OPIUM TRADE REVIVED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1390, 23 November 1918, Page 8

OPIUM TRADE REVIVED.

CHINA'S BACKWARD STEP

'! li'- ie\ iva] of llic opium ir.nK' in ( hina under circumstances thai a|>j>• -:ir to be lo (In l discredit oTthc present Government of that country is announced by ,n( ' Pharmaceutical Era, The legalising- of this trade again, whether for legitimate revenue purposes or in pursuit of some gigantic scheme of graft, \Bill dishearten those) who had herun to look upon it as a thing of the past. Those who were interested in suppressing it and keeping it down have now other Ihings lo occupy their attention, and iis revival is only another instance of the way in which forgotten evils raise their heads miller cover of great wars. If (he Kaiser is io he credited indirectly with the resumption of opium-consumption in China, he may have a lan-den on his soul thai will outweigh even the rape of Belgium and the bombing of hospitals and ambulances. Says the paper named above: "Press despatches of the past few months indicate that a revival of the opium traffic in China is probable, and that officials of Hi,. Government have formed a syndicate to handle the drug under the guise of an uiiti opium society, which will sell to addicts who are under treatment. As stated in these despatches, the Chinese Government have arranged to nurchaso (he remaining stocks of Indian opium for 15,000.000 dollars, ar.d payment is to be made, in Government bonds, redeemable in ten years. The opium will be resold to the syndicate, it is stilted, an agreement having been signed at Shanghai by which the Government obtains the opium at 6200 taels (iael equals 1.18 dollars)) per chest, ami sells to th. syndicate at 8000 taels per chest. _ The sale lo the public by the syndicate will be at a price that, will yield enormous profits, permitting, if is said, high officials to share in Iho gains. "This information—and (here seems to be no great reason to doubt its truthfulness—opens the way for another chapter in the history of a drug which has at once eased the pain of the sufferer and enslaved millinns of habitues. That many will look upon the scheme to remove the ban from the exploitation of this pernicious in China as a backward step is certain, for most: of the civilised countries, including our own. have gone on record by enactment of laws which aim lo control completely the (radio in all narcotics <>f which opium and its derivatives are the chief representatives. "The present movement in China easts a sha.low over the results that were hoped would follow the work of the several international conventions that have been held at various times to control the opium traffic. The agitation against this traffic lei- been continued for years, especially by English philanthropists, and more particularly by the Anti-Opium League, which was organised by Lord Shaftesbury in 1873. In 1892 tin English Cimmissiou was empowered by a resolution of the House of Commons to take evidence in the United Kingdom 1 in the Indian Dominions, and to make enquiry into the economical, commercial, and Mcial aspects of the cultivation *f Ike poppy, and with which was connected the sale of opium to Ihe Chinese, In 1906, as a result of the recommendations of the returned Commissioners from China, an edict was issued by the Chinese Government oid-ring the abolition of the use of opium, both foreign and native, in China, within a period of 10 years. The present information seems to indicate a return to conditions which permit the extension of the use of opium rather than an attempt to control or restrict its distribution "A knowledge of ... . the increasing use of opium and other narcotics in all civilised countries caused the American Government to enact (he Harrison anti-narcotic law in December, 1914, which has for its object the control of the sale of not only opium and its derivatives, but that of cocaine, the most insidious of the narcotics. While the lawhas been in operation but a few years, it.-. beneficial effects are already noticeable, a/id it i;- safe lo say that legislation in this direction is apt to be extended rather titan repealed. Thai a great nation like China

should airrin make it easier for her rooming milhV.ns in obtain the 'foreign drug,' the use of which has so increased the poverty of her masse?, throws an interesting sirtefight on the mentality of those in charge of China's future destiny. For though the Chinese always call opium the 'foreign drug,' it was formerly grown in half the provinces of the Empire, and a great many of her officials became rich from the trade. The largest pail of the opium consumed in China in former years is said to have been produced at home rather than imported from India.