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the manufacturers of cocaine, &c., to set up factories in the non-adhering States from which the drugs could be exported; and, further, the ports of such States could be used with impunity for the transhipment of drugs intended for illicit importation into those countries which have accepted the convention. In other words it would be possible to defeat one of the most important objects of the convention; an object which appeared to His Majesty's Government to be of such weight that their participation in the Conference at The Hague was conditional on the effective discussion of the question and the formulation of methods of dealing with the evil.
4. In sympathy with this policy His Majesty's Government have cordially supported the efforts which have been made to induce those foreign Powers, which have hitherto held aloof, to sign The Hague Convention, and they would earnestly urge on your Ministers a reconsideration of the attitude which the Government of the Union
felt it desirable to adopt.
5. The minute enclosed in Lord de Villiers' despatch pointed out that owing to the amount of legislation of a very important character that requires to be undertaken the Union Government found it impossible at that juncture (October 1912) to become a party to the convention, the signature of which would commit the Government to a definite course of action which they would be unable to carry out.
6. In this connection I would refer you to my despatch of the 25th September, 1912, in which I showed that even if the convention were ratified and came into force at the earliest date your Ministers would have practically a year in which to consider and prepare such legislation as might be necessary. The convention has not as yet been ratified, and I doubt whether ratification will take place before the end of the year. But on the assumption that it is ratified early in January 1914, the necessary legislation need not be submitted to the Union Parliament until the first session after the expiration of six months from the convention coming into force, i.e, the first session after October 1914.
7. In view of these circumstances His Majesty's Government earnestly trust that your Ministers will be able, on further consideration, to recommend that the convention should be signed on behalf of the Union and will be able to introduce in due course the necessary legislation.
I have, &c.
L. HARCOURT.
Freis Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Gecco 7460
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OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
149010]
No. 1.
Sir Edward Grey to Sir A. Johnstone,
REG! 19 DEC 13
[November 10.]
SECTION 2.
(No. 20. Treaty.) Sir,
Foreign Office, November 10, 1913. WITH reference to my despatch No. 9, Treaty, of the 28th May last, I transmit to you herewith, for your information, a copy of a letter from the Colonial Office,* desiring that the International Opium Convention of the 23rd January, 1912, may be signed on behalf of the Bahamas and the three colonies of the Windward Islands, viz., Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent.
I request that you will communicate with the Netherlands Government, as on previous occasions, with the view of carrying out this formality.
* Colonial Office, October 27, 1913.
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I am, &c.
E. GREY.
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ndia