CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914 — Page 547

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In my opinion there is at the present time no opium being cultivated in the north of this province, except, perhaps, in very small quantities in very well concealed places. If such is cultivated it is probably not for consumption, but for the sake of the seed, which the farmers hope to keep alive till the present crisis is passed. At present the death penalty which is being inflicted on opium growers does not seem to have any gal sanction, but the civil Governor has just stated that this is to be remedied shortly, and that death will be the statutory punishment for opium cultivators.

In conclusion, I wish to record my appreciation of the unfailing courtesy and assistance of my two colleagues, and of the efforts of the Provincial Government, whose guest I was, and who did their utmost to make my journey as pleasant as possible. Our route not being known, every magistrate had instructions to be ready to receive and assist us, and some of them were put to a great deal of difficulty and incon-

I append a sketch showing my route.*

venience.

(No. 11.) Sir,

I have, &c.

A. D. BLACKBURN.

Enclosure 2 in No. 1.

Consul Little to Sir J. Jordan.

Amoy, April 2, 1914.

I HAVE the honour to forward herewith, with reference to your telegram No. 1 of the 27th January, a report by Mr. W. P. W. Turner on a journey of investigation into the cultivation of the opium poppy in South Fukien.

Enclosure 3 in No. 1.

I have, &c.

H. A. LITTLE.

Report on a Journey of Investigation into the Cultivation of the Opium Poppy in South Fukien, jointly with Officials appointed by the Chinese Government, by Mr. Turner.

THE delegates selected by the Central and Provincial Governments respectively were Mr. Sou Gee Chuang, an official of the Board of the Interior, and Mr. Chan Pai Kong, Taotai of Foochow and President of the Anti-Opium Bureau of Fukien. Mr. E. Cheers, of the Straits Settlement Police Service, acted as interpreter in the Amoy dialect, which is current in all the districts visited except Hing Hua, Sien Yu, and Hok Ching, south of Foochow.

A rough map is attached showing the route taken, which embraced all the former principal poppy-growing centres of South Fukien. The distance covered was approxi- inately 1,600 li, or 530 English miles, the journey occupying twenty-five days-from the 23rd February to the 19th March. In all, seventeen districts were examined vut of a total of thirty-two comprised in the lower portion of the province.

In the first district visited, that of Hai Teng, the vigorous measures taken in the autumn by the local authorities checked extensive sowing, though a certain amount was discovered by the opium inspector in January and uprooted. In the spring of 1913 Captain Connelly, of the Hong Kong gurrison, whilst on a shooting expedition, found large areas under poppy cultivation in the vicinity of Chhe Nia and the authorities taking no apparent action, but a local convert of Kang Boe, a neighbouring village, informed me that this region is now quite free. From reports of native pastors I also learned that no poppy now existed in the broad belt of coast land south of Amoy and Hai Teng, (I have since heard from a missionary that he travelled through the whole of this country at the beginning of March without finding a trace of poppy.)

Foreigners who had recently made the journey from Changpu to Amoy having reported that the main route via U Sai had been cleared of poppy, I chose the northern road from Hai Teng, which branches off due west at Peh Chui Ying, turning south again at Koan Jim through the Tng Kio and Kio Li. As far as could be judged, this part of the country was now almost entirely given up to rice cultivation, the Nan Ch'i River and its tributaries affording an abundant water supply. Between Tng Kio, * Not reproduced.

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where we were met by a military officer in charge of 700 soldiers sent to uproot the poppy, and Changpu several fields where opium had been pulled up were passed, these being readily distinguished from the fact that, having been confiscated, they were now overgrown with weeds. Last spring this region was one of the chief poppy-growing centres of the district. As far as I could gather the soldiers arrived in December, meeting with no little resistance before the plant was eventually all destroyed.

The Changpu authorities appear to have counterbalanced their indifference of last spring, when there was extended cultivation throughout the district, by extreme severity in the autumn. Mr. Watson, of the English Presbyterian Mission at Changpu, told me that he was prepared to state positively that not a plant remained in the whole country between Changpu and Hai Teng, with the possible exception of a small patch hidden in a secluded valley near Toa Pu, of which he bad heard many vague rumours. Mr. Watson's opinions were based partly on the declarations of the native pastors of his district at a recent conference at O Sai, and partly on personal observation during his periodical visits to native mission stations.

From Changpu to Yunsiao the road lies for some 8 or 9 miles over a broad, sandy, barren plain up to a range of hills some 1,200 feet high, crossed by a low pass, with a fertile valley producing rice, sugar-cane, barley, and beans on the other side. From Pan To Hsu to Yunsiao the country is too hilly to suit the poppy, which requires the rich soil of the plains and a sheltered situation to thrive to perfection, and the task of the local authorities has accordingly been comparatively light. I learned that the district opium inspector had conducted a very strict examination in October and November last, whilst the magistrate himself informed me that of the thirty days he had been in office twenty had been spent in scouring the country for any heads that might have eluded the observation of the inspector and his staff. Native reports confirmed the magistrate's assurance that no poppy was now left in the district.

At Chao An I called on Father David de Miguel of the Roman Catholic Mission, who informed me that it was possible that a small quantity of poppy might still remain in the second "tu" or division of the magistracy, though the magistrate had a few weeks previously, on hearing of the tour of inspection, made a journey in person through this region and had a thorough uprooting. He was unable to say for certain if all had been removed, but assured me that the rest of the district was free, the people having been thoroughly scared by the arrival of the northern soldiers. The present magistrate, Mr. Chang Tseng Pa, has held office for six months. His predecessor took no steps to put a stop to the cultivation of the poppy, for which and for general maladministration he was eventually arrested and sent to Foochow for trial. Mr. Chang, on the other hand, has the reputation of being a very keen suppressionist and an able official; at the beginning of his campaign he was placed in a difficulty by the opposition of the gentry, of whom a few leading members were financially interested in the cultivation of the drug, and were supporting the farmers in resisting the authorities. Mr. Chang promptly arrested two of the most influential, and has since had the support of the remainder. He told me that barley and tobacco were largely replacing the former opium crops. This applies in fact to the whole of the country west of Changchow, the large areas under tobacco, the leaf of which is, however, of an inferior quality, being particularly noticeable.

The country between Chao An and Ping Ho, on the borders of Kuangtung province, is little frequented by foreigners, and no reports had been received regarding the opium measures in force there. Consequently, although this part of the province has never had the reputation of being a large opium-producing centre, I was anxious to discover whether as clean a sweep had been made as in those districts nearer to the control of the high provincial authorities. Practically the whole of the 60 miles between Chao An and Ping Ho is mountainous, but the hill slopes are mostly under terrace cultivation and the valleys rich with a vast variety of native crops, rice, barley, sugar-cane, and sweet potatoes being the staple products.

After leaving Chao An we passed through the second "tu" of the district, where I had been informed there was a possibility of finding poppy, but I discovered neither traces of it nor signs of recently disturber fields. This is probably explained by the fact that in practice confiscated land is frequently sold back to the village or clan to which it belonged, the penalty for growing the forbidden plant being thus a double fine. As regards the Ping Ho district, little pressure was required to induce the farmers to abandon cultivation, and it had not been found necessary to call for troops.

At Sio Khe a local missionary informed me that suppression measures had been most severe,

and that, so far as the strict enquiries he had made went, the district was quite free from poppy. A native pastor had, however, informed him that a small patch

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