Any further communication should be addressed to:-
THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY
at the address given opposite.
The following lotter and nuraber should
be quoted---
C. 158.
Telegraphic Address:
COLASTA, LONDON.
Telephone No.:---1362 Victoria.
BOARD OF TRADE,
C.A
-21877
100%
ro£ 23 JA. P
(COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT),
GWYDYR HOUSE,
WHITEHALL,
LONDON, S.W.
sir,
21st January, 1911.
acknoille
Ledge the
I am directed by the Board of Trade to acl receipt of your letter of the 6th January (No.3469/1910),
with its enclosures, relative to a suggested restriction by legislation of the exports of preparations of morphine and cocaine from the United Kingdom.
In reply, I am to state that the Board are disposed to
think that the passage at the present stage of an Act of
Parliament on the lines suggested would accomplish little in
the desired direction, for unless export from this country
to all destinations were prohibited, it would be difficult,
without international agreement, to prevent drugs reaching
their intended destination indirectly by being consigned,
for instance, from the United Kingdom to the Continent and re-shipped thence to Hong Kong. Moreover, even if the export trade of the United Kingdom in these products were to be entirely stopped, consumers in the East would still be able to obtain supplies from other sources.
In view of these considerations the Board doubt the desirability of any steps being taken with a view to legis- lation in this country unless and until an international arrangement is arrived at as the result of which it may prove possible to prevent both indirect trade in the drugs in
The Under Secretary of State,
question
Colonial Office.