May 27.
Wuatever faults, real imaginary, may be laid at its doors, the present British Government cannot be saddled with the one of undue lack of optimism, a virtue extremely advantageous, if not absolutely There is no evidence of improve- necessary, in " party which, ment in this province which for] coming into power for the first Years has been noted as one of the) time, was and is faced with See eS one supplied by the recent Gover Investigating Commissioner who declared: "not a poppy root could be found in the province." The explanation of this latter state: ment is that it was made after the opium harvest had been gathered. Kansu supplies a similar example of bland effrontery:—
A correspondent writing from Lanchow, January, 1924, says: "We are greatly amused at the report of the Government Opium Tavesti ing Commissioner in which he states that Kansu and Shensi had done well in their prohibition of poppy planting this year. The Government recommended that the Commissioner be thanked for his hard work. To tell the truth the Commissioner was not allowed to the province until after the epi harvest had been reaped. Wheat is three times the normal price, and the cost of all foods and Commodities is doubled. The poor fare in great distress and prospects bad unless more wheat is grown this year, Chihli does not grow but. smuggles, Shantung has retrograded sadly, especially Tsingtao since' the Japanese, who had introduced effective suppression, gave it back to China, Honan, Manchuria and outlying regions: grow and traffic in opium "extensively.
Shansi, Kiangsu and Chekiang afford. honourable exceptions. Phe two latter have to contend heavily with smuggling and opium is undoubtedly very largely smoked in them. Shansi is an example of what really can be done where there' is a will.
The province of Shansi has 105, problems as varied and diverse those which have ever confronted any British Parliament, Mr. Sidney Webb, President of the Board of Trade, speaking a month ago to his constituents in the Seaham Division of Durham, 4 speech mainly of a party character, made an interesting reference to the trade position, reference to which many people at Home apparently cannot subscribe. Mr. Webb is convinced that there is now visible an upward turn in trade, instancing as evidence in support that Bradford and Sheffield, Northampton and Leicester ''veported to-day less lugubriously than they had for a couple of yea After expressing hia ratification at the shipbuilding position (a gratification that is by no means justified after a careful study of the quarterly shipbuilding returns for the period ended March 81 last) he remarked that it was pleasant to see the production of coal, week by week, up to the record year of 1913. Quoting from London contemporary, "Lloyd's List," than which there is ne better-informed journal on. general trade matters in the world, "the speech savours of an easy-going optimism which appears to arise from—hasty generalization," an. opinion with which most people directly conceried with the economic position regretfully will agree. The of foreign orders in British shipbuilding yards, as compared with pre-war times, and the great number of idle berths and thotisands of unemployed ship-hsiens or districts and in 85_"the Governor "has established Anti-yard workers, is in itself suffi-Opium Societies, and the magistri cient reply to. his observations of the district is nearly always on: shipbuilding; while as to President. During the last two al, the. mere fact that "the years, 51,000 persons have beet production is up to the record treated the "Opium Curing year 1913" needs to be considered 3,000 persons have been: with the equally obvious fact smugglers, and 16,000, that British exports have been During 1922 pearly 40,000 ounces of opium and shrinking for some months past. morphia, and 18,000 opium lamps follows as the night the day and pipes were seized and burnt, that before there can cheaper By extensive circulation of A coal (and at present the com-Opium literature all over the proparatively high price of this vince, and by public lectures "the commodity is having, directly, people are being educated on the end indirectly, a marked deter-evils of the habit. Opium smokers rent effect on' British industrial and. pill eaters when arrested are revival) the output must be con-compulsorily sent to "Curing Houses." On discharge they have siderably in excess of that for to pay. $80 which is. returned at 1918. the endow one year if they are We are with our London, con-still "abstainers. But for. the temporary in wishing that Mr. menace of the neighbouring pro: Webb had been more explicit vinees, and the morphia trafic along the Peking-Hankow Railway, and less, complacent in treating narcotics would be unknown in this a subject so. vitally important: Where Mr. Webb was relevant Possibly the most serious side The opium traffic on of the traffic in drugs is the use" and apposite, however, was in hhis laying stress on the need of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.