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obstacle in the way. You enquired what had been the effect of the opium pro- hibition measures taken by me, and also as to the pianting of other crops. You further asked for a reply in order that you might report to His Majesty's Minister.
poppy.
I beg to observe that in the lower part of..the province, the country people having secretly planted opium, I have on frequent occasions ordered the various magistrates to make thorough investigation and completely eradicate the
At the present time the newly-appointed magistrates are success'ully carrying out my instructions, and are zealously acting in accordance with the programme formerly laid down by me. is to be hoped that at an early date opium cultivation will have been swept away,
But in Sien Yu district, in spite of military reinforcements, many brigands exist in the less-frequented places, of whom the chief is one Chang Nai Wu. Although this man has been arrested, his adherents are scattered about everywhere. Their capture is on the point of being effected, but there is still the brigand chief Wu Wei and others, who during the last two days have been opposing the Government troops. It is a fact. then, brigands are occupying part of this district, and up to the present they have not been dispersed. On this account it has not been possible to eradicate completely opium planted by these brigands, and I am therefore very much ashamed.
I have again instructed most strictly the local officials, civil and military, to make the most careful and thorough investigation in regard to secret cultivation of opium, and to pull it up in order to stamp out the abuse at an early date. In this way we may requite the friendly spirit and assistance of foreign nations. In the event of
any breach of the regulations the offenders are to be dealt with severely in accordance with the law.
I have the honour to address you the above reply for
your information.
I have, &c.
LI HOU C.II.
manner. fortunate.
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If in this way we can avoid the evil spreading over country, it will be
I am very nervous in sending this letter, which I beg you will read.
April 8, 1921.
WU WEI,
Temporary Commander of the 2nd Regiment
of the 1st Division of Fukien. -
LIST.
Name of Tax.
Name of Places in Hsien-yu.
Amount.
Officials.
Dollars.
Field tax or opium Kung Chien Li
duty
Yung Hsing Li Usino Jen Li
130,000
Hsiang Tien Li
140,000
Lien Chiang Li Tzu Ilsia
120,000
Li
Superintendent-
Captain Cheng Hao-fei.
Evil gentry-
Fu Ching-ch'i Yu Ping-buang.
Superintendent—
Staff Officer Jen. Evil gentry-
Wang Chiao-nien. Huang Yueh Lu An-kuo. Superintendent-
Captain Liu Erb-fen. Evil gentry...
Chen Nai-liang.
Fang Ching-hejang.
Cheng Yu-ting Chiang Fang-ching, Superintendent-
Captain Li Feng-hsiang. Evil gentry-
Liu Yu-lm,
Chren Wei-chi,
Superintendent-
Captain Lin Sbou-kuo. Evil gentry-
Chen Shuang-Dan.
Huang Tao-heng.
Not known.
Enclosure 4 in No. 53.
Express Letters instead of Telegrams to the British, American, French, Japanese. Russian and Dutch Ministers at Peking, and to the British, American, French, Japanese, Russian and Dutch consuls at Foochow and Amoy, and to the International Anti-Opium Society.
(Translation.)
WITH reference to the question of opium prohibition, we are ve y fortunate in that friendly nations signed an agreement for the opium trade to be extinguished within the extremely short space of ten years. But unfortunately trouble broke out between North and South, and fighting took place in Fukien. The officials made a fine show with words, while the common people are greedy for gain, with the result that opium is again secretly cultivated. Such a proceeding is greatly to be hated. When Ch'en Chiung-ming left Fukien for Kwangtung, he handed back to Li Hou Chi, Governor of Fukien, the districts in the southern part of the province which he had occupied in order to unite the province. In October 1920 General Li sent Wang Hsien-ch'en, commander of the Body Guard, to guard Hsien-yu. But Wang Hsien-ch'en, after reaching Hsien-yu, allowed the people to plant the poppy, and at harvest time he cunningly created a tax under the name of "Tien Fu Chian," or field tax, and sent officials to establish an office. The tax was 15:00 dollars per mou, the total being 700,000 dollars.
I append separately a list for your inspection. In this way he showed his contempl for friendly nations and injured the work of opium prohibition. He aimed merely at proht and did great injury to the district. The proofs of this are very strong
and thousands of eyes have seen it. On the 14th March I sent telegrams to the Chinese Government, to various organisations, various opium prohibition offices and various societies requesting them to at impartially and make representations to General Li However, although this is a matter of supreme importance, Chinese officials still show leniency owing to questions of face." The condition arises then, that by cunning and fair words matters are glossed over and the case allowed to close, thus deceiving friendly nations. I am a Chinese subject and in my heart I realise the danger. I venture to inform you in the hope that you gentlemen, who possess great influence, will be very sympathetic towards this disgraceful state of affairs, and I dare recklessly, therefore, to request you to make strong representations to the Chinese Government and General Li in order to prevent powerful officials from daring to aid the planting in this open
thus
An Hsien Li Che Kuei Li
180,000
Jen Te Li
70,000
Shan Hua Li
Wen Hsien Li
80,000
Wan Shan Li
Esing Hsien Li
(The total amount of opium duty levied is 670,000 dollars.)
N.B.-Hsien Yu is divided into 14 li, but there is no opium in Haing Tai Li, and it is not therefore included in this list, All the officials were appointed by Wang Hsien-ch'en. The tax is being levied from February until the middle of April. Up to
to the present opium is still to be found in the above districts and the opium tax office has not yet been abolished.
Enclosure 5 in No. 53.
Consul Phillips to Sir B. Alston.
Sir,
Foochow, May 12, 1921. WITH reference to my despatch of the 18th April, I have the honour to quote below, from a letter dated the 19th March, 1921, written to the American consul, by Mr. George W. Hollister, an American missionary resident at Hsienyu, Fukien, on the subject of opium cultivation in Hsienyu district :
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Recently Mr. Carson and Mr. Winter, from Hsinghua city, and I made a trip over the Hsienya districts. We covered practically every section with the exception of the mountain circuits. We therefore had a good opportunity to see the amount of land planted in poppy.
"When we began our journey we heard that the head officer of the Northern troopa
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