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Sir,
on a
70
Enclosure in No. 29.
Vice-Consul Smith to Mr. Alston.
1
Swatow, April 18, 1917. I HAVE the honour to report that, in accordance with your instructions, 1 left Swatow on the 19th ultimo, in company with the Chinese delegates, journey of investigation into the cultivation of the opium poppy in Kwantung, and returned to Swatow yesterday. All preparations for the journey had been completed several days beforehand in Swatow, but no start was possible until after the arrival of the delegates from Canton. The time at our disposal for the journey was only about a month, as the poppy harvest is practically over by the middle of April.
The Chinese officials who accompanied me were: Mr. Lam Hi Chow, the chief secretary to the Ch'ao Hsün Taoyin, who was the representative of the Ch'ao Hsün Taoyin, the principal Chinese delegate; Mr. Kum Yung Fan, the secretary to, and delegate of the Opium Suppression Bureau, Canton; and two interpreters, Mr. Hoang Tsou Yn, English and French interpreter to the Civil Governor, Canton; and Mr. Lau Wai Chi, English interpreter to the Chao Hsün Taoyin,
The principal districts in which the opium poppy was previously grown are Chieh Yang, Pu Ning, Feng Shun, Ch'ao Yang, Ch'ao An and Jao Ping, the two latter in a much less degree, but nowhere have I been able to discover a single plant. The information received at this consulate from Chinese and missionary sources was to the effect that very little, if any, poppy had been planted in the autumn of 1916 in the Ch'ao Yang, Chao An and Jao Ping districts, in the east of Chieh Yang, the east and south of P'u Ning, and the north and east of Feng Shun, and that what little had been planted had been uprooted as soon as the shoots appeared, none being left growing at the end of the year. This claim appears to me to be fully established by the fact that all the fields I passed through in these districts were in full cultivation with winter crops, such as wheat, hemp, sugar-cane, &c., the sowing period of which coincides with, or is earlier than, that of the poppy, and the cultivation of the opium poppy would, therefore, appear to have been completely eradicated from these districts.
With regard to the western half of Chieh Yang and the adjoining portions of P'u Ning and Feng Shun, all reports agree that much poppy was planted in the autumn of 1916, and that, owing to the supineness and carelessness of the magistrates, who were simply place-seekers who had bought their appointments from the local revolutionary Government, and also owing to the unruly character of the Hakka inhabitants of the country, a great deal of the poppy was permitted to come to maturity, and the scraping of the capsules had commenced. Early in 1917, however, energetic magistrates were appointed from Canton, who personally conducted the uprooting of the poppy plants throughout their districts so energetic- ally that. by the middle of February, practically not a single plant was left. The amount of opium collected a part of the first scraping only is said to have been but a very small percentage of the expected main crop, none of which was harvested, while no seed can have been saved for the next autumn's planting.
These districts I investigated very thoroughly, visiting all places where missionary reports stated that opium poppy had been seen growing, but was unable to discover a single plant. The winter crop in these districts is mainly wheat, for which, during the past seven or eight years, opium has been largely substituted; and though wheat was much in evidence, numerous bare, uncultivated plots of land showed where the poppy had been pulled up too late to permit of
any other
crops being sown during the winter.
The Ch'ao Hsün Taoyin, Mr. Wang Siao Cho, though unable, on account of his official duties in Swatow, to accompany the party throughout, visited us at Ch'ac Yang. Chieh Yang, P'u Ning and Ch'ao An district cities, and at Ung Kung, in Jaoping district. to satisfy himself that all arrangements for the journey and for our convenience were being satisfactorily carried out. As a suitable chair was not otherwise procurable, the Taoyin placed his own private chair and bearers at my disposal for the whole journey.
I have, &c.
S. WYATT SMITH.
Sir,
71
Enclosure 10 in No. 29.
Acting-Consul Toller to Mr. Alston.
Ningpo, June 4, 1917. I HAVE the honour to report that on the 23rd April I met, at Nanking, Mr. Yu Shou-chang, the deputy appointed by the Governor of Kiangsu for the inspection of the province, and on the following day Messrs. Chau Hang-nien and Mou Chia-yo, the delegates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of the Interior respectively. The Governor of Chekiang had also appointed a deputy, Mr. Chang Chin, the headmaster of the Middle School here, who accompanied me from Ningpo. This appointment was probably made because the Governors of Kiangsu and of Chekiang are brothers, and with the idea that Mr. Chang, whom I already knew well, might serve as a mediator between the Kiangsu delegate and myself in case of any difficulty or dispute, but I am glad to say no occasion for his services in this connection ever arose.
From Mr. Giles I learned that the former opium-producing regions were in the country north of the Yang-tsze, generally known as Kiangpei, and that the only territory in which there was any likelihood of poppy being found was the Hsü-Hai circuit. Mr. Ottewill had kindly furnished me with a copy of his despatch of the 25th March last, and this together with the information which he gave me in Chinkiang from reports made in 1915, also indicated the northern part of the province as the area to be investigated. I accordingly arranged with the Chinese deputies to start our tour from Hsüchowfu, for which place we left by train on the 26th April, arriving at midnight the same day.
The following day was spent in making preparations for the lengthy chair- journey, and on the 28th April we proceeded to Hsiao Hsien. In this district we also made a circuit through the hilly country to the south of the town towards the Anhui border, striking across the ranges of hills that radiate from the town so as to examine the sheltered valleys, which were the most likely haunts of the poppy. [ also climbed the highest point in the group, in order to get a wide view over the surrounding country.
From Hsiao Hsien we went to Tang-shan Ilsien, covering the, distance of 150 li in a day, keeping near the Honan border-indeed, for a short distance our road took us through Honan territory. Tang-shan was, in the past, one of the most noted opium-producing areas in Kiangsu; it lies on the borders of three provinces, so appeared to be a district where, perhaps, the repressive measures might be less effective than elsewhere. We accordingly made an excursion into the surrounding country, visiting the fortified village of Hsieh Chi, on the border of Kiangsu, Shan- tung and Honan, and returning by a different route.
Our journey was then continued to Feng Hsien and Pei Hsien. Between Feng Hsien and P'ei Hsien we did not take the direct road, but made a detour to the south in order to get from Hun Shan, one of the very rare hills in this locality, an From Pei Hsien back to Hsüchowfu opportunity of surveying a wide area.
we also made a detour to the east with the object of examining the country bordering on the Wei-shan Lake.
The second stage of our journey took us from Haüchowfu to Haichow, through Pi Hsien. From Pi Hsien to Haichow we travelled by a small road close to the Shantung border for the greater part of the way. This led us through the districts of Sutsien and Shuyang, including the country north-east of Yao-wan, where it was reported, in 1915, that a good deal of poppy had been planted. We did not visit the towns of Sutsien and Shuyang, as I was anxious to keep away from the main roads as far as possible.
1
The information received from the members of the American Presbyterian Mission at Haichow, who travel a great deal through the country on motor-bicycles, indicated that Kan-yü, to the north of Haichow, was not formerly an opium- producing district, and that there was little object in visiting that magistracy. As Kan-yu is, so to speak, a cul-de-sac, and a journey through the territory would have taken three or four days, after which we should have had to return to Haichow, I thought it better not to waste time on a visit there while there were important areas further south stili to be inspected, so from Haichow we proceeded to Kuan-yin, which has been a hsien only since the revolution, and was formerly known as Pan-p'u. Here it was reported. in 1915, that " very large quantity of poppy had been planted, we therefore, in addition to traversing the district from north to south,
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