1
(This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
10008
OPIUM.
RECO REGO 16 JUN II
CONFIDENTIAL.
[4034]
No. 1.
540
[February 3.]
SECTION 6.
Sir,
India Office to Foreign Office.-(Received February 3.)
India Office, February 2, 1911. WITH reference to my letter, dated the 20th January, 1911, and to Sir John Jordan's telegram No. 17, dated the 23rd January, 1911, to Sir Edward Grey, I am directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to forward, for Sir Edward Grey's information, a copy of a telegram from the Government of India, and to suggest that Sir John Jordan should be asked whether he is satisfied as regards the point raised by the Government of India, and whether he has any further remarks or suggestions to make.
I am, &c.
R. RITCHIE.
Enclosure in No. 1.
(Telegraphic.) P.
Government of India to the Earl of Crewe.
January 31, 1911. YOUR telegram of the 26th January and telegram from Sir J. Jordan to Foreign Office of the 23rd January: Opium.
Indian opium in Hong Kong and China in the near future will be divisible into three classes :--
1. Opium sold or exported with the implied guarantee of a free market before the end of 1910.
2. Opium sold under special certificate.
3. Opium sold in 1911 or subsequently without the certificate.
Opium coming under the second head will be protected, and for that coming under the third head we are in no way responsible. But unless special safeguards are obtained, the opium under the first head will offer the Chinese provincial authorities obvious opportunities of unfair discrimination, against which, as our experience in connection with the recent taxation at Canton shows, it is not easy to protect our legitimate trade. It is possible that the time-limit may allow all opium sold in 1910 or before to enter treaty ports, but neither the time-limit nor the clear declaration proposed by Sir J. Jordan will, we fear, render uncertified opium in China secure against the risk that it may be made unsaleable by means of local intrigues. The vital question is whether our diplomacy can secure an uncertified opium landed in treaty ports before the expiration of the time-limit the same privileges as will be given to certified opium. If Sir J. Jordan is satisfied as to this, we will not press for the issue of special certificates for opium sold before the end of 1910; but if there is any doubt on the point, we must, for the sake of our own good name, devise some other means of ensuring that existing stocks will receive adequate protection.
(Repeated to Peking.)
[1897 c-6]