:
:
No. 5.
Paraphrase of telegram to Sir J. Jordan
Peking,
January 5th, 1909.
79A
Shanghai Opium Commission.
It is strongly urged by the
Coverment of India that, in the best interests of India, the
following two points should be excluded from the scope of the
enquiry (1) the issue and consumption of opium in India and
(2) the arrangements fot the provisional and gradual restric-
tion of the opium trade between India and China.
If the Commission raise these two points it is hardly
possible for us to refuse to discuss them; but as regards the
second it occurs to the India Office that the Chinese Govern-
ment may be disposed to tell the Commission that the arrange-
ment concluded with H.M.Government is satisfactory to them.
The evidence goes to show that the limit of ten years which
has been fixed by the Chinese Government is none too long
for
suppressing the oflgum trade in China, and it would be unfair
to ask the Government of India to revise the agreement at the
present stage. If any revision is to take place the proper
time would be two or three years hence when it would
be
possible to determine with more a curacy what progress the
reform had made in China.
If