CO129-471 - Public Offices - 1921 — Page 141

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influence foreign owners of vesels on the Upper Tangisa can be expected to bring to bear strong enough to prevent smugglers from fallowing the example set by a Government

The Chamber controlled ship carrying opium with impunity.

ham muggested that, if the facts can be proved, the Customs night reasonably be asked to abandon the practise of searching foreign vessels for opium (in this connection see my despaton

On the West River also "mggling of 10. 77 of February 14th). opium by river craft had reached enormeus proportion when the audden seisure of nearly 11s 4000,000 by the provinsial Government at Poseh temporarily at least inflicted a check ON the traffic. The diffimlties and dangers of coping with sanggling are further illustrated in the last report from Eis Jajesty's Dommal at Janking who states that the Commissioner of Customs has been threatened with murder unless he desists from interference, and that practically all ocean steamers arriving at the port bring greater or lesser quantities of Indian opinn mach of which is shipped through Tsingtao,

The principal canes of the revival of the evil is,

as indicated in my annual report, to be found in the fact that taxes levied on opium crops provide the tushuns with the sasiest if not the only means of paying their troops.

Many of

the Civil authorities, if left to themselves would probably make an honest endeavour to enfores prohibition (though it is significant that more than half of the district magistrates of Kiangsu are believed to be opium smokers), but their authority is entirely overridden by the military chiefs who are

In some cabet nemally utterly amorupulous in the matter. opium is said to be actually distributed to the man im substitution for pay. Imemch as the tushuns depend for their position entirely on their troops and that the latter inevitably mutiny when their pay falls into arrears beyond

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