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despatch No. 4 of the 1st March, 1910, reporting on the Sino-Russian negotiations concerning the revision of the Provisional Sungari Regulations of 1909, and a reference is invited to article 41 and articles 61-65, which are pertinent to the matter of present
concern.
The fact that regulations have now been issued by the local Russian authorities, which aim at the suppression of the illicit opium trade in North Manchuria, and the circumstance that, in a notable instance, forcible action has been taken thereunder, are, as before stated, welcome signs--welcome, that is, in the sense that they are primâ facie evidence of a new intent, and are a visible step along a new road. This is not, however, to say that the end is yet in sight, for anyone acquainted with Russian methods and character, though far from wishing to be pessimistic, must feel that, until the Russian officials have acquired a different conception of duty from that with which they are commonly credited, and until the temptation to accept a bribe can be resisted, or the consequences of detection in this malpractice are made sufficiently severe, a long time must elapse before the apparent spirit in which the new bye-law is conceived will be faithfully and consistently observed in practice. Thus, when the fact of the arrest and imprisonment of the Brothers Goldberg and their accomplice, M. Deliatitsky, became known, there were those who attributed the energy displayed by the authorities to the remissness of the accused in the matter of donations to the police; and colour is lent to this supposition by the circumstance that I am assured, on unimpeachable authority, that the traffic in opium along the Chinese eastern railway is done with the knowledge and connivance of the officers in command of the gendarmerie at the stations Manchuria, Harbin, and Pogranitchnaya. Others, again, regarded the sentence of imprisonment as merely a means to an end-the extraction, that is, of a large bribe as the price of liberty. Indeed, I am informed that already the wife of M. Deliatitsky has approached the civil Governor, General Afanassief, with an offer of a contribution of 3,000 roubles to the Russian Red Cross Society, provided her husband be set at large.
A few remarks regarding the efforts made by the Chinese Maritime Customs to check the importation of opium into North Manchuria by rail, and I have done.
The amount of opium seized by these authorities on the Chinese eastern railway during the five quarters ended the 30th April last was 5,280 catties, and the quantity confiscated during the past June quarter was 1,400 catties. The former seizure, all of which has been publicly burned, was mainly composed of opium produced in the Ussuri province, which is treated as native opium; but in the latter there was an increased proportion of the Persian and Turkish drug. The disability under which the Commis- sioner of Customs, as reported in my despatch No. 1 before mentioned, laboured in respect of the matter of rewards to persons effecting seizures and to informants, has been removed to the extent that the scale of remuneration in force in China proper, particulars of which I have the honour to enclose, is now, with the substitution of roubles for dollars, in operation in North Manchuria, the sums paid thereunder being a charge on the Provincial Treasury. I gathered, however, in conversation with M. de Luca, that he considers the amount of these rewards to be generally insufficient when contrasted with the sums which successful smugglers are willing and able to pay as the price of silence or connivance, and that herein lies a difficulty which cannot easily be overcome.- Other hindrances with which the Maritime Customs have to contend, are:--
1. The dishonesty, previously stated, of the Russian police and gendarmerie. 2. The active part which, I am reliably informed, is taken in opium amuggling by the employés of the Wagous Lits Company.
3. The avoidance of the custom-houses at Manchuria and Pogranitchnaya by smugglers, who are able to escape these stations by following circuitous land routes which conduct them to places situated on the railway at a safe distance from the danger points; and
4. The fact that the Customs have not the power, which is considered indis- pensable to success, to exercise effective authority on the trains except at the two frontier stations above indicated,
I bave, &c.
H. E. SLY.
P.S.-September 29th. I learn to-day that the civil Governor has requested the Municipal Council to cancel M. M. S. Goldberg's licence to sell narcotics.
H. E. 8.
(Translation.)
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Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
Extract from the "Novosti Zizni" of September 19, 1914.
DISCOVERY OF AN ORGANISATION OF OPIUM DEALERS.
IN Harbin an organisation has long existed for conducting a contraband trade in opium. This organisation, which had a network of agencies spread over the whole of North Manchuria, the Ussuri province, and parts of South Manchuria, has now been exposed. The moving spirits of the organisation are now under lock and key.
The discovery of the organisation, against which the chief administration has waged war for a considerable length of time, and the arrests of the opium dealers, were effected under the following circumstances:-
stores.
According to report, the centre of the organisation was represented by a group of persons, amongst whom the most conspicuous role was played by the chemist, M. S. Goldberg, a local householder and owner of a wholesale depot for druggists' In the disclosure of the organisation, au energetic part was taken by Captain Uteshef, who on the 3rd (16th) September unexpectedly appeared before the house of Goldberg on the Birjevaya Street with a posse of police.
The sudden appearance of the police, who surrounded the house on all sides, had for its object a search of the apartment of the houseowner, M. S. Goldberg.
Opium was found, and documents connected with the purchase and sale of this commodity.
The search was conducted by Captain Uteshef in person, who found present in the apartment the chemist himself, his brother, S. G. Goldberg, and E. Y. Deliatitsky. The results entirely fulfilled expectations, and furnished data, on the strength of which it is clear that the organisation was engaged in a business amounting to hundreds of
thousands of roubles.
When Captain Uteshef asked that opium and documents be freely delivered, the two brothers, and also Deliatitsky, stated that they possessed neither one nor the other. In the meantime, most important business papers connected with the sale of opium, and the remuneration of individuals forming part of the organisation, were found on the persons of each of them.
During the search of the pockets of M. S. Goldberg, many letters, accounts, and telegrams were found which testified to the fact that opium had been imported into Harbin from abroad through the station of Virballen, from Siberia, and from the Ussuri region where, as is known, the cultivation of the poppy has been developed for the purpose of its valuable opium product.
The letters were in cypher, and the telegrams in code; their contents were thus quite unintelligible.
In the pocket of the chemist was found, among other things, a piece of opium as a sample.
During a further search of the apartment, there were found many way-bills, certificates, and reports respecting the retention in Siberia, during transit, of opium destined for Harbin.
All this material, which had now been collected for the purpose of bringing within the law those guilty of engaging in a forbidden trade, would have been insufficient and of little value had not the police officer discovered amidst the papers the key to the cyphers and codes of the telegrams and reports respecting the trade.
The key proved to be a kind of "code," thanks to which it was possible to conduct large operations in opium, questions regarding the despatch and sale of goods being conveyed in a few figures and two or three words.
By means of this code, the fact was established that a few days back a consign- ment of opium was conveyed by the organisation through Harbin by rail, in comparison with which the quantity of opium confiscated to date in the opium dens situated in Harbin seems a mere nothing.
The search of 8. G. Goldberg and E. Y. Delintiteky also produced the expected results. Letters were found similar to those in the possession of M. S. Goldberg, copy of a report and accounts, and other documents.
It is characteristic that the representatives of the company, in order to safeguard the trade, received their telegrams it a code address.
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