[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government]
OPIUM
CONFIDENTIAL.
17184
PEC
Rece 8 MAR 12 [February 15.]
SECTION 2.
[6638]
Sir,
I No. 1.
Messrs, E. D. and Messrs. David Sassoon and Company to the Foreign Office.-- (Received February 15.)
9, Fenchurch Avenue, London, February 14, 1912, WITH reference to the opium question in China, on the subject of which we have had the honour of addressing you on several occasions during the past two years, we beg to inform you that we learn by cable from Shanghai that the Chinese authorities of the Chekiang province have issued a notification prohibiting the import of Indian opium into the province in contravention of the new agreement, though the cultivation of native opium still continues in that province.
May we request that His Majesty's Minister in Peking may be instructed to take such steps as will cause this prohibition to be at once withdrawn, as was done in July lust in respect of the restrictions imposed upon the trade in opium by the authorities in the province of Fukien.
We have, &c.
E. D. SASSOON AND CO. DAVID SASSOON and Co. (Limited).
(2389 p-2]
103