This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
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447030
# CHINA TRADE
**CONFIDENTIAL**
[13980]
No. 1.
5.18.
[April 24.]
## SECTION 3
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received April 24.)
(No. 151.)
Peking, March 30, 1902. Sir,
WITH reference to my telegram No. 76 of the 22nd instant, I have the honour to inclose translation of the Imperial Decree which was issued on the 23rd instant in regard to the opium question.
This strongly worded document, which has been published in response to a Memorial presented by the Wai-wu Pu on the 22nd instant, draws attention to the evils inseparable from the use of opium, and emphasizes the sympathetic help which China has received from His Majesty's Government in her efforts to suppress the opium habit.
The Boards of Finance and the Interior are instructed to prepare supervisory regulations for the approval of the Throne, together with strict measures for their enforcement, and a strict investigation is to be made in regard to the steps taken by the provincial authorities to obey the earlier Decrees. They are also to furnish reports at the close of each year as to the steps taken to decrease the cultivation and consumption of opium, while the Board of Finance is to provide the funds required to replace the prospective diminution of revenue from the opium tax.
The Memorial, of which I also have the honour to inclose translation, reviews the steps which have been taken by China in the matter, and the negotiations with foreign Powers and the Government of India, and concludes by praying the Throne to issue further instructions in furtherance of the anti-opium movement.
Copies of this despatch have been forwarded to the Government of India and Hong Kong.
I have, &c.
(For His Majesty's Minister),
(Signed) STEPHEN LEECH.
## Inclosure 1 in No. 1
### Anti-Opium Regulations
MEMORIAL presented by the Wai-wu Pu on March 22, 1908, with reference to the Arrangements concluded with foreign Powers. (Translation.)
ON the 22nd November, 1906, a Memorial, embodying proposals for carrying out the prohibition of opium, was submitted to the Throne by the Government Council, and Approved. A copy of this Memorial was forwarded by the Grand Council to the Board.
In the 10th section of the Memorial the following passage occurs :-
"The question of foreign opium, which is imported from abroad, impinges on our foreign relations, and the Board of Foreign Affairs should therefore make a satisfactory arrangement with the British Minister with a view to effecting an annual decrease of the import of foreign opium pari passu with the decrease of native opium, so that both may be absolutely prohibited on the expiry of the time-limit.
"Besides Indian opium the drug is also imported from Persia, Annam, and the Dutch Indies in no small quantities. In the case of the Treaty Powers, negotiations should similarly be entered into with their Representatives in Peking to effect the prohibition of such import; while with non-Treaty Powers we can exercise our own prerogative in strictly forbidding the import.
"All Tartar Generals, Military Lieutenant-Governors, Governors-General, and Governors should also direct their subordinate authorities and Commissioners of Customs to take preventive measures along the trade routes and frontiers to stop smuggling.
[2918 aa-3]