[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[33902]
No. 1.
33553
oq
606
[September 7.]
SECTION 1,
Question asked in the House of Commons, September 7, 1909.
Mr. Rees. To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the consul- general at Szechuan informed the International Opium Commission that no trust- worthy statistics exist as to the acreage under the poppy in China; and whether, if so, the British Government intend to adhere literally to engagements, the fulfilment of which by China, in the absence of trustworthy statistics, cannot be ascertained or assumed.
Answer.
We have no information to this effect, but the reports recently received from our consular officers in China tend to show that the Chinese Government are both energetic and sincere in their attempts to suppress the cultivation of the poppy in China. Full reports of the proceedings of the International Opium Commission are now on their way home, and will shortly be laid on the table of the House.
[2427 y-1]