A SPIRITED PROTEST.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 767, 16 March 1910, Page 8

A SPIRITED PROTEST.

SOME OUTSPOKEN OPINIONS.

THE ANTI-OPIUM LEAGUE.

The annual meeting of the New Zealand Anti-Opium Association was very largely attended last evening. Mr. J. G. W. Aitken, president, was in the chair. The Hon. G. Fowlds, who was unable to be present, telegraphed as' follows:— "My blood fairly boiled when I read the report of the International Anti-Opium-Commission recently held at Shanghai. Every true Britisher who reads that report must feel humiliated. I hope your meeting will help to remove the opium stain from the British escutcheon." .

A Vigorous Report. The secretary (Captain Blackburn©), in his annual report, stated that work had been principally confined to tho circulation of ajrti-opium literature, keeping the press of the Dominion posted up in hews which concerned the cause, keeping in touch with the Home associations, amd sending what little financial help the association could to the Home societies this, however, had only amounted to «£23, and .£1 in addition to the Opium Protest Fund. This small sum, however, probably did not more th™ oovor the cost of literature which the Home societies send occasionally to members. Owing,, no doubt, -to the efforts of members o| the association, resolutions of protest had been sent to the Home Government from the Women's Christian temperance Union of New Zealand, the Society of. Friends' annual conference,, and the New, Zealand Baptist "Onion annual convention. The membership of. the association had only slightly increased, numluring at the present. time 205. This was sadly, disappointing, and the apparent lack of interest in the Christian churches tos difficult to understand. Resolutions of protesit from every church m the Empire should be sent m- to the Government.

A Full Confession. V" l an ?,J 6r y glad '" said Captain Blackburne,- that we have the honour of having on our platform this evening the representative of the great Chinese Empire, and in th© nam© of tliis meeting we make confession to him of our great national sin against his country, our deep-felt sorrow, for it, and our' promise to_ do all in our power, to bring this i-mquity to an end. Personally, I.have done- more than most here, in connection 'with, this sin as a partaker in the. traffic, haying assisted to carry hundreds of tons or .the soul-debasing drug from India to Chiiia, but I am glad,,now.of this opporof asking the forgiveness of you, iur. Hwang, as the representative of your great nation, .and I am sure that as a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, you, in the name of your country, will willingly lorgive my past sin. I lave shown the sincerity of my repentance by. giving up th© position I held, rathet than continue to carry the poison fin theship I commanded, and I have endeavoured since to awaken the •> conscience of my people to a sense of our sin, and to do all in my power, especially by prsjer, to nelpm bringing it to aa end.

Two Pictures. . There tob an exuected decrease'in tie ornum revenue for ijhis year of' .£871,800. Ihe association was glad-trimote this first reported decrease of "blood" , money, but deplored the continual stream of poison Jfaich was still being ponied, into China. To' talk, as: many do;,, in. a strain'of satisfaction, .with ; a, sort of half .prcfmise to gradually decrease the export of opium to China over a, period of ten years, is to me. 'truly.. deplorable, and to talk about.our co-operation .with China-by 60 doing is utterly misleading, for we are the nation above all others which .is standing in the way of China freeing herself from this curse." Every province of China had recently reported laTge reduction in the. opium area, ; sixteen reporting that" the cultivation would be entirely suppressed br or before tho end of 1909. Of the remaining five provinces, . three ypars was the longest limit; before it would all be suppressed. But what, was England doing? She was arranging to _ exportfrom , India, 51,700 chests of opium during 1910,. conditionally promising to reduce, the export by .5100 chests per annum, until a; miximuin of' 16,000 ohests is reached. Also, she was holding China to. treaties which prevented. heT from prohibiting' the importation of opium into her country. The United States Government had issued invitations J to a conference to be held, probably in June, 1910, at The Hague, and proposed that tho delegates be empowered to negotiate an international treaty for the suppression of. opium.- The- treaty, would provide for the suppression of opium, within a prescribed period, and the declaration, of the -drug as contraband. The right of search irould be granted by the signatory Powers, together with the punishment of illicit traffic as an interna- 1 tional' offence. A recent Question in the House of Commons elicited tie reply that an invitation to the conference had been received by. his Majesty's Government, and was under consideration. ' ' ■ I

Congo Girls Recalled, The president, ' in' moving the adoption of the report, said lie believed not only that' the meeting : would be of the very greatest iniinenM . when its. protest came before the British Government, but that it would arouse some enthusiasm on this terrible question in the Dominion. There was evidence, in .the greatly. ■ increased attendance of the present gathering .that the meeting held last year had borne good fruit. He. had found that' the greatest aj>athy existed on the subject of the opium traffic. Captain Black- 1 burns had given up one of the most important positions in one,- of the: largest British shipping companies because he would not carry opium into China: (Applause.) If it was right that the traffic should be ended in ten years, it- was right that 1 it should be ended now.' ; .He did not want, to diaw a comparison .between the Congo evils and the Chinese opium traffic, but there was a compari-. son, which he left it to his audience to draw. . The British nation,..when it denounced the late .King Leopold for. his iniquities, should, have remembered its own-iniquity in'this respect.

" ..Chinese Consul's Remarks, ■Mr. Yung-liang Hwang, Chinese Consul, 'inseconding the motion; -detailed the measures- that are being taken in China to put a stop to opium smoking." It did not appear reasonable to punish the:' Chinese -in British' colonies for smoking. opium, while the importation o£ the drug into China was allowed'to be; carried on with impunity. The. report. ,was adopted unanimously.

An Emphatic Resolution. Miss A. Henry, of the China'lnland Mission, moved the. following motion':— "That this meeting, as members also if the great British nation,. desire to express their profound grief for the disgrace, shame, and sin which attach to our. beloved nation through our actjon in preparing for and sending, to the Chinese people a subtle soul-and-body-destroying poison which by treaty with the Chinese Government for more than fifty . years, we compel them to'admit into their , country to . their . destruction 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 ill the restitution possible in our 1 power, and to free China from the iniquitous treaty. We would also ask the Church of God—God's children in every. landto unite in prayer to this encr, so that l our country, may be made a blessing and not a curse to the other countries which our people come in contact with."

Miss Henry gave a moving description of the evils wrought by opium, and pleaded that the traffic should not be allowed to last for ton more years. ■ The motion' was seconded by the Rev. T. Keith Bwen, and adopted unanimously. Election of Officers. The following officers were elected:— President, Mr. J. G. W. Aitken; vicepresidents, Hon. Geo. Fowlds, Revs. John Dawson, Dr. Gibb, and J. ,T. North; Messrs. A. Hoby and H. N. Holmes; hon. secretary and treasurer, Captain Blackburne; committee, Mrs. Dunning, Messrs. G. Paradise, S. Pearson. D. Purdie, John Rigg,'James Bumgay, and J. Murroli