[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[March 1.]
SECTION 5.
[F 734/330/10]
No. 1.
Sir B. Alston to Earl Curzon. (Received March 1, 1921.)
(No. 813.)
HIS Majesty's Minister, Peking, presents his compliments to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and transmits herewith copies of despatches numbered 21 and 24 from His Majesty's consul at Foochow, dated the 5th October, 1920, and the 15th November, 1920, respectively, on the subject of opium cultivation in Fukien province.
Peking, December 16, 1920.
Enclosure 1 in No. 1,
(No. 21.) Sir,
Consul Coales to Mr. Clive.
Poochow, October 5, 1920. WITH reference to your despatch No. 10 of the 16th August last, and previous correspondence on the subject of opium, I have the honour to enclose copy of a despatch I have written to his Excellency Li Hou-chi, Military and Officiating Civil Governor of Fukien, requesting him to prohibit the sowing of the poppy during the coming autumn.
In view of the near approach of the period for sowing the poppy, the local anti- opium society, of which His Majesty's consul is er officio chairman, decided to meet and discuss the measures to be taken to prevent a recurrence of the lamentable neglect of the past winter. It is a regrettable fact, however, that the Chinese gentry of Foochow take little interest in the anti-opium campaign, with the result that the only Chinese representatives who attended the meeting were of the official class. It was therefore not surprising that after nearly two hours' discussion the only business transacted was a resolution to write to the Governor asking him to prohibit poppy- sowing this season. An unexpected development, however, has since greatly helped the cause.
A certain Mr. Chen Chia-keng, a native of Amoy, who is said to have risen by successful speculation in rubber from the status of ricksha coolie in Singa- pore to that of millionaire, has returned to his native town, and is there setting on foot various philanthropic projects. Among them he has started an energetic anti- opium crusade, for which purpose he has subscribed large sums of money and published numerous tracts. In order to push the campaign he and two other mem- bers of the new Amoy anti-opium society recently visited Foochow. An interview with Governor Li was arranged for them, and, learning of this, the Foochow society held a meeting the evening before, to which the visitors were cordially invited. At this meeting it was proposed that representatives of the Foochow society should accompany Mr. Ch'en to see the Governor and make joint representations on behalf of the two societies. This was strenuously opposed by the Chinese members, who were undoubtedly acting in the interests of the Governor, it being plain that a deputa- tion from Amoy alone would be less distasteful to him and less weighty than one representing, at least in name, the whole province. However, the insistence of the foreign members carried the point, and it was decided to depute two foreigners and two Chinese to go with the Amoy delegates.
The interview appears to have been very satisfactory from the point of view of the societies. Mr. Ch'en did not at all mince matters with the Governor about the occurrences of last winter, and expressed a determination to see that every infraction of the law in the Amoy district was taken up. The Governor was compelled to express his disapprobation of poppy cultivation, and to give a promise that he would uphold the law and issue the strictest instructions that it should be enforced and the sowing of the poppy prevented. He is therefore definitely committed to anti-opium action this autumn, and any slackness in this respect will involve him in grave loss of prestige among the people, to whom the facts of this interview are generally known.
I have, &c.
O. R. COALES.
[5814 -5]
454
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.