2
such an offence occurs to withdraw the extra-treaty privileges accorded to a vessel, and also to forbid her to return to the port.
The Board fear that in such an event there would be no grounds on which representations could usefully be based, and they trust therefore that you will take all possible precautions to prevent the crews of your vessels from smuggling opium.
I am, &c.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
مانا
430
February 3.]
SECTION 1.
121681]
No. 1.
!
Sir,
Enclosure 3 in No. 1.
Board of Trade to Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom and Liverpool
Steamship Owners' Association.
Board of Trade, November 2, 1915.
I AM directed by the Board of Trade to state that their attention has been called to cases in which the crews of British ships have been detected in attempts to smuggle opium into China.
The Board desire me to point out that the ships may be held liable for such offences against Chinese customs law, and that it is open to the Commissioners of Chinese Customs when such offences have occurred to withdraw the extra-treaty privileges accorded to vessels, and also to forbid them to return to the port.
The Board have communicated this warning to Messrs. A. Holt and Co. and to Messrs. William Thomson and Co., and I am to suggest that you should warn any other owners who are likely to be interested.
A similar communication is being addressed to the Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom.
STEAMSHIP "Peleus."
Enclosure 4 in No. 1.
Minute.
I am, &c.
Accompanied by the superintendent of the Alfred Holt Line, I inspected the bunkers in this vessel and satisfied myself that the bolted plate in question was fitted during the vessel's construction, and the explanation is given as follows:-
At the time of the building of this ship and her sisters "Lydeus," "Telemachus," and Jason," the two earlier vessels, Hector" and " Sarpedon," were giving considerable trouble with coal becoming "pocketed," and catching fire in similar corners of their starboard bunkers. It was therefore decided to put doors at these corners so that in case of fire it would be more easily accessible; and also for use when working coal from the after end of the buuker, for which purpose the opening is in constant use in the "Telemachus."
In conversation with one of the engineers who has been in the "Peleus" fourteen months he admitted that he was not aware of the existence of this plate, which was hidden from view by spare fire-bars stowed against it. This fact was probably noted by the stokers, and it is suggested that the secret pocket in the bunker was built by them when the vessel was last in London, to do which they would have ample opportunity as no engine-room watch is kept when the boilers are not under steam.
Dunnage scantling, and about a dozen bunker hatches (4 feet long), nailed and lashed in an ingenious manner, were used in the construction of the pocket. The hatches bad been missed by the carpenter on the voyage home, and as further proof of the guilt of the Chinese stokers it is stated that "Nos. 1 and 2" and " the spare man" disappeared directly the opium was discovered.
A blue print showing the arrangement of the bunker is enclosed.
Board of Trade, Surveyor's Office, Liverpool,
October 22, 1915.
A. F. WEIR.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received February 3.)
(No 7. Confidential) Sir
Peking, January 6, 1916. MY attention has been frequently drawn to the growth in China, and especially in Manchuria, of the pernicious habit of morphia injection. Letters from missionaries in the Manchurian provinces describe the pitiable condition of large numbers of victims of disease arising from the misuse of the drug, and the subject has been freely discussed in the foreign press in this country,
I have the honour to enclose two extracts from the "North China Daily News" of the 3rd and 4th September respectively, the former describing the conditions under which morphia is sold and used in South Manchuria and the latter containing details of the circumstances in which the drug is imported into Japan and thence re-exported into China.
Without endorsing the extreme strictures passed by the authors of this correspon- dence on the action of the Japanese Government, 1 think there is sufficient evidence to show that the supplies of morphia in Manchuria are furnished almost entirely, if not entirely, by Japanese traders. The Japanese Minister, with whom I have had some conversation on the subject, has assured me that his Government are fully alive to the discredit brought on the good name of Japan by the persons who engage in the traffic, and that the Japanese consuls in China have received repeated instructions to enforce the prohibitions against morphia smuggling. Owing, however, to the ease with which the drug can be concealed, it is clear that no effective check on the traffic can be imposed unless the re-export from Japan is stringently dealt with.
The Chinese Government are anxious to devise measures to protect their subjects from the effects of the traffic, but in the "regulations" which they have drafted for this purpose they have failed, as they so often do, to take sufficient account of the difficulties due to ex-territorial jurisdiction, with the result that the regulations are utterly impractical. The Inspector-General of Customs, who was consulted in the matter, has pointed out that the problem is essentially a police, and not a customs one. Legitimate channels of entry have been already closed by stringent customs regulations. The prevention of clandestine importation of morphia can only be effected by cutting off the demand from inside or by stopping the supply from abroad. Mr. Aglen is of opinion that in present circumstances it is useless to initiate negotia- tions with the foreign Governments concerned for curtailing the supply of morphia from abroad, but that suitable domestic legislation should at once be introduced with a view to checking the demand in China itself. Mr. Aglen has therefore suggested that, as a preliminary to uegotiations with foreign Powers, a licensing law should be enacted by which all Chinese shops dealing in foreign drugs should be brought under control, and the sale of dangerous foreign drugs by anyone except the holder of a special licence should be made a punishable offence, and the possession of morphia by anyone except the holder of a special licence or doctor's prescription should also be made a punishable offence.
It remains to be seen whether the legislative and administrative organisation of the Chinese Government is sufficiently complete to enforce some such practical measures to protect their own people. It may be confidently anticipated that if this is done there should be no insurmountable difficulty in obtaining the co-operation of foreign Governments for the enforcement of preventive measures in places in which, and on persons over whom, the latter have jurisdiction.
(Copy to Tokyo.)
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN.
[2548 c)
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