5
4
missionary in I-yang, also mentioned that some was grown in the remoter parts of that district. Mr. Jewett, a Wesleyan missionary resident in Ping-chiang, who has furnished me with a very careful report on opium suppression in that district, tells me he was informed that some of the valleys on the Kiangsi border had been planted with poppy. Some patches were also planted during the 8th and 9th moons (September to November) nearer the district city, but in this latter case runners were sent out towards the end of November to destroy the plants, and did so.
The consulate writer, whose information I have generally found to be reliable, confirms the report of poppy being grown in the remoter parts of Kuei-yang-chou, also in Sang- chih-hsien, on the Hupei border (a wild and undeveloped district), and in Ch'ông-pu- hsien, on the Kwangsi border. He adds that in all notorious poppy-growing districts exceptionally rigid suppressive measures have been adopted, but that in the remoter parts it has so far been found impossible to put a stop to it entirely.
The following particulars have been gleaned from the native press. Poppy growing having been reported from Feng-huang-ting, a special deputy was dispatched thither, and a whole battalion of troops was detailed to escort him in that wild and somewhat lawless region. Deputies attended by troops have also been sent to the neighbouring districts of Chien-chou-t'ing and Yung-sui-t'ing and to the Miso districts, hitherto great centres of poppy growing. Poppy growing, alleged to be due to the magistrate's apathy, is also reported from Ch'i-yang-hsien, where an enquiry is to be held. In Siangyin large quantities of poppy are said to have been destroyed, while in Lu-ch'i- hsien poppy growing is said to flourish owing to the neglect of the magistrate and the gentry even to promulgate the regulations, much less to enforce them. Trouble is said to have arisen owing to the uprooting of poppy in Kuei-yang-chou, but I have no details. In Chiên-chou-fu, too, a good deal of poppy was sown, and when a deputy proceeded thither to destroy the crop, the people resisted him by armed force and compelled him to retire to the district city. Poppy growing is also reported from Yung- shun-fu, where the deputy has been charged with slackness in suppressing it, from Ling-hsien, and from the remoter parts of Puo-ch'ing-fu. Finally, in Chên-chou (which must not be confounded with Chiên-chou-fu) the inhabitants of some villages are said to have made extensive preparations for resistance to the destruction of the poppy, and troops have been ordered to the spot.
As regards the sale and consumption of the drug in Changsha, the stringent repressive measures now enforced have once more driven the traffic underground. It is no longer carried on openly, and divans are a thing of the past. Nevertheless, the consulate writer assures me that considerable quantities of opium are smuggled into Hunan by the crews and the passengers of the steam-launches running hither; hoards of opium, too, are still stored in secret places in the city, but only those well known to and implicitly trusted by the owners can purchase any, and a great deal of smoking goes on in the strictest privacy. The native press, too, is responsible for the statement that large quantities of opium have been smuggled to the Siang River valley from the poppy-growing districts in the west of the province.
The above information is largely corroborated by Mr. Warren, who has made the most searching enquiries during the past quarter. He states that the watch now kept by the authorities is so strict, and the risk consequently involved is so great, that, although there is plenty of opium in Shanghai, the price has more than doubled. Only those well known to be genuine smokers can obtain any; others will be blandly assured that the traffic has been entirely suppressed,
In spite of the secrecy maintained, the police, reinforced by a special band of detectives have, nevertheless, succeeded in effecting a number of arrests and seizures and of obtaining numerous convictions. During the month of November, in Changsha alone, in addition to those who suffered the death penalty, no fewer than 147 smokers were dealt with, apart from those guilty of other offences against the opium regulations. Of the above number, 58 were fined, 45 were sent to the Red Cross hospital for treatment, 9 were detained for further examination, 16 were sentenced to hard labour, and 19 to simple imprisonment.
These figures were furnished to Mr. Warren by the General Opium Suppression Bureau.
