This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CONFIDENTIAL.
C
O
111
57572
REC
(C [F 2652/17/10]
REG 23 NOV 20
TRAFFIC IN OPIUM.
EXPLANATORY NOTE.
THE attached memorandum has been prepared for the use of the British represen- tatives at the forthcoming meeting of the Assembly of the League of Nations at Geneva in connection with Item No. 21 of the Agenda, which is:-
"General supervision over the execution of the agreement with regard to the traffic in opium in accordance with article 23 of the Covenant (at the request of the Government of the Netherlands)."
The greater part of the memorandum records the history of the progressive control of the traffic and states the present position. The memorandum has been compiled in conjunction with the Home Office and the India Office.
The only part to which the Secretary of State considers it necessary to call the special attention of the British representatives is the suggestion on page 7 that a commission should be established to assist the League of Nations in exercising ite supervision over the execution of the Opium Traffic Agreements. The Secretary of State for India has suggested that it should first be ascertained whether supervision over the execution of the Opium Convention could not be exercised by the Council of the League with the assistance of its own secretariat. Should the resources at the disposal of the Council prove inadequate, and should it be found necessary to adopt the proposed establishment of a commission, Mr. Montagu considers that such commission should be representative of the members of the League and not merely of the Powers signatory to the Opium Convention of 1912.
Earl Curzon shares Mr. Montagu's view that for practical reason it is highly desirable that a country so vitally interested in the question as India should be enabled to obtain direct representation on any commission that may be set up; and he has accordingly the memorandum to be drafted in such terms as to leave it to the discretion of the British representatives whether or not it is opportune to bring up for discussion the proposal to establish the commission.
caust
It may be that the League will have other means of securing the end in view. Foreign Office,
November 8, 1920.
10
0
ed
Ive
LE
MEMORANDUM ON TRAFFIC IN OPIUM AND DELETERIOUS DRUGS.
Memorandum for the use of the British Representatives at the Meeting of the Assembly of the League of Nations at Geneva, November 1920.
IN 1909, an International Opium Commission was convened at Shanghai on the initiative of the United States of America. The following nations were represented : United States of America, Austria-Hungary, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Russia and Siam. This Commission made the following recommendations :—
1. That the Chinese Government and people were to be congratulated on the
sincerity and success of their efforts to check the opium traffic.
2. That each delegation should move its own Government to take measures for the
gradual suppression of opium-smoking in its own territories.
3. That the use of opium in any form otherwise than for medicinal purposes being
in almost every participating country a matter for prohibition or for careful
regulation, such systems of regulation should be re-examined with a view to making them still more stringent.
343 [4807]
B
7