ea, SPECIAL service Peking, Mar. 20.
The opiwsa ps years the blight of extensive avons in Ching, is again appearing in the fertile fields of a half-dozen provineer, according to reliable repor's Drought here by foreign and Chinese "the Nanking Gover:
strictly prohibited the cul ration and gote of opium, but number of provincial warlords, ately beyond the each of Ni ing's armies, have disobeyed order, Not only is the cultivation of plum being permitted in a number of provinces, but in some districts U. the authorities are compelting 1 Formers lo raise the drag. The mes Gods used this year are the 9 in many years past, The offs 'Cals impose heavy "opium taxes" fon certain tracts of Jan, before the Crops have been put in These taxes are so heavy that only opium. sill make prod possible, So the farmer either plants the opium opis' or faces an inevitable heavy.
from tis land.
One of the worst offenders th year is reported to be Gen. Tang. Yulin, ehaivman of the Jehol vineial government. The wast area.
Jelioh, northwest of Peking, has under this man's rule' tur Now a petition from the peuple declares that openly collecting taxes on poppy land and_on the sale of opium 19 support his troops. Similar re"
cute fom Shensiy Kans Yunnan, and from parts of HTonan. There are districts in these etent by the growth of opium on ich shoul have been davatfoul, according to ro-ports from foreign investigators ent out by the China International Famine Relief Assvetation. Thesa show that, if food crops had been punted in geveral of the diss ts surveyed, instead of opiuey, people enuld have raised anous tide them over the present er Not only has the growth of oplunt resulted in food shortage, the re-host, bat opium has demar= the farmers, wha ye not been able to work effectives their fil Kuomintang reformers have wor hard to eliminate the use of centres us Po-King and Tientsin, but, 89. long as courage
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.