THE OPIUM TRAFFIC.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 159, 30 March 1908, Page 5

THE OPIUM TRAFFIC.

. Sir,—ln ' this : morning's'; Dominion,' under : the heading of " Local and General," I read with astonishment the following. silly statement :t-:''A' sciehtifio. authority has -jbeen credited." with tlio. opinion that tho 'prohibi- , tion. of opium smoking in China would lead ( to no. ' substantial j. benefit,; because another national vice, probably drunkenness, would take its place/ ,This View is supported by .Mr. p. < S.~. Laurie; who has resided for several :years •' in -the Straits- Settlements, and who landed _in Wellington yesterday," etc. I am astonished that a respectable. p^pe' - • like TpE: Dominion should publish!';, such an absurd ai^logy-for . our great national sin of debauching and ruining China by, the speciallyrpreparcd poison- which ;we have 'been pouring into : that country -for; many years for - _thq -' sako \6f ; our Indian'< revenue. He might-just-as;,well say that the prohpition of ;drinlcj':gambling, or aiiy : other vice l would bis \no.. : substantial' benefit to 1 England, ./because another national, vice, opium smoking, ' would t-ata :its placo. - Sir Rutherford\Alcock, one; of'our.late ambassadors to. China, states, that ? a little more \,than a century ago, before'we. ; had demoralised, them'Willi our Indian"opium,'they' were certainly about' the most; temperate, of races, they had no stimulants ...oxcept; a mild tobacco and tea,-and. they :seoni'; to have . been perfectly content jvithi tbat. , I wonder that Mr. Laurie, after his • attempted 'defenco- of. the..opium traffic, was) not ashamed! to' tell .us that the' Straits Sottlomeiit, which is. a British Crown, colony, derives ,a; largo proportion of its/revenue from the opium traffic.—l am, etc., 11. S. BLACKBUIINE. ; ■. ■ Hon. Sec. IN.Z. Anti-Opium 'A:sociation March 26,«-1908. , \;. x ■ ; Captain Blackburne's vigorous onslaught on,tho opium traffic' will no doubt find general endorsement. - It is well, however, that' he 'should/understand, that the "absurd apology " for the-traffic was not an opinion offered by; this paper. We should have imagined ' that; it would havo been a source of ■ gratification; to him, and,'*indeed, to all who disapprove-,-the traffic,. that its defenders should, be forced to fall back upon so manifestly weak an argument.) '