WHERE OPIUM GROWS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 264, 4 August 1937, Page 4

WHERE OPIUM GROWS

Life in Inland China From one of the China Inland Mission Stations in the heart of the opium country, came the Rev. and Mrs. J. H. M. Robinson, who arrived at Sydney recently. “Opium looks lovely when it is growing,” Mrs. Robinson said. “That is the only lovely thing about it. The puppies are red, mauve, pink, or white, and the Chinese seem only to plant one.colour in each field. The effect is really beautiful. “The Chinese tell us it was the foreigner who brought opium to China,” she said rather sadly, “and although General Chiang Kai-shek, who is a Christian, is endeavouring to abolish the trade it is a matter of money, as it is the main source of revenue in our province, West Kwei Chow.” When Mrs. Robinson first went to Kwei Chow, she took two months to reach it, first by ship up the Yang-tse-kiang, and then 15 days by sedan chair. “You did not have a big escort, because if you were attacked by robbers they would be more violent if your attendants were armed,” she explained. “There was a great deal of fighting in the districts passed through on that first journey, and the roads were very narrow and impassable for vehicles. Now rpotor omnibuses run over roads —not so good, but a great improvement on earlier conditions. “There is a hospital connected with the mission, and now the Central Government has established two very fine hospitals. There is only one foreign doctor, but recently a young Chinese surgeon has commenced practice, bringing surgery to his countrymen—almost unheard of in this province of 15 million people. “The emancipation of women has progressed slowly but surely in this remote part of the country, and the girl students all have unbound feet. The older generation still bind their feet in some cases, and nearly all have had bound feet In their youth.”

SIX NEW DRESSING JACKETS. Just arrived! Specialty Knitting Book No. 54. Full instructions and illustrations of six new dressing jacket designs—two in “quick-to-knit” Totem Wool. Also cosy vest, knickers, panties, and step-ins; 14 recipes. Send 7d. in stamps to-day to Batons and Baldwins, Box 14411 V, AVellington.—Advt.