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(c) "It has been stated above that, as the result of the unanimity of the International Commission, as expressed in its resolutions, the way was opened to the United States to propose an international conference with full powers to complete the work of the Com- mission.
Such a proposal was made by our Govern- ment on September 1, 1909.
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****Note was made that it was a matter of discussion, and was recognized by the commission as a whole, that the resolutious passed by the International Commission, however important morally, would fail to satisfy enlightened public opinion unless by subsequent agreement of the powers they and the minor questions involved in them were incorporated in an international convention." {Pages 72-73).
(d) "In continuation of its policy, oar Government has invited the powers to such further co-operation as will place the pro- duction, trade in, and use of opium under the control of international law. It has been historically demonstrated that no nation working alone, that no two nations working together, are able to destroy the opium vice. It was a hopeless task. To-day, as the result of the international efforts initiated by this Government, the world is well on its way to see the thorough solution of not only China's oppressive opium problem, but that of other countries not so heavily burdened." (Page 75).
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Extract B.
"It was claimed by the Chinese--and their claim was accepted by most of the delegations present-that since the edict of September 20, 1906, the internal production of opium had been reduced from 584,800 piculs in 1996 to 387, 250 picule in 1908." (Page 67).
The following is an extract from the report of the Chinese delegation in which these statistics were contained (1. 0. C., Vol. II,
· pages 57-58) :
"Those reports are based on the personal investigations of the writers and asistance derived from inland postal officers, mission- aries and Chinese merchants, as well as an It is occasional recourse to official sources. acknowledged that accurate statistics about opium are most difficult to obtain in China, and it must therefore be understood that the figures given are in many cases only approxi- mate and the result of sifting the scraps of information received here and there and the putting of two and two together' in the minds of the framers of the estimates. This is more especially true in regard to the estimates for the inland provinces- the greatest opium-producing districts in China where the taxation is irregular and, for the greater part, evaded, and where public or official returns are practically unknown. When, in addition, the percentage of an un- counted population, who locally consume the opium, is a matter of conjecture, the most carefully made computation may be easily controverted."
The following is a reply given by the Chinese delegation on the same subject (Ibid, page 119) :---
"In reply to the question of the British delegation whether trustworthy returns of the acreage under poppy and of opium smok- ers in each province will be compiled, and,
if so when they will be made public, we beg to state that no definite date can be fixed for the compilation of trustworthy returns, owing to the enormous difficulties involved in obtaining such returns under existing circumstances. It is too well-known that under the present system of local and prov- incial administration, there is neither prop- er Government machinery for the compila tion of statistics nor proper survey and land re- cords out of which statistics can be compiled. A number of the provinces have attempted to make such returns, but for the reasons given above, the Chinese delegates do not consider them of much real value. In regard to the number of opium smokers in each province, the remarks given above as to the difficulties of obtaining trustworthy returns of the acreage are equally applicable here, and only estimates can be given which we have done according to the best of our ability in our Memorandum on Opium. For our short- comings in these respects, we can only repeat that we crave the indulgence of not only the British delegation, but of all the delega- tions of this Honourable Commission. "
The following is a speech made by the Chinese delegation with reference to a British resolution calling attention to the
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