fact that, while Chekiang and other provinces are violating the agreement by prohibiting the entry and transit of Indian opium, Yünnan has resumed cultivation on a scale approaching that of pre-suppression days, and has become an exporter of opium. The result, I added, is that Great Britain will have stopped the export froin India to China merely to advance the native cultivation, that the last state of China will be no better than the first, and that the uncontrolled action of the provinces is fast leading to the inevitable result--the exclusion of foreign opium and the protection of native cultivation for home consumption as well as for export. I have the honour to enclose a copy of this nemorandum.
(Copy sent to India.)
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN,
(No. 32.) Sir,
Consul-General O'Brien-Butler to Sir J. Jordan.
Yunnan-fut, June 25, 1912. IN continuation of my despatch No. 15 of the 4th April, I have the honour to report that the opium growing in this province has all been harvested, the yield averaging about four-fifths of that obtained before the cultivation of the poppy was prohibited. The quality of the drug is said to be very good, and this is attributed to the exceptionally dry weather that has prevailed.
All speculations as to what the Provincial Government intended to do when the opium crop was ripe or had been collected were set at rest last month, when an official One half of opium bureau was formed with a sum of 1,000,000 dollars to work with. this was furnished by the Government in newly issued notes, and the other half was put up
in shares each of 1,000 silver dollars by four big, and some twenty or thirty small, mercantile firms that had dealt in opium in former times. hand over all their opium to the bureau, which would pay them 30 cents a Chinese ounce; and the intention of the bureau has been to send the drug thus obtained to Tonquin, and there sell to the Opium Régie at from 1 dol. 60 c. to 1 dol. 80 e, per Chinese ounce.
[2604 g-1]
Farmers were told to
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