Į
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I have no very definite information of conditions in Shansi except that British inissionaries returning to their posts there in early summer, reported large cultivation of opium in the central and southern districts. This is admitted in the "Central China Post" reports, but it is pointed out that the cultivation amounted to only from one- twentieth to one-tentli of the amount formerly grown. The importance of the recrudescence of opium growing in Shansi rests upon the fact that it is one of the provinces officially declared last year free from native opium and therefore closed to the importation of Indian opium.
For the same reason it is to be regretted that the reports from Szechuan, although encouraging in tone, show that in several places, both in East and in West Szechuan, the officials were unable to prevent a serious recrudescence of opinm growing last season. These reports, moreover, do not cover the districts in which the renewed cultivation of the poppy was reported earlier in the year by His Majesty's consular officers in Szechuan. The evidence thus furnished was summarised in a memorandum which I addressed to the Wai-chiao Pu on the 31st May last, and which formed the fourth enclosure in my despatch No. 251 of the 10th June.
"
There remain six provinces from which no reports have been received by the Central China Post," namely, Fukien, Kiangsu, Kwangsi, Kwangtung, Shantung and Yunnan. Two of these, Kwangsi and Kwangtung, have never grown opium to any considerable extent during recent years, and in the absence of evidence to the contrary, it may be assumed that they are free from cultivation.
As regards Fukien, consular reporta of last spring showed that poppy was grown in profusion not only in the vicinity of Amoy, but in several districts all round Foochow
In North Kiangsu, it appears from newspaper reports that opium was extensively grown this year.
His Majesty's consul at Tsinan reported last August that opium had been this
year to an appreciable extent in twenty-four out of thirty-eight districts in the grown province of Shantung.
As for Yunnan, I have the honour to refer to my despatch No. 810 of the 20th July last, in which I forwarded a report to the effect that the opium harvest this about 80 per cent, of the yield in pre-suppression days.
year averaged
A general survey of the whole evidence leads to the conclusion that with the exception of Kweichow and Yunnan-fu the authorities throughout the Republic are making strenuous efforts to suppress the cultivation of native opium, but that until the result of this winter's sowing becomes visible next spring or summer, it is impossible to say how far they can succeed in making their policy effective. The difficulties to be encountered are illustrated in the enclosed interesting article in the "North China Daily News," by Dr. Arthur Smith, a well-known American missionary and writer on Chinese affairs
My own conviction is that the surest way to the extinction of the opium evil in China lies in a close adherence to the procedure prescribed in the agreement of May 1911, and not in the irregular and sensational methods which are now being adopted in several of the provinces.
I have, &c.
(No. 125.) Sir,
Enclosure I in No. 1.
Consul-General Wilkinson to Sir J. Jordan.
J. N. JORDAN.
Hankow, December 9, 1912.
I HAD the honour to receive on Saturday evening, the 7th instant, your telegram directing me to send you four copies of the "Central China Post," from the 13th November last, containing opium reports and letters.
By this mail I am forwarding the copies required, except that for the issues of the 16th and 18th November respectively, I am able to procure two copies only, and for that of the 28th November, three copies.
I beg to append a copy of the circular letter to correspondents which initiated these reports.
As you will observe, this letter is somewhat in the nature of what in a court of law would be styled a "leading question"; for the editor makes it abundantly clear that the object of his enquiry is to show that the situation has been largely misrepresented in the interests of the opium merchant." Even if the editor had concealed his bias, it is only too probable that the missionaries to whom he wrote would
3
have been influenced, however unconsciously, by their prejudice, and would have dwelt rather on the efforts of the republican officials to suppress poppy planting than on the persistence of opium smoking.
When, in pursuance of the instructions contained in your telegram No. 61 of the 4th instant, I called the following day upon General Li, the vice-president admitted that poppy cultivation is still being carried on at Lau Ho K'ou (on the Han River) and at Shih-man-fu (in the west of Hupeb). I will report more fully on this point when I shall have received the joint communication from his Excellency and the civil governor for which I asked at my interview.
I will at the same time send copies of such letters as have been furnished to me direct by the few missionaries who have respon led to my own invitation to report on the production and consumption of opium in their several districts.
Sir,
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
I have, &c.
W. H. WILKINSON.
Circular Letter to Correspondents.
Hankow, October 25, 1912. AS you are aware, we have been doing our best to get the truth on the opium. question before the public. A telegram from London, which we publish to-day, shows that another attempt has been made in the House of Commons to induce the British Government to return to the policy of unlimited importation of Indian opium to China by revoking the agreement. The ground for this appeal is the allegation that China has failed to carry out her part of the agreement by reducing the growth of opium in her own territory.
We cannot see that the proposed revocation would be justified even if the allegation were true, but we have reason to believe that the true facts as to the growth of opium have never reached the Government. In the case of Hunan a consular report went out that opium growing had again become general throughout the province, a report that we have since been able to prove false. With your kind help we hope to be able to show that the situation has been largely misrepresented in the interests of the opium merchant. Of course, in some districts the poppy crop will have increased since the revolution, and we wish to know where this is so. also wish to know where the crops have decreased.
But we
We would, therefore, appeal to you to send us as soon as possible an account of the progress or retrogression of the suppression of opium growing in your district, giving if possible a comparision between the areas under cultivation and conditions prevailing now and those before the revolution. We would ask you to use all convenient haste to gather the facts and forward them to us.
It is our purpose to summarise the reports we receive from various sources, and if the net result is to belie the reports of increased crops, we intend to telegraph the fact to one or more of the London papers.
We should like to add the suggestion that you might do valuable work in the cause of opium suppression by writing yourself to one or more of the editors of English papers.
We shall be obliged if you will let us know whether we may use your name as authenticating the reports you send.
With much gratitude for your kind assistance, we beg to remain, yours truly,
(For the "Central China Post.")
Enclosure 3 in No. 1.
Extract from the "Central China Post" of December 14, 1912,
CHINA IS SUPPRESSING OPIUM.
Reports from twelve Provinces Summarised.
UP to date we have published seventy-five letters from twelve provinces of China, giving evidence regarding the suppression of opium since the revolution. The
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