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opium, in view of the desire of the Wai-chiao Pu to place Hupei on the list of provinces into which Indian opium shall not be conveyed.
You enclose translation from a memorandum by the Wai-chiao Pu dated the 3rd July, in which a telegram is quoted from the Tutu and Civil Governor of Hupei, claiming that opium cultivation throughout the province has been extinguished and that import of native opium has long ago been prohibited.
I fear that it would at the present time be useless for me to apply for informa- tion to the missionaries of Hupei, seeing that they are in the middle of their summer vacation, and will not return to their several posts for a month or two. Even were they at their posts, they could do little more than give me their impressions based for the most part on hearsay of what has taken place in the past.
Had General Li Yuan-hung, instead of telegraphing as he did to the Wai-chiag Pu, applied to me, I should have answered in the sense of the third paragraph of your memorandum to that Department of the 18th July, namely, that the poppy scason is now over, and that it is too late to attempt any inspection. I should have added that, under article 4 of the Opium Agreement of 1911, it is for British officials to decide as to the extent of cultivation, and not for "various bureaux, magistrates and deputies; and that the Hupei Government, although invited by me last December to arrange for such investigation by British officials, never from first to last has evinced the least desire for even a joint commission of enquiry.
General Li's reluctance to suggest or accept such a commission is easily comprehended when it is remembered that he was obliged to admit the existence of poppy cultivation in Shih-nan and Yünyang prefectures (see my despatch of the 24th December, 1912). It is true that his Excellency has shown much zeal in stamp- ing out that cultivation; but if he had been convinced, let us say in May last, that his efforts had completely succeeded, it is only reasonable to suppose that he would have adopted the same course as his colleagues of Hunan and Anhui, and pressed for investigation by British officials.
The local Chinese newspapers are not in all respects reliable, but even in their most extravagant statements there is usually to be found some basis of fact. Now, during the period from the lat January to the 30th June last frequent paragraphs have appeared in these journals noting cases where the poppy was being grown, either with the connivance of the local authorities or in defiance of the "bureaux and deputies." I have compiled a list of some of these paragraphs, copy of which, in English and Chinese. I have now the honour to enclose.
The conclusion that cannot well be avoided, if any credence at all is to be given to reports so circumstantial, is that the suppression of the cultivation of the poppy, in at any rate the more remote and mountainous portions of Hupei, was by no means so complete last season as to justify His Majesty's Government in declaring this province to be one into which Indian opium is now no longer admissible.
I have, &c.
Enclosure 2 in No. 7.
W. H. WILKINSON.
Translations of Extracts from Hankow Native Press on the Subject of Opium Suppression.
January 4-Hsing Kuo Hsien, Hsin T'ou P'u, and Wang Sha-pen: Poppies in abundance. Magistrate takes no notice.
January 11-Mien Yang Hsien: Poppy still grown in great quantities: opium dens ignored by magistrate and gentry.
January 24-Li Ch'uan Hsien, Ch'ang Tan-pa: Poppy still grown.
February 28.--Ma Ch'eng Hsien: Poppy now ripe; magistrate does nothing. March 3.-Ch'un Hsien, Heng Shen Wan, and Shen pan Tan: Popular resistance to anti-opium measures.
March 26-An-lu Hsien Pai Chan-shan: Abundance of poppies, many opium dens. Magistrates and police indifferent.
March 30.-Kienshih Hsien (Shihnan Prefecture): T'ai Wang-pa farmers resist and destroy local Government building; troops sent.
May 6-Cheki Hsien poppy grows all over the hills, soldiers sent to eradicate are bribed by the wealthy: poor farmers are arrested and their poppy destroyed; this leads to a case of arson and murder.
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497
Magistrate pays no
May 11.-Sung Tzu-Hsien: Poppy sown attention.
as usual. May 25.-Pating Hsien, Lien Ch'uan Gorge: Armed resistance of farmers. aided by brigands, to work of eradication; military from Tchang summoned.
May 30-Li Ch'uan Hsien: Several farmers, opium growers, shot down. District Council indicts magistrate for murder.
June 20.-Lai Feng Hsien, Lin Kang: Poppy growers tie up local inspector, who is rescued by military.
June 21.--Lai Feng Hsien, Hui-pei: Armed resistance to eradication.
Sir,
Enclosure 3 in No. 7.
Acting Consul Handley-Derry to Mr. Alston,
WITH reference to your despatch of the 24th ultimo, enclosing copies of
Ichang, August 7, 1913. correspondence with the Wai-chiao Pu, relative to the placing of Kiangsi and Hupeh on the list of provinces into which Indian opium shall not be conveyed, I have the honour to inform you that there is little to add to what I have already reported.
There is no doubt that a determined and sustained effort has been made to stamp out the growth of poppy in all easily accessible places, and so far as I can gather from missionaries, railway men and others, they have seen nothing of the poppy during the spring.
It is useless to suggest any search at this time of the year, but I would very much like to make a journey round through the prefecture of Shih-nan in the early spring of next year. It is a journey which would take nearly a month, but from what Chinese say there must be a good deal of growing going on in the more secluded
spots.
Of the import of native opium it is difficult to speak. None comes through the customs, but I have questioned the writer of this consulate very closely and he says he could buy smuggled opium at any time about 5-6 tiao an ounce. The price stated
in my above-mentioned despatch has gone up, owing to the greater stringency caused by the closing of the official opium offices.
When I was at Shasi I questioned several of the merchants there as to how many smokers there were still; they said that there were now no more than 3 or 4 per cent. (Shasi population, 95,000).
I have, &c.
Enclosure 4 in No. 7.
H. F. HANDLEY-DERRY.
Memorandum communicated to Wai-chiao Pu.
IN continuation of his memorandum of the 16th July, His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires has the honour to inform the Wai-chiao Pu that he has now received consular reports from Hankow and Ichang.
Mr. Alston is not disposed to accept the statement in the Wai-chiao Pu's memor- andum of the 3rd July, that poppy cultivation had been prohibited and extinguished and that import of the native drug from other provinces had also been forbidden.
He regrets, therefore, that he is unable to consent to place Hupel forthwith on the list of provinces into which Indian opium shall not be conveyed, but is ready, in accordance with article 4 of the 1911 agreement to arrange for investigations next spring on the lines of the joint inspections carried out in Shantung, Anhui and Hunan this year.
Sir.
Peking, August 20, 1913.
No. 8.
Mr. Alston to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received November 27.)
Peking, Norember 12, 1913. WITH reference to my despatch of the 24th July. I have the honour to enclose copies of reports from His Majesty's consul at Kiukiang, together with copy of a
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