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Northern Territory Times and Gazette (Darwin, NT : 1873-1927) (about)
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Cite: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4345179
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OPIUM IN CHINA. Y
A CniNESS Imperial Edict, has been issued to the effeec that the import ition of Opium into Cain a, and the cultiva- tion of the p>>ppy ¡n the Chinese Em- pire, will be absolutely prohibited te« years hence.
Dr. Morrison, cf the " Times," gives a griphic account of poppy-cultivation in a biok published a few years ago. Therein he says :
.From'the'time I left Hupeh till 1 reached the boundary of Bunna, a dis- tance of 1,700 miles, I never remem- ber to have beci* out of the sight of the poppy. The' largest growers of the poppy in China are the family of Li Huug Chang. The Chinese do not want our opium-it competes with their own. During the year 1893; 2,250 tons of opium were exported from Szechuen, 1,350 tons from Yunnan, and 450 tons from Kwei-chow. lJ Edicts are still issued against the u<e of opium. They are drawn up by Chinese philanthropists over a quiet pipe of opium, signed by opium-smoking officials, whose revenues are derived from the poppy, and posted near fields of poppy by the opium-smoking magis-
trates who own them."
Over 9,000,000 IW. is represented in these figures, which do not take into account internal consumption. There are some later figures. Taug-Shao-Yi, one of the mo.->t eager advocates of opium-restriction iu China, has stated that native opium is produced to an extent ten times greater than that of the imported article-in the proportion of 30,000 tons (67, 200,000 lb.) to 3.000 tons (6,720 000 lb.)-i.e., per
annum.
Wc are afraid that it will take some- thing more than an Imperial Edict to obliterate such a gigautic industry and so wide spread a vice.