Dear Marble,
Would you (if you have time and have not already done so) look into the matter of the grant of £810 received from the British Government in respect of the Opium Traffic, out of an allowance to the Colonial Office, and inform me of the circumstances under which it was made?
Yours sincerely,
[Signature]
W. & S. Ltd.- 2540~
25000-11-07.
HONG KONG
STRAITS
No. 15294
(Subject)
Opium Traffic
DOMESTIC.
C.O.
15294
42
182
1 MAY 08
15921
Mr. William Johnson Opium Traffic,- To call attention to the Opium Traffic in the East; and to move, That this House, having regard to its Resolution unanimously adopted on the 30th day of May 1906, that the Indo-Chinese opium trade is morally indefensible, welcomes the action of His Majesty's Government in diminishing, by definite arrangement over a term of years, the sale of opium for export, and by thus responding to the action of the Chinese Government in their arrangements for the suppression of the consumption of the drug in that Empire, it urges the Government to take steps to bring to a speedy close the system of licensing opium dens now prevailing in some of our Crown Colonies, more particularly Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements. [Wednesday 6th May.]
(Minutes.)
M. Frades Autrokes
The debate which led to the Resolution referred to will be found in Hansard Vol. CLVIII (42 Series).
I attach a Memorandum on the present position of the Opium question so far as the Eastern Colonies are concerned.
As to the position in China, the best account is given in the report (drawn up by the Chinese Legation) which is contained in the White Book "China No. 1 (1908)" [Cd. 3948], pp. 31-45.
This motion raises three questions:
I. The importation of opium into China.