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4
"The prohibitions promulgated by the late Manchu Government must still be enforced, and within one week from the receipt of this communication you should report to me for my consideration the steps you propose to take after studying the three methods I have set forth. Hereafter, a report must be made to me twice a-month. It is to be hoped that great improvement will thus result, and that we shall achieve by the end of the year the object in view to stamp out opium entirely.
"If the matter is again treated lightly and as of no account and, with the time drawing so near, this important work is delayed, I shall surely hold the officials responsible. "I herewith append six regulations for carrying out the work of opium prohibition :-
"1. Proclamations should be issued in metrical verse.
"2 Anextensive campaign of lecturing should be started.
"3. The establishment of homes for breaking off the opiun habit and of bureaux
for the sale of anti-opium pills should be encouraged.
4. The period by which all raw and prepared opium shops are to be entirely closed
down is to be shortened to the 30th November, 1912.
5. Punishments for the infringement of the prohibition should be announced. "The police are to be charged with the duty of making the most thorough inves- tigations."
Enclosure 4 in No. 1.
Consul Wilkinson to Sir J. Jordan.
(No. 53.) Sir,
Nanking, October 14, 1912. SINCE addressing you on the 9th instant on the opium question at Nanking, I have received a reply from the Governor to my protest against the forcible measures which are being adopted here for the suppression of the drug,
Mr. Cheng contends that, since the Chinese Government is at liberty under article 7 of the Opium Agreement of 1911 to publish any laws it thinks fit for the suppression of opium smoking, in fixing the end of the year as the period within which smoking must entirely cease, he is in no way infringing the terms of the agreement. I enclose a copy and translation of the governor's letter, which reached me on the 12th instant.
As this reply appeared to me thoroughly unsatisfactory, I called on the
governer the same afternoon to discuss the question with him. I began the conversation by pointing out that, although he contended that it was only for the suppression of opium smoking that a limit of time had been fixed, yet he had also ordered all opium shops to be closed by the end of the year, which was at variance not only with the terms of the Opium Agreement, but with the treaty rights of British merchants since Indian opium was still a legitimate article of import and trade. As to article 7 of the Opium Agreement, which he had quoted in support of his argument, that he was at liberty to make any law he pleased for the suppression of opium smoking, if he would read it carefully he would find that it was the Central Government only that was referred to. If he was as anxious as he professed to be to do away with opium completely in the province, all he had to do was to suppress the cultivation and import of the native drug, which in Kiangsu ought not to be a very difficult task, when under article 3 of the agrce- ment he could legitimately demand that the import of Indian opium into the province should also cease.
The governor replied that, while he agreed to some extent with the arguments which I had advanced, his position in the matter was not as easy as it might appear to me to be. He might tell me confidentially that he personally was not in favour of any forcible measures, but public opinion had been too strong for him. China was now a republic, and it was expected of him that he would carry out, not his own ideas on the subject, but the will of the people. My letters to him had furnished him, however, with a very strong argument with which to resist the extremists, who wanted opium done away with at any cost at once. The main objection from a Chinese point of view to the forcible measures proposed was that they would cause an enormous mortality amongst opium smokers, but this argument carried no weight with him. His own idea was that the best means to reduce the consumption of the drug was to call upon the heads of all families to use every possible means of persuasion to induce the opium smokers under their roofs to abandon the habit; in other words, to make it a point of honour with them. The trouble, as he must admit, was that most of the smokers nowadays were heads of families themselves. He feared that the total prohibition of
the import of Indian opium into Kiangsu would lose much of its good effect through the fact that Shanghai would be excluded therefrom, which would mean that a large illicit trade would at once spring up of which Shanghai would be the base of supply. To wean opium smokers from the habit was the best solution of the problem.
Mr. Cheng concluded the interview by assuring me that the terms of the Opium Agreement would be strictly complied with the shops would not be compulsorily closed and the issue of smoking licences would continue. To a question of mine as to whether it would be any assistance to him if he received definite orders from Peking instructing him to abandon forcible measures he gave no definite reply. The impression I gathered was that he had already received such orders.
I have, &c.
(Translation.) Sir,
Enclosure 5 in No. 1.
F. E. WILKINSON.
The Governor of Kiangsu to Consul Wilkinson,
Nanking, October 11, 1912. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter informing me of the representations made to you by the British merchants at Shanghai engaged in the Indian opium trade, and of the instructions you had received on the subject from your Minister at Peking.
in
In reply I beg to observe that the order issued by me fixing the end of December as the limit of time within which the smoking of opium must be suppressed refers only to the prohibition of opium smoking. In the 7th article of the Opium Agreement of 1911 it is specifically stated that the stipulations laid down therein are not to derogate any manner from the force of the laws already published, or hereafter to be published, by the Chinese Government to suppress the smoking of opium and to regulate the retail trade in the drug in general. The order issued by this province fixing a limit of time for the suppression of opium smoking is such a law as, according to the terms of the agreement, the Government is at liberty to publish to attain that end, and I fail to see how it is in any way an infringement of the agreement.
With regard to the proposed raw and prepared opium monopoly, this province would not put any such scheme into force unless the modus operandi was previously laid down by the Central Government, You need, therefore, have no apprehensions on
this score.
I have issued
The fact discovered by you on your recent journey to Linhuaikuan that opium was planted in that neighbourhood this spring is already known to me. instructions to the territorial officials that it is to be rooted out and destroyed whenever found, so that its cultivation may be suppressed at the earliest possible date.
In the 2nd article of the Opium Agreement it is also stated that, China having adopted a most rigorous policy for prohibiting the transport, the production, and the smoking of native opium, His Britannic Majesty's Government have expressed their agreement therewith and willingness to give every assistance with a view to facilitating the continuance of this work. Further, the hope is expressed that China will succeed in completely suppressing opium within seven years. For the good-will of your Government in the matter I ain deeply grateful, and am most anxious on this account to comply with the agreement and hasten the suppression of the cultivation and smoking of opium, so as to shorten the period within which it shall be totally eradicated and thus fulfil the generous hopes of your Government.
I beg that you will communicate the contents of this letter to your Minister and to the Indian opium merchants, so that there may be no misunderstanding in the
I have, &c.
matter.
(Card of Mr. Cheng Tề Chan)
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