[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
209
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL
[19332]
(No. 338.) Sir.
20067
[January 24.]
REC
SECTION 1.
REA? 19 APR 17
No. 1.
Mr. Alston to Mr. Balfour.(Received January 24, 1917.)
Peking, December 16, 1916.
I HAVE the honour to report the following case as exemplifying the attitude of some of the southern provinces towards the question of opium suppression, and the lack of control exercised by the Central Government over these distant regions in enforcing its oft-repeated injunctions for the abolition of the trade.
As you are aware, the province of Kuangsi was closed in February 1913 to the importation of Indian opium in accordance with article 3 of the Opium Agreement of 1911, on the understanding that the province had effectually suppressed the cultivation and import of native opium. In spite of this, however, a good deal of the drug continued to be smuggled in from the neighbouring province of Yunnan, some of it for local consumption and some in transit to the province of Kuangtung, which is still open to the trade, and His Majesty's consul at Wuchow recently reported that the local authorities, whilst outwardly issuing proclamations and offering rewards for seizures of opium, were themselves secretly engaged in the traffic. An office, known as the Chou Hsiang Cha, or Revenue-raising Bureau, had been established at Nanning, the provincial capital, to devise means for procuring funds for military purposes, and, among other schemes to this end, was one for legalising the transport of opium throughout the province. Permits, it was said, were issued by the bureau, for which a fee was charged at the rate of a dollar an ounce, whilst an official "
71 ring for the actual control and sale of the drug.
was formed Further particulars of the system are given in Wuchow despatches Nos. 48 and 52 of the 6th and 21st September, of which I have the honour to enclose copies herewith.* and though it will be seen that the Tuchun, or Military Governor, denies that there is any truth in the story, it appears nevertheless to be a matter of cominon knowledge, and it is more than probable that the Governor is himself implicated in the scheme. At all events, on the 12th September His Majesty's Minister received a telegram from His Majesty's consul stating that 1,700 catties (about 2,270 lb.) of opium had been seized at Wuchow by the local authorities at his instigation, but that the Governor had ordered it to be sent to Nanning, where there was reason to believe that it would not be destroyed, and Mr. Kirke suggested that its destruction at Wuchow should be insisted on, as he could then witness the proceedings. Sir John Jordan accordingly took the opportunity of an interview at the Wai-chiao Pu to bring the matter to the notice of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who promised that instructions in this sense should be sent to the Governor. The latter, however, continued to insist that the opium should be sent to Nanning, aud, in spite of further representations based on the 1911 agreement, and urged both locally and at Peking, the consignment wus eventually shipped to the provincial capital on the 18th September.
It only remained therefore to press for its destruction at Nanning, and, at Sir John Jordan's request, the Wai-chiao Pu promised to send telegraphic orders to this effect. At the same time His Majesty's consul was instructed to secure an account of the proceedings from the Commissioner of Customs or a British missionary. This he did, and the description contained in his despatch No. 56 of the 13th October (copy enclosed") shows that the so-called opium burning was nothing but an elaborate farce which deceived nobody. In the meantime the official traffic in the drug continues unabated, and, as reported in Wuchow despatch No. 57, a Government patrol-boat is even used for its conveyance to Wuchow,
Before he left Peking Sir John Jordan took occasion to speak very strongly to the President's private secretary about the province's conduct in the matter of opium, and he requested that his remarks should be conveyed to the President. Copies also of Wuchow despatches Nos. 56 and 57 have been handed privately to the Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs with the intimation that the whole matter would be reported to His Majesty's Government and the Government of India.
• Not printed.
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