Despatches from Sir A. Hosie forwarding reports respecting the opium question in China.

  • Alexander Hosie
Date:
[1911]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Despatches from Sir A. Hosie forwarding reports respecting the opium question in China. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the disease it was intended to cure; the syringes and morphia were apparently distributed about the country by Japanese pedlars. Mr. Willis’s general conclusions are borne out by His Majesty’s vice-consul at Antung, who reported that in the province of Fengtien the restriction of the area under poppy cultivation was being steadily persisted in, that in some parts total prohibition had been enforced by the uprooting of the crops, and that, although there were a certain number of officials who treated the question with laxity, yet public opinion throughout his consular district was generally in favour of total prohibition. The Viceroy of Manchuria, in a memorial to the Throne dated the 12th April, stated that in the province of Fengtien the people were not greatly addicted to the vice; that the enforcement of the prohibition among the official classes had not been difficult to carry into effect; that the soil was not particularly suitable for the growth of the poppy; and that he would take proper steps to see that the order forbidding its cultivation after the spring of 1909 was enforced, and other crops, such as grain, cotton, indigo, &c., planted in its stead. It is gratifying to be able to report that shortly after the termination of the Opium Commission orders were issued for the closing of the opium dens in the Japanese settlement in Antung, though the actual closing was not carried out till the end of July. These dens, to the number of about 150, had hitherto offered every inducement to opium smokers to indulge in the vice. CllIULT. Sir Alexander Ilosic was able to report favourably last year on the condition of things in the metropolitan province of Chihli and on the energy and determination displayed by the Anti-Opium Bureau. On the whole the information received since then from His Majesty’s consul-general at Tien-tsin denotes further progress. A memorial by the Viceroy of Chihli published on the 21st January announced his decision to prohibit totally the cultivation of opium throughout the province after the spring of 1909, so that here, as in Manchuria, it will be easier to observe the effective value of this summary measure, which has been adopted by several provincial governments as the only satisfactory way of grappling with the question of suppression. In a further memorial, dated the 19th April, the Viceroy explained that it was this conviction that had induced him to issue such a summary order against cultiva¬ tion of the poppy. In regard to suppression of smoking, he stated that strict measures had been taken to stamp out the habit among officials, and several delinquents had been dismissed. Every effort had been made to discourage the use of the drug among the general public, and the system of licences had been strictly enforced. Large quantities of anti-opium medicines had been distributed, and the Viceroy claimed that between 20,000 and 30,000 cures had been effected in the 200 institutions specially established for that purpose. All opium saloons had been closed, and the number of licensed shops was being reduced, 800 having already been closed. Severe measures had been taken to check illicit trading in opium and also in morphia, over 1,300 convictions for selling opium without a licence having been recorded. He had taken steps to make good the loss in revenue by an increase in the salt tax and by imposing higher fees on opium licences, and would take further steps if necessary. A report received from a missionary in the north of the province said that the system of quarterly licences for the use of opium had had excellent effects ; that the number of smokers had been reduced by 20 to 25 per cent.; that there were only three licensed opium shops in the city where he lived, and that the cultivation of the poppy had already been prohibited iu the district. Ileports were received from missionaries during the earlier part of the year covering a large portion of west central Chihli, and these showed that the restrictions on smoking were well enforced,, most of the officials had abandoned smoking, the renewal of smokers’ licences was insisted on, and no opium dens were open; but the restrictions on cultivation were only enforced in some places, while in others the attitude of the authorities was not sufficiently uncompromising, and farmers were reported to have sown both poppy and wheat on the same ground, their idea being that if they were allowed to grow poppy they would root out the wheat, and, if not, they could root out the poppy and still have their wheat crop. His Majesty’s consul-general made the usual complaint as to the nature of the remedies employed against the opium habit, and said that in many cases they were more dangerous than the disease.