This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[39214]
No. 1.
Foreign Office to Treasury.
204
[November 12.]
SECTION 2.
Sir,
Foreign Office, November 12, 1908. HIS Majesty's Government have accepted the proposal of the United States* Government to participate in a Joint Commission of Investigation into the opium trade and opium habit in the Far East, which is to assemble at Shanghae on the 1st January, 1909.
The countries which will be represented are: the United States, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Persia, Portugal, Russia and Siam, China and Japan. Turkey has also been invited.
The United States' Government suggested that each country should---
1. Devise means to limit the use of opium in their possessions; and
2. Ascertain the best means of suppressing the opium traffic, if such now exists, among their own nationals in the Far East so as to be in a position, when the Commission meets at Shanghae, to
3. Co-operate and offer, jointly or severally, definite suggestions of measures which their respective Governments may adopt for the gradual suppression of opium cultivation, traffic, and use within their Eastern possessions, and thus assist China in her purpose of eradicating the evil from that Empire.
The Delegates nominated to represent Great Britain, India, and the Colonies are:--
1. The Right Honourable Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, G.C.M.G., late Governor of the Straits Settlements (as representing the Crown Colonies);
2. Sir Alexander Hosie, Acting Commercial Attaché to His Majesty's Legation, Peking (as representing the Foreign Office):
3. Mr. Mackenzie King, Minister of Labour (as representing Canada);
4. Mr. James Bennett Brunyate, Acting Financial Secretary to the Government of India (as representing India);
5. Mr. Laidlaw, M.P. (non-official Delegate); and
An Assessor from Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements respectively.
His Majesty's Minister at Peking has been consulted as to the question of the expenses of the British Delegates and Assessors, and recommends the grant of a daily allowance of £1 at Shanghae to cover all personal expenses, such as lodging and subsistence, Actual expenses of locomotion would also be charged in the Sir J. Jordan considers cases of Sir C. Clementi Smith and Mr. Laidlaw, M.P. that in an expensive place like Shanghae this would not be an excessive allowance. It will of course be necessary to provide a sitting room for the use of the British Delegation.
Sir E. Grey is of opinion that this scale of remuneration is moderate.
The expenses of the Indian and Canadian Delegates will not, it is understood, fall upon Imperial funds.
Items of expenditure, such as rent for the building in which the Commission will meet, printing, stationery, clerk hire, &c., will presumably be defrayed in equal shares by the Powers represented.
The Secretary of State for the Colonies has been very anxious to obtain the services of Sir C. Clementi Smith on account of his exceptional qualifications, and of his long experience in the Straits Settlements and Hong Kong, and the latter has accepted nomination with some reluctance at great personal inconvenience.
When employed on a mission to Trinidad in 1903, Sir C. Clementi Smith received a fee of 300 guineas, 30s. a-day whilst in Trinidad, and 10s. 6d. a-day on board ship. The mission lasted for fifty days.
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