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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
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measures of both rulers and their co-operating subjects of none effect. The board cannot but feel that the intervention, however unwillingly given, of British officials to defeat bona fide measures for the effectual suppression of the opium vice in China at the instigation of the purveyors of the drug cannot but have a very harmful effect the public opinion of that country, and raise grave suspicion as to the sincerity of the British Government in its policy of co-operation with China for the extinction of the trade.
upon
The board earnestly hopes that His Majesty's Government will take the necessary steps to prevent any further use of the provisions of former treaties for the frustration of bona fide efforts to give effect to the new policy of the two Governments for the deliverance of China from this admittedly grave evil.
JAMES L. MAXWELL, M.D.,
Chairman.
[B]
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[41510]
M..
No. 1.
Rat 2 DEC 09
222
[November 12.]
SECTION 1.
Sir,
India Office to Foreign Office.-(Received November 12.)
India Office, November 11, 1909.
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the 7th October, 1909, forwarding, for any observations which he may wish to make, correspondence regarding a proposal of the Government of the United States for an international conference at The Hague to conventionalise the resolutions adopted at the Shanghac Opium Commission.
2. In reply, I am to say that Viscount Morley proposes to ascertain the views of the Government of India both as to the expediency of convening an international conference at an early date, and as to the programme which has been tentatively drawn up by the United States Government for defining the scope of its deliberations. It seems doubtful whether the Government of India will be able to reply to the reference until they have had an opportunity of considering the report of the pro- ceedings of the Shanghae Commission. The report has only now been received in this country from the Shanghae printers, and it is not certain whether it has yet reached India.
3. As far as India is concerned, there would seem to be no urgency for an inter- national conference to conventionalise the resolutions of the Shanghae Commission, and, indeed, some of the resolutions do not admit of immediate or uniform action, as they contemplate a preliminary course of enquiry by the several participating Govern- ments into the use and regulation of opium, to be followed by measures adapted to the varying local conditions of the respective countries. Should it be found that an inter- national convention is not required as regards the United Kingdom or the colonios, there would be prima facie a case for suggesting to the American Government that their proposal might conveniently be deferred until the Powers participating in the Shanghae Commission have had time to revise their respective systems of control over the production and distribution of opium in accordance with the recommendations of the commission. The case for delay would be further strengthened, should it appear that this view is likely to commend itself to the other Powers. Possibly Sir Edward Grey may have, or may be able to obtain, information as to their probable attitude towards the invitation of the American Government.
4. Should His Majesty's Government ultimately decide to adopt in principle the project of an international conference to be held at an early date, it may be desirable, in the interests of dispatch and for other reasons, to exclude from the consideration of the conference any questions that are not yet ripe for uniform treatment. Lord Morley is unable to express a considered opinion on the contents of the programme suggested by the Government of the United States until he has received the recommendations of the Government of India, and, as the interests of the United Kingdom and the colonies are also affected, he would be glad to be allowed an opportunity of learning the views of the Board of Trade and the Colonial Office in reply to the reference which has been made to them by the Foreign Office. The following remarks on the programme should therefore be understood to be of a strictly provisional character. The central part of the programme, and the part which seems best adapted for international treatment, is represented by the group of proposals, numbered (b), (c), (d), (e), (j), (k), (U), (m), (n), for placing the export and transport of opium under international regulations. These proposals would generally seem to offer a fair basis for practical measures of a salutary character, though possibly exception might be taken to (1), (m), and (n). There remain five proposals, numbered (a), (f), (g), (h), (i), which are calculated to raise substantial difficulties. In (a), (f), and (i) uniformity of national laws is proposed in various matters of internal administration, in respect of which it is very doubtful whether uniformity is at present attainable; while (g) and (h) would seem to involve political questions with regard to existing treaty stipulations with China and to foreign
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