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point of view may be explained to the Union Government, and that another effort may be made to induce them to reconsider their decision and to authorise the signature of the convention on their behalf. It might be pointed out to them that a considerable time is still likely to elapse before the question of the enforcement of new legislation has to be considered. In any case, even if they do not deem it practicable to embody every provision of the convention in their legislation, they might at all events elaborate laws for the strict control of the importation and exportation of opium, morphia, and cocaine.
We desire, further, to draw your attention to the position of Egypt in regard to the Opium Convention. In view of the position of its ports lying on the direct route to the Far East, it is obviously a matter of importance that Egypt should be made a party to the Opium Convention, and this importance will become all the greater should the provisions of the convention be extended later to cover the trade in Indian hemp. We venture, therefore, to express the hope that the necessary steps may be taken to secure the adhesion of the Egyptian Government to the terms of the Opium Convention.
We have, &c.
W. G. MAX MÜLLER. WILLIAM J. COLLINS.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL,
C [43912]
C.O
36672
RECE
(REG 23 OCT 13
No. 1.
Sir Edward Grey to Mr. Alston.
[September 29.]
SECTION 1.
(No. 287.) Sir,
Foreign Ofice, September 29, 1913. I HAVE given my careful attention to Sir J. Jordan's despatch No. 204 of the 14th May last, enclosing the translation of a memorandum from the Wai-chiao Pu, in which they request that His Majesty's Government will consent to the revision of the Opium Agreement of the 8th May, 1911.
I cannot, however, proceed to consider favourably the Chinese Government's request for a revision of the agreement without reminding them of the arrangement which they themselves proposed on the 30th January that, in return for an undertaking from His Majesty's Government to export no more opium to China, they should themselves take over the stocks accumulated at Shanghai and Hong Kong, and establish an opium monopoly aiming at gradual suppression. In their desire to assist China in her task of opium suppression, His Majesty's Government consented to this arrangement subject to certain conditions, and the import of Indian opium has since ceased. But on the 1st July the Chinese Government withdrew their offer to purchase the stocks and gradually increased their demands until they now ask for the reshipment of the stocks to non-China markets, offering only to pay the freight.
This attitude indicates so complete a repudiation of their obligations that grave doubts are entertained by His Majesty's Government as to their intentions.
The stocks have accumulated during the currency of agreements which were highly favourable to, and were accepted by, the Chinese Government, and the present situation is the direct result of restrictions which China, in flagrant violation and open defiance of agreements, has imposed on a lawful trade. A fresh instance of this occurred in July at Foochow, where the authorities turned away twenty-five chests of Malwa opium.
It is also with much regret that His Majesty's Government have learned from your recent reports of the recrudescence of opium cultivation, especially
those provinces which, under article 3 of the 1911 Agreement, have been closed to the import of the Indian drug.
This situation calls for strong representations, and I have to request you to address the Chinese Government accordingly.
His Majesty's Government are, nevertheless, prepared to revise the Agreement of 1911 on the lines suggested by Sir J. Jordan in his despatch No. 204, but only on condition that (a) both parties sincerely accept any new agreement that is now concluded as representing the terms on which the Indo-China opium traffic will until the end be governed; and (b) that there is contained in the agreement an unequivocal and prominent declaration, with adequate guarantees, that China accepts liability for the complete and early disposal of the stocks.
The following are the lines on which His Majesty's Government propose that the agreement should be revised.
The preamble should be redrafted as follows:-
"It having been determined by His Majesty's Government that the further export of British opium to China should be discontinued provided that the policy of suppressing the cultivation of the poppy is effectively maintained by China, His Majesty's Government agrees that the 1911 Agreement should be revised in order that suitable arrangements may be made for inspection of cultivation to continue, ami for the disposal of opium which, under the provisions of the 1911 Agreement, has already been imported."
In article 1 China should engage, having regard to the fact that, notwithstanding continuance of cultivation in China, further imports shall cease, that she will refrain from putting obstacles in the way of opium passing into provinces that still remain open, the later articles containing a statement of the precise nature of her obligations in this matter, on lines similar to those of the current agreement. Article 4 should remain and be extended, first so as to give the right to enquire into complaints that the disposal of
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