This sounds very satisfactory. The Council has wisely appointed a special committee (0 investigate the problem and, presumably, to report on the practicality of the scheme proposed to it, Tt has also" unoMeially leated its intention to defer a final decision until that report and its recommendations can be studied and approved by the Consular Body—an eminently sage precaution.
The trouble is that the Council will not be able to operate regardless of conditions which have been obtaining In the Settlement and adjacent areas. If It merely had to work in cooperation with the City Government and the Municipalité Frangaise there might be some hope of creating fu unassailable bulwark against the drug traMe, Then one coherent body responsible for the control and tullimate suppression of the opium habit might be brought into active operation. Can such an ideal be tallained under present conditions?
What is the actual position? Ten government organs which are concerned In opium suppression in Shang-hal are now functioning without the slightest capacity for coordination, The Garrison Commander of Shang: hat is. theoretically responsible for criminal proceedings against drug offenders, The Opium Suppression Bureau deals with drug stocks seized and. smuggling offences. The fines realized by the military authorities are divided among the City Government, the Police Bureau, the Garrison Commander's office and the Suppression Bureau. The registration of luddicts, the licensing of smokers and the prevention of smuggling come within the purview of the Police Bureau.
Another Complication further complication is troduced by the fact that the Suppression Bureau is subordinate to a central bureau in Hankow. It is linked with the City Government in the licensing of opium hongs and shops, "It auctions—not destroys—snuggled opium seized which is usually bought by the opium merchants. TI also tries opium criminals." In conjunction with the Government it has established 'Examination Office" which is Gnaneed by the Opium Merchants Association of Shanghai, at a cost of $7500 pin. 'This examination once isa technical concern which examines, weighs and trade-marks raw' opium
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.