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Sir William Collins said that the British Delegation had heard with great interest the remarks of Dr. We. He gathered that the object of China was one with that of Great Britain in desiring the earliest possible ratification, and making it effective as soon as it can be done. In order to do so he expected that the Chinese Government agreed with the British Government that it was desirable and essential to secure the cooperation of those Powers which were deeply interested in the question.
Dr. Wr had also quoted a remark of the British Under Secretary of State for India in the House of Commons; and there was no need to quote what they all accepted regarding the sincerity of China in this matter. It was the desire of the British Delegation not to stand on technical questions of form but to get the Convention rendered effective as soon as possible, and the main task of the Conference, he thought, was to proceed on the lines of the resolution put forward by the Powers.
The President thanked the Chinese Delegation and Sir WILLIAM COLLINS for their observations which will be included in the minutes.
The President proposed consideration of the following statement and resolution put forward by the Delegates of Germany, the United States of America, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Russia :
PREAMBLE.
The first Opium Conference in which twelve States participated, requested the Government of the Netherlands to invite the 34 Powers of Europe and America, enumerated in Article 22 of the International Convention of January 28, 1912, to sign this Convention. Of these 34 Powers, 22 have signed the "Protocol of signature of the Powers not represented at the Conference". There remain, therefore, 12 Powers which, for different reasons, have not considered it possible so to do.
It appears from the replies received by the Netherlands Government and communicated to the Conference that only three Powers of these twelve have declined to sign the Convention; namely Greece, Switzerland and Turkey. but while Greece and Turkey have not given the reasons for their refusal, Swit- zerland has stated that while fully recognizing the motives of moral and social order which led to the conclusion of the Convention, the cooperation that Switzerland could lend to the contracting States would amount to almost nothing. The Federal Council based its opinion upon the facts that Switzerland, not being a country which produces opium, does not export this drug, and that, as yet, opium is not used there other than medicinally. It added that the use of opium and of its alkaloids and also the use of cocaine for medicinal purposes is strictly regulated by the National Pharmacopaeia and by the cantonal laws. It was also of the opinion that it was not possible to proceed further in this direction than had already been done. As regards certain factories of chemical products established in Swiss territory and manufacturing morphine and cocaine, their supervision was in the hands of the district authorities and the Federal Government was in no way authorized at present to regulate this matter.
Three Powers, Austria-Hungary, Norway and Sweden, have replied that as the stipulations of the Convention necessitate new legislation, they must withhold their signatures.
Two Countries, Bulgaria and Uruguay, have agreed to sign but have not as yet actually done so.
The Roumanian Government, having as yet not concluded its examination
of the findings of the Conference, is not able to come to a decision.
Montenegro, Peru and Servia have not replied to the repeated invitation of the Government of the Netherlands.
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The replies of certain Powers appear to reveal the existence of misunderstandings as to the provisions and the object of the Convention which it should be possible to clear up.
The Delegations of Germany, The United States of America, France, Great Britain, The Netherlands and Russia, desiring to do all in their power to assist in explaining away these misunderstandings and hoping not only to elicit replies from such Governments as have not yet answered, but also to induce the Governments who have heretofore refused to sign to reconsider their refusal, have the honor to propose the following resolution:
RESOLUTION.
Desiring to continue, in the direction indicated by the International Commission of Shanghai of 1909 and by the First Conference at the Hague in 1912, the progressive suppression of the abuse of opium, morphine and cocaine, as well as of the drugs prepared or derived from these substances, and more than ever convinced of the necessity and mutual advantage of an international agreement on this matter, the Second International Opium Conference:
1st. Expresses the wish that the Government of the Netherlands may be pleased to inform the Governments of Austria-Hungary, Norway and Sweden that the signature, ratification, preparation of legislative measures, and the enforcement of the Convention, constitute four distinct stages which allow these Powers to proceed at once to supplementary signature.
Indeed, it is provided by Articles 23 and 24 that a period of six months may elapse between the enforcement of the Convention and the preparation of bills, regulations and other measures contemplated by the Convention. Also, the third paragraph of Article 24 allows the Contracting Powers to come to an agreement, after ratification, as to the date of the enactment of such legislative measures. Furthermore, it must be observed that the difficulties anticipated by Austria-Hungary, Norway and Sweden, as regards their legislation, were foreseen by the Delegates of the Signatory Powers and were, indeed, the subject of thorough examination by the twelve Contracting Powers. Almost all the Signatory Powers are in the same position as the above-mentioned Powers and have not yet formulated all the measures contemplated by the Convention.
2nd. Expresses the wish that the Government of the Netherlands may be pleased to communicate to the Governinents of Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Peru, Roumania, Servia, Turkey and Uruguay, the following resolution:
"The Conference regrets that certain Governments have as yet declined or failed to sign the Convention. The Conference is of the opinion that the absten- tion of these Powers would prejudice most seriously the humanitarian ends sought by the Convention. The Conference expresses the firm hope that these Powers will alter their negative or dilatory attitude".
3. Expresses the wish that the Government of the Netherlands may be pleased to inform the Swiss Government that it is mistaken in its belief that its cooperation will be almost valueless. Contrary to the view expres- sed in the letter of the Federal Council of October 25, 1912, the Confe- rence believes that the cooperation of Switzerland will be most useful while its abstention will jeopardize the results of the Convention. As for the conside- ration advanced by the Federal Council concerning the respective fields of federal and cantonal legislation, it may be observed that similar difficulties confronted the First Conference, which took them into account while drafting the text of the Convention. 4". Invites the Signatory Governments to instruct their representatives abroad to support the above-mentioned representations of their Netherlands colleagues. The President said, that as this proposal had been distributedl yesterday the members have been able to consider it.
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