CO129-445 - Public Offices - 1917 — Page 254

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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]

OPIUM.

CONFIDENTIAL.

250

[May 8.]

SECTION 3.

[93235]

(No. 109.) Sir,

No. 1.

Mr. Alston to Mr. Balfour.-(Received May 8.)

Peking, March 28, 1917.

I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith copies of a note which I have received from the Wai-chiao Pu, enclosing the instructions issued to the Chinese delegates for the joint inspection of the provinces of Kiangai, Kiangsu, and Shensi for opium.

(Copy to India.)

Enclosure 1 in No. 1.

I have, &c.

B. ALSTON.

Wai-chiao Pu to Mr. Alston.

(Translation.) Sir,

Peking, March 15, 1917. WITH reference to your notes of the 26th February and the 7th March enclosing copies in English of your instructions to the six British opium delegates, and the visits to this Ministry of Mr. Secretary Brenan of your Legation on the 27th February and the 5th March for the purpose of discussing the necessary arrangements, I have the honour to state that, as in Kuang-tung the poppy flowers comparatively early, and as Yünnan and Kueichow are distant from Peking, the Governors of the said provinces have been instructed by telegraph to depute officials to conduct the investigations jointly with the delegates appointed by yourself. Additional delegates for these provinces will not therefore be sent by this Ministry and the Ministry of the Interior.

The delegates appointed by this Ministry are as follows:-

Kiangsi: Mr. Ch'ien Kuang Hai, Acting Junior Secretary, Wai-chiao Pu.

Kiangau Mr. Chao Hang Nien, Senior Secretary.

Shensi Mr. Lu Chun, Senior Secretary.

and I am informed that the delegates appointed by the Ministry of the Interior are:-

Kiangsi: Mr. Huang Chao Hsiung, Senior Secretary.

Kiangsu Mr. Deputy Mu Chia Yueh.

H

Shensi: Mr. Deputy Ts'ao Ya Po.

These officers have been instructed as to their duties, and I now have the honour to enclose copies of the instructions issued to them by this Ministry and the Ministry of the Interior.

As regards Yüunan, several telegrams have been received from the Governor stating that in places in the west and south and on the Burma border, such as Lan Tsang and K'a Ti and in the region from the Kao Li Kung Mountain to the Chien River and at Pienma, the inhabitants are savage and fierce, and the country is difficult and dangerous. Soldiers had already been sent far into K'a Ti to uproot the poppy, but they were resisted by the savages, who relied on the difficulties of the ground, and an officer and several men had been killed. Additional troops are now being despatched to disperse the savages but the cleansing of the district cannot be accomplished in a day Again, the native chieftainships under the jurisdiction of the Tengyueh, Lungling, and Chenyuan magistracies are inhabited by tribes of a low state of develop- ment, who for years have resisted attempts to enforce the prohibition of opium. Troops are at the present moment being employed against them, but the district is not yet pacified. The Governor requests, therefore, that I should make it clear to you that in order to avoid danger the inspection commission should not visit the above-mentioned places.

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