724
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:
C.O.882/11
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
284
20th December, 1928, especially paragraph 8 thereof, and, subject to Your Lord- ship's covering sanction, I have therefore approved the Kedah Government's proposal which includes the proviso that the interest accruing each year on the investments allocated to the Fund should continue to be credited to the Fund in accordance with the present practice.
C. 72429/30 [No. 9].
I have, &c.,
JOHN SCOTT,
High Commissioner for the Malay States.
No. 248.
UNFEDERATED MALAY STATES.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE HIGH COMMISSIONER.
(Sent 12.30 p.m., 19th December, 1930.) TELEGRAM.
No. 7. Your despatch 15th of October, No. 115.† Suspension of contribu- tion to Brunei Opium Revenue Replacement Fund approved for 1931.-Passfield.
C. 72429/30 [No. 14].
No. 249.
UNFEDERATED MALAY STATES.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE HIGH COMMISSIONER.
(No. 8.) SIB,
Downing Street, 3rd February, 1931.*
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 126 of the 18th November, 1930,‡ on the subject of the Kedah Opium Revenue Replacement Fund, and to inform you that I approve of the suspension of contributions to the Fund for one year.
2. The position will be further considered after the proposed International Con- ference on Opium Smoking has been held.
I have, &c.,
PASSFIELD.
(VII) PAPERS (1925-1931) RELATING TO THE APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 6 OF THE GENEVA OPIUM AGREEMENT, 1925, AND THE SUPPLY OF PREPARED OPIUM TO SARAWAK, NORTH BORNEO, AND HONG KONG.
12211/25.
No. 250.
INTERNATIONAL OPIUM CONFERENCE, 1911-1912:
BRITISH DECLARATION REGARDING ARTICLE 7 OF THE CONVENTION.
1. THE Foreign Office has a copy of the Actes et Documents of this Confer- The volume is Catalogued as China 70 ence, which includes the procès-verbaux.
(volume 3) in the Confidential series.
2. At the signing of the Convention on 23rd January, 1912, one reservation only was made by the British delegation, viz. :---
Les articles de la présente Convention, si elle est ratifiée par le Gouverne- ment de Sa Majesté Britannique, s'appliqueront à l'Empire des Indes Britanniques, à Ceylan, aux Etablissements des Détroits, à Hong Kong et à Wei- haiwei, sous tous les rapports, de la même façon qu'ils s'appliqueront au
‡ No. 247.
* No. 235.
† No. 245.
285
Royaume-Uni et Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande; mais le Gouvernement de Sa Majesté Britannique se réserve le droit de signer ou de dénoncer séparément ladite Convention au nom de tout Dominion, Colonie, Dépendence ou Protectorat de Sa Majesté autre que ceux qui ont été spécifiés."
3. The reservation or declaration respecting Article 7, with which Mr. Clutter- buck's letter of 26th March, 1925,* to Mr. Malkin is concerned, was made at the 14th Meeting, 22nd December, 1911, in the following circumstances.
12
4. Sir C. Clementi Smith (first delegate for Great Britain) reported on 12th December that a motion had been put forward that the participating Governments bind themselves to prohibit the importation and exportation of prepared opium.' Discussions followed between the Foreign Office and the Colonial Office and, in conse- quence, Sir C. C. Smith was instructed, on 21st December, that he might vote for the motion if worded as follows:--
"Each of the participating Governments binds itself to prohibit the im- portation and exportation of prepared opium respectively from and to the terri- tories of the other Powers,"
and that, if this wording was not accepted, he might vote for the motion as originally proposed provided that in doing so he made a statement in the sense of the third para- graph of the Colonial Office letter of 18th December.t
5. The third and fourth paragraphs of the Colonial Office letter of 18th December were as follows:-
"3. Mr. Harcourt understands that the resolution quoted in Sir C. C. Smith's telegram of the 12th December merely implies that each Power should undertake to manufacture, by itself or through its agents, only such amount of prepared opium as is required for consumption in its own territories, including in that term colonies and protectorates. Each Power would therefore bind itself not to interfere with the monopoly of any other Power, and would thus have complete control of the opium consumption in its own territories.
4. On the assumption that the adoption of the resolution will not inter- fere with the arrangements for the preparation and distribution of opium now in force in the Malay Peninsula or elsewhere in His Majesty's Dominions, Mr. Harcourt sees no objection to the British delegates being instructed to vote in favour of the resolution."
!
6. At the 14th Meeting of the Conference held on 22nd December, Sir C. C. Smith made the following declaration :-
desires that its vote may be recorded
"The British Delegation
in the affirmative on the understanding that the resolution does not interfere with the arrangements for the preparation and distribution of opium now in force in the Malay Peninsula or elsewhere in His Majesty's Dominions, which are clearly a question of internal, as opposed to international, traffic."
7. With reference to this declaration, the Colonial Office on 8th January, 1912,‡ pointed out to the Foreign Office that the reservation made appeared to be based on the fourth and not the third paragraph of their letter of the 18th December. The Governor of the Straits Settlements had suggested that the reservation made should be enlarged to cover future arrangements for the distribution of opium in the Malay Peninsula and in the neighbouring protected States of North Borneo and Sarawak. As the matter was one which had been declared to be clearly a question of internal traffic and, therefore, outside the scope of international arrangement, the Secretary of State for the Colonies considered that there was perhaps no actual necessity to amend the reservation as suggested by the Governor: ".but he considers that in order to save any question arising hereafter, the British Delegates, in signing the Convention, should be instructed to repeat the reservation with the omission of the words in force,' and the substitution of the words within the British Empire' for the words
in the Malay Peninsula or elsewhere in His Majesty's Dominions.'
now
8. A copy of this letter was sent to the British Delegates, who replied, on 13th January:
We fully share Mr. Harcourt's opinion that, as we had expressly declared that the matter was a question of internal traffic, and therefore outside the scope of international agreement, there was no actual necessity to amend
* 12211/25 not printed.
†40208/11: not printed.
706/12: not printed.
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