THE OPIUM TRAFFIC

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7078, 16 March 1910, Page 8

THE OPIUM TRAFFIC

CHINA'S BONDAGE; BRITAINS SHAME MEETING OF NEW ZEALAND ASSOCIATION. There iva.s a very large attendance at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Association for the Severance of the Connection of the British Empire with the Opium Traffic, held last evening in the i.M.C.A. rooms. Mr J. G. W. Aitkcn presided. Amongst apologies for absence received was one from the Hod. G. Fowlds. who 'Wished the association every success, and expressed the hope that tho "opium stain will soon be wiped off the British escutcheon." ANNUAL REPORT. Captain H. S. Blackburne, the hon. Bccrctary and treasurer, read tho annual .report. Tho work of the association, as in previous years, had been l principally confined to the circulation of anti-opium literature, keeping the press of tho Dominion posted up in news which concerns tho cause, keeping in touch with the Home associations, and sending what little financial help we are able to the Homo societies. This, however, had only amounted to £23, and £1 in addition to tho Opium Protest Fund. The association's membership had only slightly increased, numbering at tho present timo 205. This was sadly disappointing, and the apparent lack of interest in tho Christian churches •was difficult to understand. Every Imember of the Christian Church in (the Dominion ought to belong to it, and resolutions of protest from every church, in the Empire should be sent in to the Government. p Notwithstanding the hostile resolutions of -various international commissions and of the House of Commons, \Great Britain still persisted in the •trade, and at present was arranging to export from India 51,700 chests of opium during 1910, conditionally promising to reduce the export by 5100 chests per annum until a maximum of 16,000 chests is reached; and holding China to treaties which, prevent her frojn prohibiting the importation of opium into her country. CHINESE CONSUL SPEAKS. Adoption of the report was moved by Mr J. G. W. Aitken. Mr Yung-liang Hwang, Chinese Consul, seconded the motion. The report ho had heard read, he said, had) made him think of the greatnessof the British people. He gave praise to Captain Blackburne, who 'had given, up" a good .position in a large steamship company, rather than carry, the poison into China. The Chinese nation was doing its best to suppress the traffic on its own account. _ No onium smoker could hold a position in the Civil Service, and every smoker ihiad to register -with a Government office, whence he got his supply.. Thus smoking in private ,was made impossible. Formerly there were many opium shops, but these had now disappeared. The speaker, addressing the meeting not as the Consul but as a private citizen", went on to say that there was a largo problem in front of them. In New Zealand Chinese had often been fined very heavily _ for opium smoking. A man iiad committed suicide only a few days ago in Wellington, (having come from Nelson. He was an opium smoker. The problem was this—whether we should punish those who sell opium in large quantities to those who desire it, or those who smoke it? (Applause). That was what they must consider. The motion was carried. ELECTION OF OFFICERS.

Officers for the ensuing term were elected as follows: —President, Mr J. G. W. Aitken; vice-presidents, Revs. John Dawson, James Gibb, D.D., and J. J. North, Hon. George Fowlds, M.P., and Messrs A. Hoby and H. N. Holmes; hon. secretary and treasurer, MrH. S. Blaokburne. Committee—Mrs Dunning, Messrs G. Paradise, S. Pearson, D. Purdie, John Rigg, James Rumgay, and J. Murrell; Auckland, hon. secretary, Mrs A. Chadwick Brown, View road, Mount Eden; Christchurch, Mrs Gardner, To Maru, Station road, Lower Riccarton; Dunedin, Mr V H. H. Driver, 7, George street, Dunedin; Napier, Mr J. C. Pallet, P.O. Box 130, Napier; Nelson, Mr Martin Buck; Gisborne, Mrs N. F. Walker (hon. secretary W.C.T.U.), Fox street, Whataupoko; Wanganui, Mr J. H. Harper. A MISSIONARY'S MESSAGE.

Miss Alice Henry, of the China Inland Mission, moved a resolution—

That this meeting, as members also of the great British nation, desire to express their profound grief for the disgrace, shame, and sin which attaches to our beloved nation through our action in preparing for, and sending to, the Chinese people a subtle soul aild body-destroying poison, which by treaty with the Chinese Government for more than fifty years, we compel them to admit into their country, to tiieir destruction i and to the hindrance of the Gospel of Christ. "We would beseech those who are responsible for this to make confession to God and to the Chinese nation, to ask forgiveness from both, whom-we have wronged and grieved, to make all the restitution possible in our power, and to free China from the iniquitous traffic.

We also ask the Church of God —God's children in every land—to unite in prayer to this end, so that our country may be made a blessing and not a curse to the countries and peoples with which our people come in contact.

Miss Henry said that words could not convey the awfulness of the traffic which Britain was forcing on China. The traffic was to he stopped in ten years, hut in the meantime tens of thousands would have to suffer and endure. What was to become of the •thousands of cases of opium which would be yet exported from India. They showed that opium-smoking was still going on to a terrible extent in China. Not only had the habit the worst effects on its victims themselves, but all connected with them suffered. Husbands sold everything in their homes for opium, and when nothing else was left sold their wives. By our silence wo participated in such a crime. Should we say, " Let them suffer; let them bo sold"? The British nation had forced opium upon China; it was the duty of Britain to release China from her bondage. The motion was seconded by the Rev. T. Keith Ewen, and carried.