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28. At the seventh session (13th December) the last American resolution on the subject of prepared opium was brought forward, and passed, with an amendment suggested by the Japanese delegation, in the following form -
Il est convenu que tous les Gouvernements représentés à la conférence prendront des mesures pour la suppression graduelle et efficace de la fabrication, de la distribution et de l'usage de l'opium préparé, en tenant compte des conditions différentes de chacun des pays en cause.
It forms the basis of article 6 of the convention.
29. It may be conveniently mentioned here that at the tenth session (18th December), the Persian delegate brought forward a resolution that prepared opium found in transit between one country and another should be considered contraband, and forthwith destroyed. After some discussion as to whether this resolution should be referred to the Programme Committee, or dealt with at once by the conference, the latter course was adopted. It was then pointed out by ourselves and by the French delegation that the proposal was an impracticable one, and that it would involve the right of searching vessels, which was one of the items in the original American programme to which His Majesty's Government had taken exception. Finally the resolution was negatived.
30. The most important business of the seventh, eighth, and ninth sessions was the carrying by the British delegation of a series of resolutions in respect of morphia and cocaine, and it will be convenient to deal with these together in later paragraphs. The other matters dealt with at these sessious which have not hitherto been mentioned were the following
31. Seventh session (13th December). The first part of this session was of an informal character, and devoted to the reception of the Dutch and British anti-opium societies who had expressed a desire to attend. The Dutch representative spoke very briefly, and Sir Matthew Dodsworth, the president of the British society, delivered an eloquent and tactful speech which produced a very good impression on the conference.
32. During the eighth session (14th December) the Chinese delegation submitted a report on the subject of the measures taken to suppress opium in Chine.
In the course of his introductory remarks, their spokesman, Mr. Tang Kwo-an, referred to the intelligence reported in the Times" that one incident of the revolutionary movement had been a revival of opium cultivation in Yünnan and Szechuan. He said that if this was true, it was only a regrettable incident of the present situation, and that when order was re-established, the Chinese Government would
pursue its anti-opium measures with still greater energy than before.
33. M. Guesde (France) enquired (a) which of the countries not represented at the conference had refused an invitation to be present; (b) which States, while not attending the conference, had declared themselves ready to adhere to its proposals; and (c) what States had not been invited at all. M. Guesde pointed out, as justifying these questions, that Peru and Bolivia might quite well set up as cocaine producers, and that Trieste might become a port of transport for the drugs whose abuses the conference wishes to check. These observations were supported by the Russian and Portuguese delegations; and M. Cremer, on behalf of the Dutch delegation, said that his Govern- ment was ready to invite the Governments not represented to associate themselves with the proposals of the conference. No categorical answer was given to the questions put, and the matter was dropped for the moment.
34. We now return to the subject of morphine and cocaine. In view of the fact that it was on the initiative of His Majesty's Government that measures in respect of these drugs had become an integral part of the conference
programme, it was obviously for the British delegation to suggest the specific restrictions to be adopted; and in the memorandum referred to in paragraph 7 above we were informed that His Majesty's Government considered that such action might be on the following lines -
(1.) All manufacturers of, and dealers in, morphia and cocaine shall be required to take out a licence. Persons manufacturing or dealing in the above articles without licence shall be liable to penalty.
(2.) All such manufacturers and dealers will be required to keep a record of all transactions in such drugs, including the names and addresses of all persons from whom they obtain or to whom they sell them, and the quantity involved in each transaction. This record shall be open to inspection and verification by a Government officer.
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(3.) It is advisable to prohibit the sale of these drugs except to
persons
264
authorised
to purchase the same by licence or otherwise.
(4.) The Customs shall be empowered to detain imported consignments, except in transit, of the above drugs, until satisfied that the consignee is a licensed manufacturer or dealer, or a person duly authorised to receive the drugs.
(3.) Exportation to foreign countries, whether adhering to the convention or not, and to other portions of the British Empire to be permitted only upon production to the Customs authorities of a certificate from the country of destination that the consignee is authorised to import the drugs either in accordance with the stipulations of the conven- tion or with local laws or regulations which, in the opinion of the Customs authorities, are equally stringent.
35. Opposition to action on these lines was only to be anticipated, and since Germany has a practical monopoly of cocaine production, and claimed to have a satisfactory system of domestic control, her delegates were reluctant to embark on further measures that might sacrifice a lucrative German industry for the benefit of outside countries not represented at the conference. Their contention was that foreign countries should look after themselves by tightening their systems of police and customs control or by some similar measures.
36. With a view to facilitate progress, and before introducing any resolutions on the subject in the full conference, we accordingly held private meetings with our German colleagues, endeavouring, as far as possible, to meet their views and answer their arguments, and pointing out in particular the impossibility-having regard to the facilities and lucrative character of the contraband trade-of a country like India or China trusting to internal prohibition alone. It was essential, we urged, that producing countries should also co-operate to make the pernicious contraband traffic which had sprung up as difficult as possible.
37. Our German colleagues met us in a friendly spirit, and we arrived at a substantial
agreement on the following lines:------
(1.) The first of the conditions quoted above was accepted; but it was not thought necessary to make any special reference to penalties for action without licence, such penalties being a matter for domestic legislation.
(2.) The second condition was also accepted as regards record of all transactions by licensed persons; but with a stipulation that this condition need not be applied to It was also held medical prescriptions or to sales by duly licensed pharmacists. unnecessary to state specifically that the register to be kept should be open to inspection by Government officers, that being a matter for each individual country to determine.
It must of course be borne in mind that the action proposed by the conference could only represent the minimum to which all the participating Powers were ready to agree, and that there is nothing to prevent any individual Power from taking more drastic action on its own account.
(3.) The third condition, as to prohibiting the sale of the drugs save to authorised persons, was accepted.
(4.) In regard to the fourth condition, the Germans were unable to accept any provision which would impose specific obligations on their Customs Department, on the ground that the circumstances of their country, with its extended frontiers and enormous railway systems, would render such action oppressive. It was agreed, how- ever, that each Government should take stops, in accordance with its commercial conditious, to prevent the importation of morphine and cocaïne save when consigned to persons authorised to receive the drugs.
(5.) Condition 5 the Germans objected to on the ground that the conference ontained the representatives of twelve Powers only, and that it was at present quite unknown how far outside Powers would adhere to its proposals. It would be impossible, they urged, for such a limited number of Powers to set up as regulators of traffic to the rest of the world, or for a country within the convention to claim to judge the character of the internal regulations of one outside it.
The Germans agreed, however, that the participating Governments should undertake to prohibit the export of morphine and cocaine to the territories of other participating Governments, unless the consignee was licensed to receive the drugs under the laws of the importing country; and that, to give practical effect to this, each receiving country which desired to avail itself of this provision should furnish information to the Govern- ments of exporting countries as to the persons licensed by it.
[665]
C