WLAN ANCHE CANDY,
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
SOUTH-WEST CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL
No. 1.
December 15.]
SECTION 1.
Sir,
India Office to Foreign Office.-(Received December 15.)
India Office, December 14, 1905. WITH reference to Mr. Campbell's letter of the 10th September, 1903, and to subsequent correspondence on the subject of Mr. Litton's proposal for the removal of the prohibition against the passage of Yunnan opium through Burmah to China in bond, I am directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to inclose, for the information of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, copy of a letter from the Government of India expressing their agreement in the views taken by His Majesty's Minister at Peking, and stating that, in their opinion, the scheme should be definitely abandoned.
The Secretary of State for India in Council feels some hesitation in accepting this opinion, and directs me to forward the draft of a despatch which he proposes, subject to any observations which the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs may offer, to address to the Government of India, asking for a further expression of their views on the question whether it may not be desirable to sound the Chinese Government in the matter, in connection with the action reported by Mr. Litton to have been taken by the Chinese merchants interested in the trade, in petitioning the Peking Government for the removal of the restrictions on the export of opium to Burmah,
Should the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs see no objection to the terms of the proposed reference to the Government of India, it may be advisable to inform Sir Ernest Satow that the question is still an open one, for, if the Government of India agree, the matter will then have be reconsidered, and the question will arise whether Sir E. Satow should raise the question of admitting Yunnan opium conveyed through Burmah to the Treaty ports on the conditions discussed in my letter of the 22ud February last.
I am, &c. (Signed) A. GODLEY.
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Sir,
Government of India is Mr. Brodrick,
Simlu, October 12, 1905. WITH reference to your revenue despatch, dated the 16th June, 1903, we have the honour the state that we entirely agree in the view expressed by Sir E. Satow that it is not desirable to approach the Chinese Government on the question of the removal of the existing prohibition against the passage of Yunnan opium through Burmah to China in bond. In these circumstances the scheme should, in our opinion, be definitely abandoned.
We have, &c.
(Signed)
CURZON.
E. R. ELLES.
A. T. ARUNDEL
H. E. RICHARDS.
J. P. HEWETT.
My Lord,
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
E. N. BAKER.
C. L. TUPPER.
Draft of Despatch from Mr. Morley to Government of India.
India Office,
1905.
1 HAVE received the despatch from your predecessor's Government dated the 13th October, in which it is stated that the Government of India entirely
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