Si M. Nathan has read the despatch.
Auxions that we should go as slow as possible. He is cautious & not commit Hongkong with love & care. Whether the Chinese government are in earnest, Mr. May's views are borne out by a leading article in today's Times, handed in.
"The Edicts in China are not to be taken at face value."
CONFIDENTIAL.
Hongkong.
My Lord,
C. D.
No. 17
D. 43
21539
Government House,
Hongkong, 15th May 1907.
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your Lordship's Confidential Despatch of the 20th February covering correspondence with regard to the proposals of the Chinese Government for gradually abolishing the use of Opium, and requesting the observations of this Government on those proposals of the Chinese Government which especially concern Hongkong.
Your Lordship adds that it is the desire of His Majesty's Government to meet the wishes of the Chinese Government in this matter as far as possible.
2.
The proposals which particularly concern this Colony are contained in the 4th paragraph of the Memorandum handed to His Majesty's Minister at Peking by the Wai Wu Pu on the 29th November last.
The first proposal is that this Government should strictly prohibit the boiling of Opium in Hongkong for export to China, and the second that His Majesty's
RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF ELGIN, K.G.,