[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
C O
[April
RECR
18.
(14292]
(No 138.) Sir,
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received April 18.)
Peking, March 27, 1911. IN continuation of my despatch No. 90 of the 27th ultimno, I have the honour to report on the progress of the opium negotiations since that date.
It appears that in their anxiety to secure the inclusion of articles 4 and 7 of the Chinese memorandum providing for equality of treatment of native and foreign opium and for subsequent revision of the agreement, the Wai-wu Pu on the 22nd ultimo had taken the somewhat unusual step of telegraphing to the Chinese Minister in London, instructing him to approach you on the subject. This action could not but delay the negotiations, and I did not fail to point out to Dr. Yen, when he informed me at our meeting on the 28th ultimo of the board's action, the futility of attempting to negotiate at Peking if every point was to be referred to London, assuring him that while I was always ready to submit to you any suggestion which might be made by the Chinese Government, it was quite useless to refer a point on which my instructions were already clear.
In the meantime, I told Dr. Yen that until articles 4 and 7 were disposed of I could not continue the discussion of other points. This produced an offer to accept my draft clause relating to revision in lieu of article 7, provided the words "at any time"
were added, so that the clause would read, "Should it be found necessary at any time during the unexpired period of seven years to modify this agreement," &c. I agreed to recommend this addition provided that the clause were accepted in lieu of both articles, and, pending the receipt of a definite reply from the board on this point, I consented, in order to save time, to discuss the question of the increase of duty.
Dr. Yen then enquired whether I proposed to furnish a written answer to the board's memorandum on ad valorem taxation (Enclosure 5 in my despatch No. 90). I replied that I did not intend to do so, but I mentioned the various points in the memorandum which were open to criticism, and again urged the impossibility of any duty being satisfactorily arranged on an ad valorem basis.
Dr. Yen having pressed me to state what amount I thought His Majesty's Government would agree to in order that he might approach the Board of Finance with a definite proposal I suggested double the existing consolidated duty, or 220 taels, and in return invited him to name his idea of a reasonable figure for a specific duty. He said that the Board of Finance wished to realise a sum of from 400 taels to 500 taels per chest, because the Canton Viceroy had represented that if his present taxation were overruled he must look to the Central Government to make up the resulting deficiency. Finally, Dr. Yen suggested 400 taels per chest as a figure which he thought the Board of Finance might be induced to accept as a specific duty.
I had the honour to inform you of the result of this meeting in my telegram No. 61 of the 28th ultimo, and to request your instructions on the Chinese duty proposal in time for the next meeting fixed for the 3rd instant.
On the same date, in my telegram No. 62, I explained that it would be practically impossible to obtain for the 17,000 chests of opium at present in stock in China and Hong Kong that full measure of protection which the Government of India desired, while further explanations on the same subject were contained in my telegram No. 65 of the 3rd instant, when I stated that the enforcement of our treaty rights with regard to these stocks was not considered by the Chinese Government as compatible with our expressed desire to assist China and to limit the amount of Indian opium to be imported during 1911 to 30,600 chests.
On the 3rd instant I had the honour to receive the Government of India's telegram of that date to the Secretary of State, from which I learnt that an increase of duty up to 400 taels per chest might be agreed to as an outside reserve figure; owing, however, to the delay caused by the reference to the Chinese Minister in London to which I have alluded no meeting took place on that date, and it was not until the 7th instant that Dr. Yen came to resume the adjourned discussion on articles 4 and 7.
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