[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.?
2
similar investigations in their respective countries, what length of time would be required for the purpose, as information on this point would indicate approximately the date when the conference might usefully be held.
8. I was informed by Mr. Whitelaw Reid on the 4th October that, in order to avoid unnecessary delay in the meeting of the conference, the Netherlands Government would immediately be apprised of the British proposal "that before the meeting of the conference there shall have first been made the necessary preliminary studies as to the trade conditions and manufacture of morphine and cocaine in the interested countries, and their preparedness to impose severe restrictions on such manufacture and trade." His Excellency added that although the question of cocaine had not been officially considered by the Shanghai Commission, there had been many informal discussions which tended to show that the abuse of this drug had begun to inake headway in the Far East as well as in North America, and that it therefore seemed to the Government of the United States that resolution 5 indicated a willingness on the part of the interested Governments to include cocaine in the category of menacing drugs, and that a cordial co-operation of the Powers might be secured with a view to placing it under the same drastic restrictions that are needed in the case of morphine. His Majesty's Government are still of the opinion that it would be useless to convene a conference unless the participating Powers are agreed in principle as to the necessity for placing effective restrictions on the manufacture, sale, and distribution of morphia and cocaine, so as to enable eastern countries which place restrictions on the opium habit to check contraband imports of these drugs.
9. I have read with interest the communication from the French Government to the Netherlands Government, a copy of which you were good enough to enclose in your note, and I observe, with some surprise, that the Netherlands Minister at Washington should have been informed that the participating Powers had already terminated the preliminary enquiry desired by His Majesty's Government. This country, for instance, as M. Pichon correctly surmises, has not yet completed its investigations, and, as I have mentioned, some months must necessarily elapse before His Majesty's Government will have obtained the information they consider indispensable. It is also clear from your note that neither the French nor German Governments have as yet come to any definite conclusions as regards this question. Nor does any communication appear to have been made by the Japanese Government, though the attitude of this latter Government is of some importance, as by all accounts Japan is one of the countries from which morphia is conveyed in large quantities, in spite of the preventive efforts of the Chinese Government, into China.
I have, &c.
E. GREY.
[B]
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[3034]
Dear M. Manoel,
No. 1.
Sir F. Campbell to M. Manoel.
380
C O 5713
[January 31.1
SECTION 1 2 EB T
Foreign Office, January 31, 1911. I HAVE the honour to inform you that Sir E. Grey recently received a note from the Netherlands Minister in London, enquiring whether His Majesty's Government still make their consent to take part in the proposed opium conference to be held at The Hague on the 1st July next conditional upon an assurance from the Governments of the Powers concerned that they are prepared to adopt severe measures with a view to prohibiting the trade in, and manufacture of, morphia and cocaine in their respective countries.
In the course of this communication, Baron Gericke states that he has been informed by his Government that the Portuguese Government would be glad to be furnished with more precise information than is at present in their possession as to the requirements and wishes of His Majesty's Government in regard to this
matter.
I am accordingly to transmit to you herewith copy of a note which Sir E. Grey has to-day addressed to the Netherlands Minister, which I trust will fully and satisfactorily elucidate the views and intentions of this Government in regard to the treatment to be accorded to these two drugs at the coming conference.
You will observe from this communication that His Majesty's Government continue to be of the opinion that it would be useless to convene a conference at all unless the participating Powers are agreed in principle as to the necessity for placing effective restrictions on the manufacture, sale, and distribution of morphia and cocaine, so as to enable eastern countries which place restrictions on the opium habit to check contraband imports of these drugs.
I have, &c.
F. A. CAMPBELL.
* To Baron Gericke, January 31, 1911.
[1857 hh--3]