Many boards of opion have also been seized by the police-in fact, the native press reports that a corps of fifty detectives las heen organised, whose special duty it is to search out these hoards in and around the city. A number of female detectives and searchers have also been engaged to go from house to house exploring the women's quarters, and to search the women themselves, many of whom conceal opium on their persons and distribute it daily to smokers.
The General Opium Suppression Bureau recently published a statement of the fines inflicted in Changsha for breaches of the opium regulations. Between the 10th October, e., the 1st day of the 9th moon, the date originally fixed for total prohibition, and the 31st December the individuals fined numbered 187, the fines amounting to 2,098 taels, 4,718 dollars, and 3,086 tiao, or, roughly, a total of 10,089 dollars.
As stated in my last opium report, the manufacture of anti-opium remedies was taken by the authorities into their own hands after the end of the 8th roon (9th October); the sale thereof was to be discontinued altogether at the end of the lunar year (5th February). It seems probable, however, that the term will have to be extended. Since the 10th October the sale has been restricted to those holding special certificates from the Opium Suppression Bureau; but the unlicensed sales seem to have been very large. The unlicensed manufacture by private persons of pills with an admixture of morphia is also said to have been very prevalent.
The state of affairs in the rest of the province seems to be very similar to that prevailing in Changsha, Cases of the arrest and punishment of offenders are chronicled daily in the native press, and while the regulations are enforced with varying degrees of severity, and results are unequal in the different districts, suppressive measures have, on the whole, been carried out very rigorously. Here again, however, so the consulate writer states, the complaint is heard that while the poor are proceeded against with the utmost severity, the rich enjoy comparative-in some cases complete-immunity. Charges of opium-smoking have even brought against district magistrates, members of district councils, and other prominent persons.
Mr. Jowett, of the Wesleyan Mission in Ping-chiang, informa me that stern and vigorous measures are being taken to stamp out the trade in the district; that opium cannot be bought openly nor are any divans to be seen; that old opium-smokers are in sore distress; and that the trade in anti-opium medicines has increased tremendously. At the same time, he has been informed by a number of people that the drug can be procured by those who are ready to pay for it. On the other hand, the police commissioner, the opium deputy, and the magistrate, have all assured him that the trade is absolutely finished, and the last-named official implored him to send me a favourable report, but Mr. Jowett attaches little or no value to official assurances. adds that opium can be, and is said to be, procured by all and sundry just across the Kiangai border.
He
Indeed, the traffic in opium seems to flourish in most border districts, where offenders can evade jurisdiction by moving across the boundary. Complaints have been heard, in especial from Li-chou and Lin-hsiang-hsien, where the suppressive measures have been largely nullified by smokers obtaining supplies from the adjoining province of Hupei. The governor has been in communication on this subject with the governors of all the provinces bordering on Hunan, and has requested their co-operation in putting down this inter-provincial traffic.
Instances of resistance to suppressive measures have still to be chronicled. I have already mentioned a few in my remarks about poppy cultivation, and have, in addition, culled the following from the native press —
In a village in I-yang-hsien, where smoking still prevailed, the attempt to enforce prohibition led to a raid on the police station, which was wrecked; the head of the police fled, and applied for troops to quell the disturbance.
The police, when seizing a quantity of opium-smoking paraphernalia in a village in the Siangyin district, were attacked by a band of several hundred men and compelled to retreat. They eventually fired, wounding one man, when the mob smashed up the police station. The opium deputy fled, and troops had to be dispatched to the spot.
In Sang-chih-hsien the attempted arrest of a notable who opposed the opium deputy led to a riot, in which the man who had informed against him was nearly beaten to death,
I cannot sum up the net result of my enquiries into opium suppression in Hunan during the December quarter better than in the words of Mr. Jowett, who writes:-
"I must say that it would be as unwise to state that the opium is stamped out as it would be untrue to say that vigorous measures are not being taken to end the trade. The utmost I can say is that there is an earnest, or at least a vigorous, movement afoot to end the trade, but I should not care to say that the trade is ended.'
I should add that these remarks are no less true of poppy cultivation than of the -sale and consumption of the drug.
I have, &c.
BERTRAM GILES.
O
377
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.