THE ANTI-OPIUM CRUSADE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1666, 5 February 1913, Page 4

THE ANTI-OPIUM CRUSADE.

The drastic measures which have been put into operation by the Chinese Government for the suppression of the opium trailic within its own territory appear to have been attended with satisfactory results. A cable message from Peking yesterday stated that in certain areas of l\\\kien, Hunan, Shensi, Kansu, and Kangchow, opium-growing has been

stamped out altogether. .' The penalties imposed upon delinquents are severs, almost barbarous, but they offer satisfactory evidence as to'the sincerity of the Government's expressed, determination to enforce its edict against the' traffic. This evidence is of great importance at tho present moment, in view of the commercial interests which are at stake in regard to the export of opium from India to China. In 1907, following upon an Imperial Edict announcing that tho cultivation of. the poppy-, and the consumption of opium, were to be suppressed, the Indian Government agreed to reduce the exports of Indian opium to China by one-tenth annually, so that'the trade would be. extinguished in a decade. The success v/hich subsequently attended the efforts of the Chinese Government to grapple with its self-imposed task induced the Indian Government, in 1911, to enter into a further agreement whereby the export trade from India would coase altogether in seven years, provided it Were shown that the production of Chinese opium had. ceased completely, and that in the meantime i tho ; Indian article would not be conveyed into any Chinese province which had definitely stopped the cultivation and importation of the native product, the ports of Shanghai and Canton, however, being specifically exempted. The political upheaval ■'. consequent ; upon the Chinese Revolution ,■ reduced. these agreements .'■ to so much waste-paper, so far as the Chinese, authorities were concerned, and native opium once more made its appearance in provinces that had previously been cleared of the, traffic. This. relaxation of the crusade against the drug —merely a temporary.relaxation,.as events have shown—immediately reacted upon the commercial, interests concerned in the export trade in. the Indian, product, for notwithstanding tee, fact that.the repressive, measures instituted by the Manchu Government against the Chinese product had been relaxed during the period of the devolution, the provincial authorities refused to permit the sale or distribution of tho Indian product, and immense stores of .tho latter soon accumulated at the treaty ports, of':■ Shanghai and .Canton, tih'ortly,' tho equilibrium of the Indian opium market was seriously disturbed, and when it is noted that tho. market value of ; the accumulated stocks at the two Chinese .-ports referred to reached' eleven' - millions sterling, the gravity of the situation, from the financial point of view, becomes fat -oheq 'apparent. This was tho position in December; last, and the Government of India, was placed in a very invidious position, for the very essence of its' obligation to the Indian, opium merchants was, the fulfilment of an undertaking by the Chinese-Government-which, for the time being, had been suspended, and which'the Indian Government at such a critical period in Chinese politics could not enforce, for it-was obvious that appeals .to'this' now Government at Peking to compel obedience to its authority, in this ! respect from the provincial. mandarins were likely to bo made in vain. Granting that all other means of forcing,the Chinese authorities to fulfil their part of the agreement had failed, war, in the last resort, would: be indefensible, having regard. to ( the '.casus belli and public feeding in Great Britain on ,tho subject'of this 'odious traffic. To ease.the situation, the' London Times suggested that-further sales of Indian opium for export to, China should be stopped at once.

/ "The agreement of 1911," said tho English journal, "was bad statesmanship, becnuso it showed a lack of prescience and an ignorance of Chineso methods. Tho Government of India nro in an unpleasant difficulty, but they nro not therefore justified 111' ruining many people who had faith in the ability and willingness of Great Britain to enforce her own agreements.'.. .'.By continuing to "sell opium for export to China/and by demanding double export duty thorcoii, tho Government-of. India aro following a procMure which is even more questionable than the traffic itself." , The Indian merchants* on their part, arc quite willing that the sales should cease, for.the ruination of the market is inevitable if the Government continues to sell opium which tho Chinese provincial authorities will not allow to be resold. If, however, the Chinese Government has at last asserted its authority, and compelled obedience to its edict, as yesterday's cable message would seem to convey, then the Indian Government will be afforded a welcome relief from its embarrassment, and the reduction of imports from' India should now! proceed without further difficulty, and the year 191G, if all goes well, mark the termination of a' traffic which has been tho reverse of creditable to Great Britain.