[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.|
OPIUM.
燕
CONFIDENTIAL.
[44611]
[October 21.]
SECTION 1.
No. 1.
Question asked in the House of Commons, October 21, 1912.
Sir J. D. Rees,--To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the facts that the Foreign Office has evidence of the inability of the Central Government of Peking to impose its will upon the authorities of the provinces, that since the outbreak of the revolution China has signally failed to carry out the stipulation in article 1 of the Anglo-Chinese agreement of the 8th May, 1911, providing for a progressive diminution of opium production throughout the country, and that there are at present no indications to warrant the hope that the Central Government will be able in the near future to enforce the discontinuance of poppy cultivation, His Majesty's Government and the Government of India propose nevertheless to carry out their part of the agreement with the Chinese Government to the detriment of the Indian cultivator and the revenues of India.
Answer by Mr. Acland (for Sir E. Grey).
There is no present intention of withdrawing from the agreement on the grounds mentioned by the honourable Member, as His Majesty's Government wish to make full allowance for the difficulties in which the Central Government of China is placed. But the question may have to be reconsidered hereafter in the light of circumstances.
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