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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
C.O.
16765
REC
OPIUM.
REG 8 MAY 14]
CONFIDENTIAL.
[March 30.]
SECTION 1.
[14026]
No. L.
Sir,
India Office to Foreign Office,(Received March 30.)
India Office, March 28, 1914.
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th March on the subject of the adherence of the Egyptian Government to the Opium Convention, and, in reply, to inform you that his Lordship would view with regret any postponement of the adhesion of Egypt to the Opium Convention, as such action must tend to prejudice the success of the attempts that are being made to secure the general adoption of the convention. He therefore concurs in the proposal that Lord Kitchener should be requested to consider the possibility of dealing with this question separately from the question of legislation respecting
hashish.
If, however, it is found impossible to adhere to the clauses of the convention relating to raw opium pending a decision regarding hashish, Lord Crewe is still of opinion that the Egyptian Government should be invited to consider the desirability of giving their early adhesion to the convention so far as it relates to the alkaloids of opium, cocaine, and similar drugs.
I am, &c.
T. W. HOLDERNESS.
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