The story regarding opium in China for the past year is not a pleasant one and those who deprecated interference with the opium trade on the ground that with the cessation of imports the Chinese would have the market to themselves and would make use of the opportunity thus presented, seem to have had their predictions justified. The year opened during the preparations for the incineration of the large stocks of opium in Shanghai, valued at Tls. 24,000,000 at the current market rates, which had been purchased from the Opium Combine in Shanghai during the previous year. On January 17 and succeeding days the whole of this stock was burned and meetings were held in Shanghai and elsewhere to mark the stoppage of the trade. "Four days iously an International y for the crusade against opium had been formed Peking. Concurrent with these events came the reports that the poppy was being grown in many of the provinces for the purpose of obtaining money with which to carry-on the civil war. The poppy was reported as being extensively grown in Shensi, planting was reported by Szechuan, it was increasing in Anhui; letters from Yunnan and Kueichow reported large quantities growing. in both - places and a considerable harvest of the drug in the latter province: In Hunan soldiers were being paid from the profits of the opium trade; in Hupeh they were selling the drug, themselves. The provinces in the north where little or no opium was being grown saw an increase in the morphia traffic and the sad story that these foregoing lines sketch was the burden of many a letter that we received from our correspondents in the interior. In April, Mr. Obata, on behalf of the Japanese Government, made a statement as to the measures being taken by his Government to prevent Japanese engaging in the opium trade, and om June 20 the International Anti-Opium Society held a meeting in Peking at which it was declared that large quantities of morphia were being imported into the country from Japan and Great Britain. With regard to the latter, it is interesting to note that the! British Government announced in a letter dated November 25 the steps-taken to prevent the export of morphia to China vid Japan by parcels post.
On August 9 it was reported from Peking that the President himself had a bill before Parliament for the revision of the regulations dealing with offences in connexion with the morphia traffic and in the same month regulations for the control of the sale of morphia were published.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.