TRAFFIC IN DRUGS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22860, 15 October 1937, Page 12

TRAFFIC IN DRUGS

CHINESE PROPAGANDA JAPANESE VISITOR'S CLAIM "More Chinese propaganda" was the term used by Mr. Bunshirow Suzuki, a director of Asahi newspapers, In Tokio and Osaka, who is at present on a Jiealth visit to the Dominion, to describe the statement by the Times published yesterday that a deliberate attempt is being made by the Japanese to demoralise the Chinese by means of drugs. Mr. Suzuki made it clear that he attached no importance to the allegation, which ho placed in the same category as various horror stories attributed by him to Chinese endeavours to excite sympathy. Mr. Suzuki said the drug traffic in China was in many hands, and he would not deny that some Japanese were engaged in it. Equally involved, however, were French and Americans, while a major part in the traffic was played by British people. In. Hongkong, for example, thp British administration controlled the opium traffic by means of a licence system. Many aspects of the story published by the Times were criticised by Mr. Suzuki. He said that, in the first place, with the outbreak of hostilities between China and Japan, the Japanese merchants had abandoned their premises in China and returned to their native country, Japanese trade in China being at a standstill at present. Moreover, there could be no question of forcing drugs on the Chinese, who would buy if they wanted to without being forced.