OPIUM TRADE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1643, 9 January 1913, Page 7

OPIUM TRADE.

QUESTION IN PARLIAMENT. •;6>.TaleEraßh—Press Aasoclallon-jCODyrlitM ■ . London, January 7.. In reply to a question m the llouso of viCoiomons,' the Parliamentary .Under-Sccre-.' ' ,' tary to the Foreign Office, Mr. J. D. Ac- , land, >suid it.was.nofc .intended ito ter-; minate the opium agreement made . with China 'in 1011 for tho ■ restriction .of tho export from India. .-= ■. :■. ' FRENCH PROTEST. Calcutta, January 7. It is understood that France has pro-, testod' against the restriction of opium >'«iporta ,: from':lndo-China;.'J)ecause;,'of the . .lpss.of Customs,duties. ■■■;.. Siam is also protesting. Tho opiunr merchants are gratified -at the suspension. ' :%> \ r _>. ■ . > - DEATH'FOE OPIUM GROWERS. ' ■ ■ (Rec/January 8, 10.15 p.m.) Peking, January 8. ■It ; is announced- that immediately, tho, first Chinese .Parliament meets in April; ,a measure will bo proposed disfranchising districts growing opium, and punishing •» the grovir^r3,|iwi^idoath.% >. ,;rf .. . ••••iAtSthe end■ of -1907 an /agreementr.was ■ntered into between., tho Jndian Govcrn- ■, liont' and China, in. accordance with'whioh ' India undertook to reduce eaohyear the . supply of opium, fdr three years dn condition that China: also. reduced propot* : tionately her Home area of opium growing; The rovonuo derived by tho Indian . Government from opium during,this period.'of reduction did:'not, i however', di- . minish, because the restriction of supply . brought with . it- inflated, prices.. Tho lerenuo figures werei— > - Year.-. .- ■ .8 1006-7 3,717 236 1007-8 . 3,175,515 1008-9 U 4,648,700 ,isHJ9-io ' 4,418,200 • In ■ May,' 1011, an agreement wa3 signed • which aims at the eventual extinction of the export of opiym ■ from India to China. The second article ,of the treaty istates that the export .of opipm from In- .' dia shall ■ cease in'.'le?3 than .seven - years if proof ;is 'given that the production of nativo opinm has i completely<ceased. y. , :■ Republican-China seemij to be determined to rid the country of the opium evil." : A ■ Bill was-fast year introduced in tho • National Assembly foT the prohibition of the cultivation,-sale, and consumption.of the drug. The measure,: which apparent- . ly was thrown out, provided; that within . - one .month after the promulgation of tho new law all the; anti-opium burenux and , their, branches in the different provinces . must dispatch;deputies to different places .to investigate and'to report toy clandestine Cultivation to. the magistrate of , the district, who is -required, to .uproot the poppy and to punish, the offendors. , Ten :>• days, , previous: to - tho -J limit setfor 'total : ■ suppression every smoker imust surrender ,to tho, anti-opium buieau the apparatus - for s[Woking and the opium unconsumed, .-irrespective of.'whether;he has been cured of tho habit, or not. -A|fter ( the expiration ' of, the prescribed period; anybody found , to- possess apparatus for opiunirkmoking in■?secret will bo liable to imprisonment. At the expiration of -the time limit, any maloiopium-smokor who : shall not have . cured .himself; of 1 the habit must - enter an anti-opium bureau ■;to 'be cured,' and every female smoker' must report at the anti-opium bureaux tho.amount of opium . consumed by:her every day, so that a cer- ■ tificlto; may be issued for the', purchase of ■ -stated- amount of.anti-opium medicine.'