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The returns of Indian opium removed from bond from the four ports of Shanghai, Foochow, Amoy and Swatow during last February were 987, 186, 58 and 178, respec- tively, a total of 1,409 against 1,063 chests for February 1912, The respective figures for March 1913 were 1,318, 115, 68 and 160, a total of 1661 against 1,2014 chests for March last year. The sales at Hong Kong have been about 400 cheats monthly. At this rate the difficult problem of the uncleared stocks at Shanghai and Hong Kong should solve itself on present lines within the next two years or even earlier. For every consumer of Indian opium there are probably five or six of the native drug. Opium smoking in China cannot be extinguished suddenly by means of laws and regulations, however drastic these may be. The only practical remedy lies in the gradual curtailment of the supply and consumption of the drug.
I liave, &c.
J. N. JORDAN.
Euclosure in No. 1.
Extract from the "Peking Daily News" of March 10, 1913.
NATIONAL OPIUM CONFERENCE (FIFTH SESSION).
THE National Opium Conference held its fifth and last session at Teng Shi Kou on Saturday, the 8th March. Final reports were received, and some twenty resolu- tions, the result of the work of the Conference, were put in order. Perhaps the most important work was the appointment of a permanent Committee to carry on work proposed,
Fiva delegates, who will be in Peking, were appointed as a Continuation Committee, to carry out the proposals of the Conference, and to make more effective the co-operation of the provinces in the effort to stamp out opium in China. Some of them are members of the coming National Assembly. They will also print the report of the Conference. An Anti-opium Committee will be formed in the National Assembly itself, so that, in the future, matters relating to opium prohibition can be brought at once to the attention of China's legislators.
The greatest hindrance to the opium prohibition, it was reported, come from the treaty ports and the foreign concessions, where, under the protection of foreign consule, the trade and vice thrive. Twenty new shops for opium have been opened in Tientsin concessions, while all are closed in the Chinese territory. In Shanghai, Hankow, and other places, the trade flourishes in spite of all that China can do. Foreigners are making money from China's vice in the face of China's efforts to free her people. The Wai-chiao Pu was asked to take up this question vigorously, on behalf of the nation.
The following are findings of the Conference:-
1.-Resolved, that as time for the total prohibition of opium has already arrived, we request that the Government should urge the Governors of the provinces to give a full report of the enforcement of the prohibition laws before the 30th June, 1913.
2. Resolved, to ask the Ministry of the Interior to instruct the provincial anti-opium bureaux to push on vigorously the work of opium prohibition in a uniform manner, and to have the provincial bureaux called by the same terms.
3.-Resolved, to ask the Ministry of Justice to instruct all the provincial officers to pay special attention to opium offences.
4-Resolved, to ask the Government to prepare a Bill for the National Council, making the laws against the opium evil more vigorous than they are now.
5.-Resolved, to ask the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to instruct the provincial authorities not to register opium merchants as a legal business, and who have already registered should be removed from the lists.
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6.-Resolved, to ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to instruct the provincial Commissioners of Foreign Affairs to consult with the various foreign consuls, in order to have opium prohibition carried out in the foreign concessions and along the routes between treaty ports, and along any railroads controlled by foreign Powers.
7.--Resolved, to ask the Government to prepare a special Bill for the National Council to provide for heavy punishments for officials who do not execute the anti-opium laws.
8-Resolved, to ask the Government to also prepare a special Bill providing for offences in the use and sale of morphine.
9-Resolved, to ask the Government to prepare a special Bill for the National
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Council providing for the use of military forces for the suppression of opium cultivation, and that offenders should be treated in accordance with martial law.
10. Resolved, to ask the Ministry of the Interior to push on the prohibition of opium in Peking, and to offer rewards for the report and detection of offenders against the present regulations.
11.-Resolved, to urge all the newspapers throughout the Republic of China to push on and stir up public opinion in favour of the anti-opium measures, and to promote the public burning of opium in as many places as possible, and to ask the international reform bureau to give special attention to this matter.
12.-Resolved, to send letters to the British anti-opium societies and to the British Parliament expressing our appreciation of their help, and stating clearly our wishes for the total prohibition of the opium trade and the use of opium, as well as its cultivation in China. The draft of the letters was read and the delegates signed their names,
13. Resolved, to make known to the people of China the statements made in the British House of Commons in favour of China's anti-opium reform, and also the efforts made by the opium merchants to protect their trade.
14.-Resolved, to ask the Government to instruct provincial officials not to allow any outside influence by other parties to prevent the punishment of opium offenders.
15.-Resolved, to ask the Ministry of Laws to have all the fines received from opium offenders set aside for the work of opium prohibition.
16. Resolved, to ask, in the name of this Conference, that all the Governors in China stand firmly against any opium monopoly by the Central Government which may be under consideration.
17-Resolved, to telegraph to all the Governors urging that no monopoly for the sale of opium be undertaken in any province or district.
18.-Resolved, to ask the Wai-chino Pu if there is any truth in the statement that Governors of some provinces have been "utterly disregarding the opium treaties," or preventing the importation of Indian opium at the treaty ports.
19.-Resolved, to appoint, from among the delegates present at this Conference, a Continuation Committee, to carry out the foregoing resolutions and to continue the work of co-operation by the provinces in the total prohibition of opium. The following members were then appointed as the Continuation Committee of the National Opium Conference: Mr. Chen Cheh-pu from Chihli, Mr. Chang Hsin-fu and Mr. Liang-fu from Chekiang, Mr. Li Keng-yuan from Yunnan, Mr. An Ming from Kirin, and Mr. Chang Yu Chun at Peking.
It was also decided to have a full report of the Conference printed and sent to all the Governors.
20.-Resolved, to ask for the formation of a Standing Committee on Opium Prohibition in the coming National Assembly, to be ready to consider any questions ou the subject.
List of delegates to the National Opium Conference at Peking, held from the 4th to the 8th March, 1913-
Chihli--Chen Cheh-pu, Hua Tseh-shun.
Shansi-Hsin Tien-yuan.
Shantung.-Shen-tau.
Fengtien. Chen Chi, Wang Hsiao-yin, Chen Tsih-lang, Tiao Ching-hsian.
Kirin.-Fang Chih-tai, An Ming.
Heliungkiang Liu Teh-chicn.
Hupeh-Chu Kuo-chen.
Hunan Hsieh Chi-ling, Ten Mu-yao.
Fulien-Chen Nun-kuang, Cheng Shao-haing.
Chekiang Chang Hsian-fu, Chao Ping, Liang-fu.
Finnan-Li Keng Yuan.
Anhui.-Hsu Yu.
President's representative.-Wellington Koo.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.--Chou Chu-wu.
Ministry of the Interior. Wu Cheng, Wang Yu-chuen
Ministry of Agriculture and for Canton.-Yang Yung-chih.
Representative of the Board of the United Societies.-Chien Paochuen.
International Reform Bureau.-Chang Yu-chun, E. W. Thwing.
Some of the Governors who did not send delegates sent their reports by teleg
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