CO129-457 - Public Offices - 1919 — Page 264

(This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.}

C.O

OPIUM.

CONFIDENTIAL.

17564

RESP (REG' 20 MAR 19

[February 24.]

SECTION 1.

257

No. 1.

305551

(No. 574.) ♦ Sir,

Sir J. Jordan to Mr. Balfour.--(Received February 24, 1919.)

Peking, December 30, 1918. WHILST the purchase of the opium stocks by the Chinese Government is still fresh in the public mind, as reported in my despatch No. 530 of the 5th December, and before any practical steps have matured for the destruction of the present supplies, reports are appearing in the press and are reaching me from official sources to the ffect that cultivation of the poppy is proceeding in many of the provinces which had reviously been cleared of opium.

The enclosed despatches give evidence of a recrudescence of cultivation in Yünnan, in Fukien, iu Szechuan, and in Kueichou, whilst I have already transmitted reports of ncreasing cultivation in Kansu and in the New Dominion. In the metropolitan province and in Manchuria planting is reported on a large scale and, unless some inore effective administration is introduced into the country in the near future, there seems little doubt that large harvests will be gathered in many of the provinces. Many of the higher officials both in the capital and the provinces are directly interested in the cultivation and sale of opium, but there are signs of a fresh outburst of public opinion against opium both among the Chinese themselves and the foreign community.

Before considering the British interest still involved in these developments, it may be well to review the part which is now being played by the Japanese in the

pium traffic.

The enclosed extract from the North-China "Daily News," of the 17th December, is believed to be substantially accurate. I learn, confidentially, that it was drawn up by Dr. G. E. Morrison, and that it was based largely on figures obtained through the authorities of the Chinese Maritime Customs. It is estimated that 2,000 chests of pium purchased in India were imported into Tsing-tao between the 1st January and 30th September, 1918, representing a profit to the Japanese administration of the leased territory of 2,000,000l. Such estimates cannot be definitely substantiated owing to the fact that the opium is imported as "military stores," and is thus removed from the supervision of the Customs authorities, who are of Japanese nationality.

It is also estimated that 18 tons of morphia were imported during last year, principally through Taing-tao and Dairen. The prevalence of injection-marked victims in the area of the Japanese-controlled railways in Manchuria and Shantung, with a rapidly extending morphia zone through the province of Anhui, Kiangsu, Chihli, and Fukien, is reported by witnesses from so wide an area and of such different interests that it cannot be ignored. There is, indeed, grave reason to fear that opium smoking in China is being superseded by the morphia habit in regions adjoining the Japanese sphere of influence, and that the cultivation and use of opium is about to resume substantial proportions in the outlying districts.

So long

as these conditions affected only the Chinese population the interest of Greign residents was confined to an altruistic anxiety for the welfare of China. A new interest has been aroused by the discovery that the American garrisons of North- China have been tainted, and that the morphia habit is prevalent among a number of the troops and of civilians, and that the drugs are obtained from Japanese sources. "onsequence of recent disclosures the Japanese concession in Tien-tsin has been completely

losed to all American troops by the military authorities.

In

The financial sacrifices which have been made by His Majesty's Government and the Government of India, as also by the Government of China, are now sufficient to warrant a drastic suppression of any trade which will bring our good name into lisrepute in the agitation which will inevitably ensue in China.

Enquiries are being instituted as to the amount of opium which is being purchased in India by the Japanese Government, for those sales are regarded as the fount of the evil. I would most earnestly invite the attention of His Majesty's Government and of the Government of India to the desirability of prohibiting the entire export of opium for shipment to the Far East. The financial advantages now accruing from such export must be so trifling in comparison with the larger issue

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