Whis Document is the Property of liis Britannic Majesty's Government.]
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL,
[23581]
No. 1.
со
23533
RECR
[June 16.]
SECTION 3.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-Received June 16.)
(No. 229.) Sir,
Peking, May 29, 1911. IN the course of the negotiations with the Chinose authorities in respect to the duty treatment of the large stocks of Indian Opium which had accumulated in Shanghai and other ports prior to the conclusion of the new opium agreement, my attention, and I have reason to know the attention of the Chinese Government, has been forcibly drawn to a matter which may prove to be a serious obstacle in the path of China's progress towards the complete suppression of the use of opium. I allude to the danger of uncertified opium sold by the Indian Government for consumption in non-Chinese countries being smuggled into China, where the high prices that are likely to be paid for the drug for some time to come will prove a strong incentive to the opium smuggler whose activities are at present for the most part confined to countries such as the Philippines, the United States, and Australia where total prohibition already exists.
It has been urged by the British opium merchants in China, with what degree of truth I am unable to say, that the proportion of the total annual sales allotted by the Indian Government to non-Chinese markets, namely 16,000 chests, is unreasonably large and constitutes a menace to the legitimate trade as the bulk of this opium will inevitably find its way to China. They consider that the Indian Governinent should agree to reduce their annual sales to proportions commensurate with the demand existing in non-Chinese opium smoking countries.
I deem it my duty to lose no time in bringing this matter to your notice because, as other countries are of necessity becoming parties to the new opium agreement, need hardly point out that international complications of exceptional gravity are likely to arise should Indian opium become the object of smuggling on a large scale.
I have no doubt that the Indian Government will, if the merchants' fears prove to be well founded, in fairness to them and in pursuance of their declared policy of co-operating with the Chinese Government in their programme of opium suppression, take such steps as may be necessary to minimise the risk of Indian opium being smuggled into China.
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN.
[2066 q-3]
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