CO129-471 - Public Offices - 1921 — Page 545

544

108

Enclosure 2 in No. 46.

Mr. Clive to Wai-chiao Pu.

Sir,

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's letter of

August 13, 1920 the 2nd August on the subject of poppy cultivation in Fukien, and propose in this reply to show that the information transmitted to me as coming from the Military and Civil Governor of that province is a tissue of deliberate misinformation only confirming the doubts which this Legation has previously been compelled to express regarding the information furnished to it by your Excellency's Ministry as to poppy cultivation in China generally.

The Governor states that he has not been insincere in his efforts to suppress opium. In evidence of this, he quotes a report by two officers who left Foochow for one of the producing districts on the 1st June and discovered not so much as a trace of a single poppy. The failure to discover the plant was not surprising, in view of the fact that the opium harvest was completed in that region during the last ten days of April; it merely shows that during the succeeding month the ground had been ploughed up for the cultivation of other crops, as was to be expected, and not that any efforts had been made to suppress cultivation during the period when cultivation was possible.

The two officers delegated by the Governor are forced to admit that a certain amount of poppy had been cultivated, but endeavour to show that this only occurred in out-of-the-way places not visited by the Governor's troops. This information [ can only describe as a deliberate falsehood. Cultivation of the poppy has in many cases taken place in the immediate proximity of, in full view from, the quarters of the detachments of the Governor's troops, and in full view of roads constantly traversed by military and other officers under the Foochow authorities. Moreover, have abundant evidence, collected from British eye-witnesses, that cultivation was general in the districts of P'u-t'ien, Fu-an and Hui-an. As a proof of the truth of this fact, I need only say that the price of opium has fallen in that region during the last two years from 16 dollars per oz, to 0-90 dollar

per oz.

In case this be considered insufficient proof, I have the honour to enclose six further photographs of poppy-fields, of which some are taken inside and some outside the walls of Hui-an city.

Furthermore, the statement in the report quoted by the Governor that the district magistrate of P'u-t'ien Hsien discovered that opium was being grown, and on the 28th April requested Colonel Wang Hsien-ch'en to send an officer to the locality for the purpose of uprooting the plants is an untruth, I am unable to believe that a magistrate in whose district opium was being widely cultivated under express encouragement of the office of the Military Governor whose chief aide-de- camp, Colonel Wang Hsien-ch'en, had been enforcing the payment of tax thereon, had to wait until the barvest was complete before he knew anything about it.

I trust that your Excellency will communicate the above to the Military Governor of Fukien, and will recommend him in future to draw up his reports in a manner which will bear a greater resemblance to the truth than that which forwarded to me in your letter under reply.

I avail, &c.

you

have

Sir,

109

Enclosure 1 in No. 47.

Consul Coales to Mr. Clive.

Foochow, October 5, 1920. WITH reference to 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 ex 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, 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 be has subscribed large sums of money and published numerous tracts. order

In

At

to push the campaign he and two other members 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. 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.

R. H. CLIVE.

No. 47.

Sir B. Alston to Earl Curzon. (Received March 1, 1921.)

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 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.

Sir,

Enclosure 2 in No. 47.

Consul Coales to Li Hou-chi (Military Governor of Fukien).

Foochow, October 5, 1920. AS you are aware, His Britannic Majesty's Government, at the request of the Chinese Government, has by various conventions agreed to and enforced the cessation of the importation of Indian opium into China. It was a condition of my Govern- ment's assent that the Chinese Government on its part should prohibit and effectively put a stop to the cultivation of the poppy throughout the Republic. It is a matter of common knowledge and one that was repeatedly brought to your notice by my predecessor. Mr. Combe, that this obligation imposed on the Chinese Government both by treaty and on moral grounds was to a very great extent ignored in all parts of this province, whether under your control or in the hands of the Southern generals.

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