[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government]
in order to give practical effect to this sympathy they have, after consulting the Government of India, informed the Chinese Government that-
1. They accept in principle the proposal that the import of Indian opium into China shall be diminished by one-tenth annually, pari passu with an equal decrease in the production of the native drug, up to the year 1910, and they will continue to reduce at the same rate the export in 1911 and subsequent years, on proof that China has carried out its share of the arrangement;
2. They have informed the Chinese Government that they have no objection to a Chinese official being stationed at Calcutta, provided that he has no direct powers of interference with customs arrangements--that is a matter to which the Indian Government attached great importance;
3. His Majesty's Government bave informed the Chinese Government that they are prepared to assent to such enhancement of the customs and li-kin duty on foreign opium as will make its taxation in China equivalent to the taxation actually levied on native opium, differences in relative value and quality being taken into considera- tion.
Steps have been taken to reduce the area of poppy cultivation in Bengal, which in the five years preceding 1906-7 averaged 615,000 acres, and in 1907-8 is not to exceed 562,000 acres. In 1907 the number of chests of Bengal opium fixed for sale was originally 4,400 a-month. This has now been reduced to 4,000 a-month, while for 1908 it has been fixed at 3,900 a-month. Further reductions will be fixed in succeeding years if the proposed arrangement with the Chinese Government becomes operative.
I hope that information, so far as it goes, will be satisfactory to the right reverend Prelate.
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL,
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(No. 373.) Sir,
No. 1.
231
[September 23.]
SECTION 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received September 23.)
Peking, August 6, 1907. I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith copies of a correspondence which has passed between His Majesty's Consul-General at Shanghae and myself with regard to apprehensions expressed by the Shanghae branch of the China Association as to the effect which the enforcement of the Opium Edict may have upon the guarantee given in Clause X of the Whangpoo Conservancy Convention of September 1905.
Whatever may be the final outcome of the efforts that are being made for the suppression of the opium habit, it seems to me to be premature to raise this question at the present moment,
In a communication dated the 25th June last, copy of which I have the honour to inclose, the "Times" correspondent at Stanghae, who is intimately connected with the civic life of the place, stated that the opium crop in Hsüchow Fu and Szechuan, the two districts whose duties form the subject of the guarantee in question, is unusually good this year, and that the area under poppy cultivation is undiminished.
I have, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
The Lord Bishop of Southwark: I am extremely obliged to the noble Lord.
(No. 99.) Sir,
Consul-General Sir P. Warren to Sir J. Jordan.
Shanghae, July 18, 1907. I HAVE the honour to inclose herewith copy of a letter dated the 12th July which I have received from the Shanghae branch of the China Association, in which, with reference to Article X of the Convention signed by China and the Powers on the 27th September, 1905, they express their apprehension that the suppression of the opium trade contemplated by the Chinese Government may seriously affect the Whangpoo conservancy scheme.
Sir,
I have, &c.
(Signed) PELHAM WARREN.
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Mr. Skottowe to Consul-General Sir P. Warren.
China Association (Shanghae Branch), July 12, 1907.
I HAVE the honour to inform you that the Committee of this Association, in view
of the Imperial Edicts for the suppression of the opium trade, regard with apprehension the effect this step will have on the conservancy of the Whangpoo.
Clause X of the Convention of September 1905 lays down that China is to provide 460,000 Haikwan taels per annum for twenty years, and gives as guarantee the entire duties on the opium of Szechuan and Haüchow Fu, in Kiangsu.
My Committee cannot too strongly impress on His Majesty's Minister that, should China on this pretext evade her Treaty obligations, steps should be taken to obtain a guarantee from the Chinese Government that the necessary funds for the conservancy work, as laid down in Article X referred to above, should be forthcoming.
I have, &c.
(Signed) E. B. SKOTTOWE, Chairman.
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