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Search of whips.
It was also sugg sted to me that each ship should,
after she has finished leading, be taken down to Wenchew
Bay and that she should be there searched before departure
for Manila by & Farepean Inspector and a staff of reliable
detectives. All ships are searched at Manila on arrival
by a staff of Customs officers and secret polios, and I
think that a similar step should be taken before departure
from Hongkong, as it would no doubt favourably influence the Collecter of Customs in any action he might think it necessary to take if opium were found on the ship at
Vanila notwithe tanding the search made in Hongkong.
It seams to me that the responsibility for taking strong measures for the relief of the situation at this
and primarily develves upon the Hongkong Goverment for
two reasons.
Firstly, because the Hongkong Government was represented at the opium conference held at Shanghai in
1909 and is morally bound by clause 4 of the resolutions
passed at that conference, which considers it the duty of
all countries to adopt reasonable measures to prevent
the shipment of opium at po to of departure to any
country which prohibits its entry, as is the case in
the Philippine Talands. This resolution is quoted by
the shipping companies before referred to in their letter to the Colonial Secretary of August 19th, ultime, copy of
which is enclosed (Enclosure 7). Secondly, this
identical resolution has been virtually incorporated in
the provisions of the International Opium Convention
held at the Hague in December, 1911, under Articles 2 and 3 of chapter 1,referring to raw opium, and under
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