WAR ON OPIUM SMUGGLERS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11805, 14 December 1912, Page 4 (Supplement)

WAR ON OPIUM SMUGGLERS.

r * Dr George Berlotte, a French newspaper correspondent, recently arrived -:~-trum tho Ciiino-Indian frontier, confirms >-. manv of the previous reports concerning • the finrce warfare that has for some time along the entire south-western ' frontier- between the volunteer troops ■.-Employed by the Republic and the Indian rmugglers of opium. Regular pitched •'battles have been fought between the -.'Governir.ent forces and the large numbers of hired coolies who have assisted .*tbe smugglers for more than a year. • • -It is almost like a war be.ween na--.tioiis," said the French writer. "I , :'xame up through the" Segara and Goririis, in India, about the end ot August, 'and found the whole country in a state ,«f ITostilitv, with armed bands going hither and thither. Vi hen I inquired ■into the causes <:f the widespread disturbance I was informed that while the : Government at Pckin had ordered the -suppression or the opium traffic along the Tang-ge-ho and the Inkil lakes the Customs authorities were actually aiding ths smugglers and were fighting the volunteer trcops tent by the sab-Gover-nor of Denang. General Mongli. with 801 volunteers, began an earnest attack .upon the rendezvous of tho smugglers all along the frontier. Thousands of pounds of opium was captured and more tlwn 4') of the smugglers were killed, betices several hundred taken prisoners.'