IS
C.O.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Governragat.)
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
RECE Plantu by 291) 3:
SECTION 2.
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(No. 9.) Sir,
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received January 23.)
Peking, January 7, 1913. REFERRING to my telegram No. 261 of the 16th December, I have the honour to enclose copy of a letter from the senior consul at Shanghai to the diplomatic body at Peking transmitting a letter from eleven banks at Shanghai, dated the 12th December, and a letter from the General Chamber of Commerce of the same date, reporting the financial crisis threatened at that port owing to the present restrictions on the trade in Indian opium.
A Presidential Order for the revision of the Penal Code, to which reference is made in the bank's letter, was issued on the 30th March. The revised code was published in May and promulgated for provisional use on the 12th August.
In
The letter addressed to the Chamber of Commerce by Messrs. D. Sassoon and Co. and Messrs. E. D. Sassoon and Co. gives, on the whole, a substantially correct résumé of the situation. In regard to their statement that "the cultivation of the native drug in the province (Chekiang), instead of ceasing, had actually increased," evidence shows that extensive cultivation at any rate has taken place during the past year. my despatch No. 200 of the 30th April, I stated that the poppy was reported to be under cultivation in at least two prefectures-Wen-chou Fu and T'ai-chow Fu. His Majesty's consul at Hangchow reported on the 8th February that opium was being grown in profusion in these two prefectures. The "North China Daily News," on the 16th April, published the statement of a traveller who had spent some time in the province of Chekiang that immense fields of poppy were to be seen in many places.
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN.
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
Senior Consul to Sir J. Jordan.
Your Excellency,
Shanghai, December 14, 1912. WITH reference to my telegram of to-day's date, I have the honour to transinit herewith a letter from the foreign bankers, dated the 12th December, and a letter from the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce, same date, on the subject of the opium trade.
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
I have, &c.
D. SIFFERT.
Eleven Banks to Senior Consul.
Sir,
Shanghai, December 12, 1912. WE have the honour to refer you to our letter of the 15th June and to point out that the situation stated therein has become steadily worse. It has been brought to our attention that the provincial authorities, acting under the authority given them by a Penal Code issued in May last by the Board of Justice in Peking, are working with a view to make the trade in Indian opium impossible.
We take the liberty of pointing out the magnitude of the interests involved, which may be seen from the fact that stocks of Indian opium in Shanghai and Hong Kong and on the way from India amount to 29,000 chests, representing a sum of about 10,000,000%, which is for the most part financed by the undersigned banks.
It is needless to enlarge upon the grave and far-reaching results which continued
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