Lawrence Dundas

“ If, then, Great Britain desires to assist China in the most practical manner, she must take care that nothing she does shall in any way encourage the poppy-growers, and others pecuniarily interested in poppy cultivation in China, in the idea that the abolition of the opium trade between India and China is to provide them with an opportunity of satisfying the demands of an increased home market. ”

“ There is another danger besides that of an increased production of opium in China itself, which has to be carefully guarded against pari passu with the reduction of the supply of the drug—the danger of abolishing one vice only to make room for a worse. It is well known in the East that where opium-smoking is suppressed, the use of morphia or of some equally deleterious drug is almost certain to take its place, unless the most stringent precautions are adopted to prevent it. ”

“ Opium-smoking was introduced into China from Java early in the eighteenth century, and has steadily grown in favour among the people until at the present day the habit has undoubtedly assumed immense proportions. In the early days some efforts seem to have been made by the central Government to suppress the vice, but of late years no attention has been paid to the original edicts penalising the habit, nor, until the past two years, have any steps been taken by the Government to deal with the evil. ”

“ Here, then, is a vast area grievously addicted to the vice which would not be affected in the smallest degree by the cessation of the importation of the drug from India. Whatever may have been the case in the past, there is no doubt whatsoever that it is in the immense production in China itself that is to be found the root of the evil at the present time. Nothing short of a drastic campaign against the habit by the local authorities will have the slightest effect in checking the evil here ”

“ Strong measures are to be taken to limit the facilities for indulging in the habit. Eating-houses are to be prohibited from furnishing opium, and customers from bringing smoking apparatus with them into such places. In the space of one year all shops for the sale of smoking accessories are to close, and six months is the limit placed upon the lives of all opium dens. Shops for the sale of the drug are to be provided with licences, and returns of the amount sold to be made annually to the magistrate of the district. ”

“ That there are enlightened men in China who are earnestly desirous of suppressing the evil, is in no way open to doubt. One of the leading merchants in Ch'ung-k'ing was actively denouncing the habit at the time of my visit; and it was reported that at Fu-chou, the centre of the opium cultivation in Ssŭch'uan, a landowner had given out that no more poppyseed was to be sown on his land. ”

“ Opium in India is at the present day a Government monopoly, and India sends to China 50,000 piculs [1] of opium a-year; let it, then, be asserted as emphatically as it can be, that the Government of India is in duty bound to take such steps in the regulation of her opium traffic as are, in the opinion of competent authorities, best calculated to have the maximum effect in bringing to an end the vicious habit among the Chinese people. ”

“ Western China is, in fact, a dominating factor in the situation, since the two provinces of Ssŭch'uan and Yün-nan—it is said that half the arable area of the latter is under opium—are the largest-producing centres of the drug in China, and since its cultivation is the source of considerable wealth to their people, and, be it added, to their officials also. ”

“ Officials of high rank and title to ask for a given time in which to break the habit, and to be relieved by an acting official during that period. Officials of lower rank to be allowed six months. Teachers, scholars, officers, and warrant officers in the army and navy, if addicted to the vice, to be dismissed within three months. For the general public the following regulations have been drawn up. A smoker must report himself at the nearest yamen and there fill in a form giving his name, age, address, occupation, and daily allowance of opium. ”

“ China produces ten times as much opium as she imports. She derives a revenue of between £6,000,000 and £7,000,000 from home-grown opium, and of £830,000 from the foreign importation. The value of the opium crop to its cultivators is considerably greater than that of an equal crop of cereals. ”

“ Men in high places have unfortunately died, owing to their being suddenly deprived of the drug, and "these sad results of virtue have caused the stringency of the regulations to be relaxed, and those past fifty instead of sixty years of age are now to be allowed to continue smoking." ”

“ Further, anti-opium societies are to be established, though it is pointed out that such societies are to confine their activities strictly to the reduction of opium, and not to indulge in the discussion of current politics or questions of local government ”

“ He will then be given a licence, and if under sixty years of age a limit will be placed upon the amount he is allowed to consume, to be reduced yearly by from 20 per cent to 30 per cent. On becoming a total abstainer he must produce a guarantee signed by a relative or neighbour, when his licence will be cancelled. No new licences will be issued after the first inquisition, and severe penalties will be inflicted upon any one smoking without a licence. ”