Confidential.
BRITISH CONSULATE,
SAIGON.
3rd July 1899.
460
C0719
RECR
REC 7 AUG 39
My Lord:-
I have the honour to bring before Your Lordship's notice, the manner in which the law concerning Opium smuggling is carried out at this port and I trust Your Lordship will pardon any apparent brusqueness on my part; for the matter cannot be plainly put, without some freedom of expression.
The law reads thus:-
"Si des marchandises dont l'entrée ou la sortie est prohibée, sont importées ou exportées par mer ou par terre, elles seront confisquées, ainsi que les batiments, voitures et animaux servant au transport".
It will be seen that there is no loophole whatever, but the Customs do not carry out this law, for purposes of its own, as will be seen later.
His Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.