(This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[6050]
со 6653
[February 25.]
DE 17 MAR
SECTION 1.
No. 1.
Sir,
Foreign Office to China Association.
Foreign Office, February 25, 1911. I LAID before the Secretary of State your letter of the 17th instant, relative to the treatment of opium by the local authorities at Canton.
Sir E. Grey's attention has already been drawn both by His Majesty's Minister at Peking and by the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce to the proposed transfer of the levy upon prepared opium from the Kuang Yuan Office to the Canton Opium Guild, which would appear to form the subject of the telegram from the Hong Kong branch of the China Association referred to in your letter under reply.
In reporting the above, Sir J. Jordan stated that though, in his opinion, the position would remain the same, whether the enforcement of the tax be entrusted to the guild or left in present hands, he had, nevertheless, deemed it advisable to enter a protest on broad grounds at the Wai-wu Pu against any such body being empowered to collect a tax upon an article of foreign import, and His Majesty's consul-general at Canton has also entered a protest against the action of the Frovincial Government.
Sir E. Grey is at this moment in communication with Sir J. Jordan with a view to patting a stop to the illegal enactments made from time to time by the local Chinese authorities at Canton, and the whole matter is engaging the serious attention of His Majesty's Government.
I am to add, with reference to the final paragrah of your letter, that Sir J. Jordan has been directed to inform the Chinese Government that the attitude of His Majesty's Government in regard to the resumption of negotiations on the general opium question will depend upon the cessation of the recent irregularities at Canton and elsewhere.
I am, &c.
F. A, CAMPBELL.
[1897 66-1]
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