}
be instructed to consult with His Majesty's consul-general and with representatives of the opiura importers, and see if they could devise some system which would attain the object which the Chinese Government had before them without injuring in so flagrant a manner the interests of the merchants. Mr. Hu Wei-te said he would consider my suggestions, and would also telegraph them to the Viceroy.
Yesterday I again went to the Wai-wu Pu and saw his Excellency Tsou Chia-lai, the new president, and Mr. Hu Wei-te. I protested vigorously against the enforcement of the new opium regulations at Swatow while I was still demanding their abrogation at Cauton. I handed in a memorandum, copy enclosed, containing the information that had reached me, and their Excellencies admitted that if my information was correct the procedure was illegal, and they promised to telegraph for a report. In regard to the general question of the Canton regulations, the board maintained their former attitude respecting the taxation of prepared opium. I again remarked that the offer of the Viceroy to extend the three days' limit to ten days could not be taken seriously, and repeated my suggestion that the Viceroy should consult with His Majesty's consul-general in order to discover a compromise which would protect the interests of all parties. I have been informed to-day that the board will. instruct the Viceroy in the above sense.
I have this moment received a telegram from His Majesty's consul-general at Canton reporting that the governor-general has informed him that he has issued stringent orders not to collect the tax at the time of purchase of the raw opium, and that the limit of time for boiling opium has been extended to ten days; the Viceroy had expressed the hope that this modification would prove satisfactory. On the other hand, Mr. Jamieson informs me that the Hong Kong Government object to any negotiations with the Viceroy until the tax has been suspended, though they admit that the abolition of the time limit would be advantageous.
I have, &c.
W. G. MAX MÜLLER,
P.S.-Since writing the above I have received from Mr. Jamieson a despatch, copy of which I have the honour to transmit herewith, enclosing copies of the Viceroy's mote of the 17th, of which he had already sent me a telegraphic summary, and of the reply which he addressed to the Viceroy on the receipt of my instructions which I have described in the body of my despatch.
W. G. M. M.
Enclosure in No. 1,
Memorandum by Mr. Max Müller,
HIS Majesty's chargé d'affaires has made repeated protests against the enforcement of the new opium regulations in Canton.. These protests have up till now produced no effect, and Mr. Max Müller learns that, in spite of his request to the contrary, the regulations have been extended to Swatow, where they are being enforced in a peculiarly objectionable manner.
Mr. Max Müller is informed that several balls of opium covered by transit passes have been seized at the li-kin station at Ketyung Fort owing to the refusal of the purchasers to pay the new tax. The Kuang Yuan Company have officers stationed at the raw opiumi dealers' shops in order to prevent customers from buying raw opium without payment of the new tax on opium.
Mr. Max Müller has the honour to request that instructions may be sent at once to the Viceroy at Canton to stop these illegal proceedings.
W. G. MAX MÜLLER.
Peking, July 29, 1910.
[Other enclosures not printed.]
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[30086]
No. 1.
[August 18.]
SECTION 2.
Mr. Max Müller to Sir Edward Grey,—(Received August 18.) (No. 255.) Sir,
Peking, July 30, 1910. WITH reference to my despatch No. 247 of the 28th instant, I have the honour to report that I had a first meeting to-day with Mr. Liu Yu-lin, junior councillor of the Wai-wo Pu, to discuss the question of the prolongation of the Opium Agreement between Great Britain and China.
I handed to Mr. Liu a memorandum, of which I beg to enclose a copy, embodying the terms which I was authorised to offer to the Chinese Government, but I pointed out the great difficulties in the way of a system of direct progressive prohibition of importation into China.
Mr. Liu promised to study carefully the various proposals and to give me a reply when I return from Poitaiho.
I have, &c.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Memorandum.
W. G. MAX MÜLLER.
HIIS Majesty's Government are prepared to waive the production of statistical proof that the Chinese Government have carried out their share of the agreement of 1907 and reduced the output of native opium by three-tenths, and to offer a prolongation for a further period of three years of the present agreement for the progressive reduction of the export of opium from India, but it must be understood that the British merchants engaged in the wholesale trade with China are allowed free trade within the treaty ports, and that the number of wholesale dealors is not arbitrarily reduced.
any
2. In regard to the 16,000 chests of opium not affected by the reduction of the export from India, it has been clearly explained to the Chinese Government that “ restriction which might be imposed in India on the quantity of opium shipped for any alteration given destination would always be liable to evasion by transhipment or any
of the ship's destination." In the event of the Chinese Government accepting proposal No. 1, His Majesty's Government are prepared to give an undertaking that, if at the end of the ten years' period the production of opium shall have ceased in the Chinese Empire, they will co-operate in any equitable measure for prohibiting the importation of opium into China.
3. Mr. Max Müller is instructed to ascertain whether the Chinese Governinent have any practical proposal to make for supplementing the indirect restriction at present enforced by the Government of India or for substituting for it direct progressive restriction of import at the treaty ports. This last alternative would require a convention which, to be made effective, would have to be accepted by other Powers.
British Legation, Peking, July 30, 1910.
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