Despatches from Sir A. Hosie forwarding reports respecting the opium question in China.

  • Alexander Hosie
Date:
[1911]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Despatches from Sir A. Hosie forwarding reports respecting the opium question in China. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    in China ; in countries were opium is not prohibited for other than medical purposes a revision of the existing systems of regulation is recommended to the Governments concerned; each delegation is urged to advise its own Government to investigate scientifically for itself the matter of anti-opium remedies, and the effect of opium and its products ; international co-operation is advocated to prevent the smuggling of opium into countries where a prohibitory law prevails.” It is unnecessary to dwell any further here on the proceedings or resolutions of the commission, as a report has already been printed in two volumes at Shanghae, the first volume containing the minutes of the proceedings, and the second the reports presented by the various delegations on the opium question as far as it concerned the country which they represented. It had been expected that the Chinese report would contain much valuable and reliable information in the shape of statistics of production and of the number of smokers in various years, but I am bound to say that the hopes expressed by Sir A. Hosie in this respect in his general report were doomed to disappointment. I shall deal later with Sir A. Hosie’s own criticism before the commission of the data furnished by the Chinese Government, when I come to the question of the possibility of furnishing the Indian Government, at the end of the three probationary years, with a reliable and serious opinion, based on adequate grounds, as to how far the Chinese have fulfilled their share of the agreement to reduce the production aud consumption of native opium proportionately with the reduction in the export of opium from India to China. I shall now take, first, the capital, and then the provinces one by one in the same order in which they were dealt with in Sir A. Hosie’s report, and shall give a short resume, in regard to each, of the information that has reached me from various sources, and, where possible, a general impression as to the progress made, or the reverse. Peking. It has become a matter of some difficulty for any European to obtain accurate information as to the present position of opium smoking in the capital, as the Chinese have became so secretive on the subject. I am indebted for my information to Dr. Gray, the physician of Ilis Majesty’s Legation, who is at the same time doctor in charge of a hospital where large numbers of Chinese are treated, and who has taken considerable interest in the progress of the opium movement in China. Dr. Gray gives it as his deliberate opinion that opium smoking has almost disappeared in Peking, at all events among the classes with which he comes in contact. It is, he says, now very rare for a man either to seek treatment for the opium habit or to confess, when admitted to a hospital for other complaints, that he is still addicted to the drug. Among the people about three-tenths have stopped smoking, and among the officials about eight-tenths. The latter, however, being subject to periodical examination, often stop for a short time and then relapse into their old ways. Among the officers of the army the habit has been entirely abandoned. It is now very difficult to purchase opium in Peking illicitly. The shops are licensed, and the purchaser must be provided with a licence. The licence ticket costs 10 cents, and is available for three months. After that period the licence has to be renewed, and at each renewal the daily amount purchasable is reduced. Opium dens are, of course, forbidden, but a considerable number are still open clandestinely—perhaps about half as many as were open eighteen months ago. Prom time to time the native newspapers mention cases of raids made by the police on such secret dens, the penalty inflicted on the owners averaging a fine of 15 dollars, or a month’s imprisonment with hard labour. The price of opium has increased greatly, in the case of foreign opium by 50 per cent.; while the price of native opium, which comes chiefly from Shansi and Kansu, has doubled. Opium pipes are difficult to obtain openly, though they can still be bought secretly. Unfortunately, Dr. Gray tells me that a great deal of opium is consumed in the form of anti-opium pills. After a large number of enquiries extending over a period of several months Dr. Gray places the number of habitual anti-opium pill takers at between one-half and three-quarters of the former total of opium smokers. This means that the manner of taking opium has merely been changed, but fortunately for a less baneful form, that is to say, that a man can satisfy his narcotic craving in a [1020] 13 4