2
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.1
404
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[46293]
No. 1.
C.O
40958
RECE
REG! 27 NOV 13 [October 16.]
SECTION 1.
Circular Letter addressed to His Majesty's Representatives at Vienna (No. 186),* Athens (No. 125), Cettinjé (No. 26), Christiania (No. 26), Bucharest (No. 32), and Belgrade (No. 67).
Sir,
Foreign Office, October 16, 1913.
I TRANSMIT to you herewith a copy of the International Opium Convention signed at The Hague on the 23rd January, 1912,† and also a copy of a resolution passed by the Second Opium Conference and embodied in the Final Protocol signed on the 9th July, 1913, in regard to the measures to be adopted to induce those Governments which have hitherto either refused or failed to adhere to the convention, to alter their attitude and sign the convention without further delay.
You will see from a perusal of the enclosed resolution that the Netherland Government will take the first step in making the fresh representations to the Govern- ment to which you are accredited, and I have to instruct you to communicate with your Netherland colleague with a view to lending him your support, if possible in concert with the representatives of the other Governments who signed the Final Protocol of the 9th July, 1913.
With a view to assist you in explaining to the Government to which you are accredited the urgent necessity for their co-operation in the humanitarian work of the convention, and to enable you to meet objections which may be raised by them, I enclose a memoradum § dealing with the question of the international regulation of the trade in opium, morphine, cocaine, and kindred drugs, which proves clearly how necessary it is to obtain international co-operation if the Convention of the 23rd January, 1912, is to prove really effective.
It is proposed to hold another meeting of the Opium Conference early next year, and it is urgently hoped that before then affirmative replies may be received from the I have to request you therefore to lose no time in few non-adhering Governments. carrying out these instructions, and to report to me as soon as you can the result of the action taken by you and your colleagues.
A similar communication has been addressed to His Majesty's representatives at Berne, Constantinople, Athens, Cettinjé, Christiania, Bucharest, Belgrade, and Vienna.
no
вь
am, &c.
E. GREY.
⚫ Similar despatch to Berne (No. 28) and Constantinople (No. 828) on October 7.
"Opium" Print, July 8, Section 2.
† Opium Convention of 1912.
§ Not printed.
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