し
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
OPTUM.
405
[September 8.]
SECTION 2.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[F 3366/330/10]
(No. 413.)
No. 1.
Sir B. Alston to the Marquess Curzon of Kedleston.
HIS Majesty's Minister, Peking, presents his compliments to His Majisty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and transmite herewith a copy of correspondence with Shanghai respecting opium traffic on British ships.
Peking, July 21, 1921.
Enclosure in No. 1,
(No. 164.) Sir,
Sir B. Alston to Consul-General Sir E. Fraser (Shanghai).
Peking, June 25, 1921. WITH reference to my despatch No. 46 of the 6th February last. I transmit to you herewith a copy of a despatch from His Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs respecting the resolution on the subject of the opium traffic passed at the conference of the British Chamber of Commerce last year, and I request that you wili aldress a communication to the chairman of the Shanghai Chamber in the sense desired by Lord Curzon.
With regard to the concluding portion of the Foreign Office despatch, I am disposed to think that, in view of the situation which has developed since the date of the Foreign Office despatch, and which was set forth in my despatch to the Secretary despatch
of State of the 9th June (a copy of which was forwarded to you in Chinese
No. 151 of the 10th June), the making of official representations to Government in the sense suggested may with advantage be delayed until it is seen whether the accommodating attitude adopted by the Customs authorities at Hankow becomes of general application at Yang-taze ports in such a way as to provide a reasonable modus vivendi acceptable, for the time being, to the British shipping interests concerned. I shall, however, be glad to receive an expression of your views on this aspect of the question.
I am, &c.
B. ALSTON.
Enclosure 2 in No 1.
Consul-General Sir E. Fraser to Sir B. Alston (Peking),
(No. 179.) Sir,
Shanghai, July 8, 1921. I HAVE the honour to enclose herewith a copy of the letter that I have addressed to the chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in accordance with the instructions contained in your despatch No. 164 of the 25th ultimo on the subject of the penalties imposed on British shipowners in connection with the traffic in opium.
I saw Mr. Lowder, the Commissioner of Customs here, recently and asked him what his attitude was towards the question of imposing fines on the owners of British ships on which opium is found, He informed me that he appreciated the difficulty of making masters of ships with Chinese crews responsible, and that he did not intend to impose penalties. I gathered, indeed, that he had induced the attitude of the Hankow Commissioner.
In the circumstances I have the honour to state that I agree with the suggestion contained in the second paragraph of your despatch under reference, that the making of official representations to the Chinese Government in the sense suggested by the Foreign Office might with advantage be delayed.
(Copy to Hankow.)
I have, to.
E. H. FRASER
April 8, Section 4.
[6896 h-2]