The difficulty experienced iv forming an accurate estimate of the progress made in the suppression of the opiam habit, to which attention was called a recent White Book containing report on the subject from the Councillor of the British Legation in Peking, receives further exemplification to-day. Yesterday we published a telegram from a correspondent at (hanging who was able to state, on the authority of missionaries who bad made a personal investigation of the province, that the cultivation of opium in Szechoan had almost completely ceased. This happy condition, however, would not seem to apply to the adjoining province of Kueichou, if we way jadge from the report of one who has lived in that province for many years and has beea in s position to form a reliable opinion. There the attempts made from time to time by the officials tu enforce the Government prohibition against the cultivation of the poppy have been very largely frustrated by the opposition cof the people, who have resisted in a most determined manner the soldiers sent to destroy the plant, At the precent time there are stated to be hundreds of acres of poppy growing in the province, and our experienced informant is convinced that months, possibly years, must elapse, and distor. bances must be provoked, before the growth of the pony can be stopped altogether in Kaeichoa, As one of the poorer provinces of the Empire, it may well be that, under the present system of national ficance, Kueichou can see no substitute for the poppy to eoxble her to pay her way. The contradictory nature of reports from neighbouring provinces indicate the necessity of uniform investigation of existing con tions carried out by cepable officials acting under the instructions of the British Goveroment.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.