[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[10229]
No. 1.
[March 31, 1908]
SECTION 3.
Sir,
Foreign Office to India Office.
Foreign Office, March 31, 1908.
WITH reference to previous correspondence regarding the proposed International Commission or Conference to investigate the question of the opium traffic with China, I am directed by Secretary Sir Edward Grey to transmit to you herewith, to be laid before the Secretary of State for India, a copy of a letter which has been received from the Colonial Office.*
If Mr. Morley concurs, Sir E. Grey proposes to reply that, since the receipt of the note from the American Embassy of the 26th ultimo, no further information has reached him regarding the arrangements for an International Commission, and that, in view of the development which the question has undergone since the proposal of the American Government was first made, the advantage of such a Commission seems doubtful; if, however, arrangements are eventually made for a Commission, Sir F. Lugard's recommendation that the British Commissioner should visit Hong Kong will be borne in mind.
I am to add that the fact that His Majesty's Government have adopted, and the Chinese Government accepted, the principle of reducing the opium traffic by a diminution of the export from India, rather than by restriction of importation at Chinese ports, has doubtless come to the knowledge of Sir F. Lugard since he wrote his despatch.
I am, &c.
(Signed) F. A. CAMPBELL.
Colonial Office, March 24, 1908.
[2889 hh-8]