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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government,]
C.O.
27449
REC REGD 28 JUL 14
OPIUM.
[June 23.]
CONFIDENTIAL.
SECTION 1,
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Nọ. I.
127
Sir,
India Office to Foreign Office.-(Received June 23.)
India Office, June 20, 1914.
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th June, and in reply to forward, for Sir Edward Grey's information, a copy of a telegram from the Government of India on the subject of the suggestion that Indian hemp should be included within the scope of the Opium Convention.
Having regard to the Government of India's remarks, Lord Crewe does not advise that the British delegates should be instructed to raise the question at the present meeting of the Opium Conference.
In the event of its being raised by the representatives of other Powers, his Lordship would suggest that the reply of the British delegates should be to the effect that the production and consumption of hemp drugs in British India are under strict control, that the facts regarding the international traffic in the drugs, both that from India (which is in private hands) and from other countries of production, would require careful investigation, that the Opium Convention is in its form unsuitable for applica- tion to hemp drugs, which do not undergo preparation, as is the case with opium, before being smoked, and that, as the investigation of these matters must necessarily occupy some time, it is very undesirable to delay the ratification of the Opium Convention for this purpose, but that His Majesty's Government would be willing to co-operate in a separate investigation of the question of the traffic in hemp drugs.
I am, &c.
T. W. HOLDERNESS.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Copy of Telegram from the Viceroy, dated June 14, 1914.
YOUR telegram dated 12th June: Opium Conference.
As your Lordship is aware, traffic in hemp drugs has been brought under control as fully as possible in this country as the result of enquiry Hemp Drugs Com- mission, 1894. Manufacture, sale, and use of these drugs are therefore already confined to legitimate, if not necessarily medical, purposes, as the article 9 of the convention requires. But absolute prohibition of imports and exports under article 7 would, firstly, cut off our charas supplies from Yarkand; secondly, hamper our legitimate export trade in ganja.* If our imports and exports are safeguarded we are prepared to co-operate with foreign Powers, but the necessity for inclusion of Indian hemp is not clear, and we would deprecate any action which might postpone ratification of convention. If the proposal is proceeded with we desire to see detailed recom- mendations before according our consent.
# "Charas" and "ganja " are the names of two forms of the intoxicating product of the hemp plant
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