THE OPTUM TRADE.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15222, 9 March 1915, Page 5

THE OPTUM TRADE.

TO THE ETIITOR OF !i THE PRESS." Sir, —Although there is so much else to take up attention just now, some or your readers may l>e i uteres ted to hear something of the position of the opium trade in China at the present time. There aro still accumulated stocks of Indian opium in the Treaty ports, and, as there remain seven provinces which not yet secured their right to refuse to admit it, it is a constant source of irritation to the Chinese Government. The following account of how the municipality of "Shanghai is dealing with it. occurs in a leaflet issued in December Inst by the. Society fo r the Suppression of the Opium Trade, 181 Queen Victoria street London E.C : — "In March, 15)08. at the ratepayers' meeting, the chairman of the Muncipal Council expressed on its behalf the 'greatest sympathy with the Chinese nation in "its efforts to dissipate the opium habit, , and added: "I mn sure there is every intention on the part of this community to assist them.' He further stated: 'The advice which we have received from the British Government is, in brief, that we should do more than keep pace with the .native authorities: we should be in advance of them, and where possible, encourage them to follow us.' This expression of sympathy was made at the very moment when China was proving to the world her unswerving sincerity in putting down the opium evil in accordance with the ten years' agreement with" the British Government, commencing on January Ist, 190?, during which year the Council inaugurated its policy of closing the opium dens, which numbered some 1463 in Shanghai, by half-year-ly reductions, with the result that by October. 1910, all were closed. But in their place a larger number of opium shops were licensed, at which the drug, prohibited by the Chinese in China proper, could be obtained. These shops increased from 87 in January, 1908, to 654 in April, 1914, being moro than a eevenfold increase during a period of six years. The financial result of this morally indefensible policy of the Counr cil was exceedingly profitable, for the revenue from opium licenses in 1913 amounted to 86.386 taels, which was almost equal to the whole of the revenue obtained, from the licensed business activities of Shanghai (chiefly Chinese) for the same year, which only reached something like 86,480 taels. * "Iβ the community of Europeans on Chinese soil to be allowed to defy not only the opinion of all decent Chinese, but the civilised world, as represented by the Hpsjue- Opium Convention?" The British Ambassador at Peking expressed recrret -it the action of the Council in Shanghai, which, he said, appeared to be t: in direct contradiction to the expressed desires and intention of the Council itself."—V-ours. etc.. HANNAH PACKER, Hon. Secretary Chvistchurch branch of the New Zealand Anti-Opium Association. March 6 th.