730
0.78017/1/30 [No. 19].
206
No. 261.
THE GOVERNOR, NORTH BORNEO to THE BRITISH NORTH BORNEO COMPANY. (Copy received in Colonial Office, 19th May, 1930.)
(Confidential.) (No. 189.)
Government House, North Borneo,
Sandakan, 1st April, 1980. SIR,
I HAVE the honour to refer to the Court's Confidential despatch No. 121, dated 20th February, 1930, on the subject of obtaining supplies of chandu direct from Singapore.
2. The difficulties experienced by the Sarawak Opium Monopoly have not been encountered in North Borneo. The Commissioner of Customs and Excise informs me that many years ago, chiefly in 1919, there was considerable leakage of Government chandu, which resulted in the present arrangement by which no employee in the pack- ing and cooking departments can leave the Excise premises without being searched; there has up to the present been no objection to this.
The Commissioner considers that some small leakage is inevitable in a chandu factory employing Chinese, but does not consider that it is extensive.
3. It would not be in the interests of Government to draw supplies of chandu direct from Singapore as long as large stocks of raw opium are held by the Excise Department. The Commissioner of Customs and Excise informs me that, including 151 chests of opium still due to this Government from the Government of India, the Excise Department stocks of raw opium are estimated as sufficient to last approximately ten years.
The Commissioner estimates the average annual net revenue from chandu prepared from these stocks of raw opium at $751,617, of which it is estimated that $33,250 will annually be credited to Interest account, and $37,580 will annually be credited to Reserve fund, leaving $680,787 per annum as Excise Department revenue.
I have, &c.,
A. F. RICHARDS,
Governor
297
to Sarawak as well as to North Borneo, both these territories being regarded as part of the British Empire within the meaning of that phrase as used in the said reservation. 5. In regard, however, to Article 6 (1) of the Geneva Agreement (see Treaty Series No. 13 of 1928), His Majesty's Government realize that the proposed extension cannot be claimed as being in strict accordance with it, since the article explicitly prohibits the export of prepared opium from any possession or territory, nor could it be held to be covered by the reservation made by His Majesty's Government in regard to the signature of the Geneva Agreement, and contained in their letter to the Secre- tary-General of the League of Nations of 30th July, 1925* (copy enclosed), which refers only to existing arrangements " for the supply of prepared opium by the Straits Settlements Monopoly.
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6. It is, therefore, desired to obtain the consent of the other signatories of the agreement, of which France is one, to the proposal that a special exception should be made in the case of Sarawak and North Borneo, and that any arrangement for the supply of prepared opium from the Government factory at Singapore to the authorities of these territories should not be regarded as a breach of the provisions of Article 6 (1) of the Agreement.
7. In these circumstances, I shall be glad if Your Lordship will address a note to the Government to which you are accredited, informing them of the desire of His Majesty's Government as described in paragraphs 1 and 2 of the present despatch. You should, at the same time, point out that Sarawak and North Borneo are within the sphere of the Governor of the Straits Settlements in his capacity as British Agent for Borneo, and that the proposed extension of the existing arrangement to cover these territories is such as was envisaged in the British Declaration at The Hague in 1911. You should conclude by saying that the competent authorities in the Straits Settlements and Sarawak are fully satisfied that the new arrangement will undoubtedly result in a greatly increased efficacy of control over the consumption of opium, and will thereby further the object of the Geneva Agreement.
8. In view of the desirability of giving effect to the extended arrangement at
the earliest possible date, you should add that His Majesty's Government will greatly welcome the favour of an early reply.
9. Similar despatchest are being addressed to His Majesty's Representatives at Tokio, The Hague, Lisbon, and Bangkok.
I am, &c.
(for the Secretary of State),
C. W. ORDE.
C. 73017/1/30 [No. 22].
No. 262.
FOREIGN OFFICE to HIS MAJESTY'S REPRESENTATIVE, PARIS, (Copy received in Colonial Office, 4th June, 1930.)
(No. 1163.) MY LORD,
Foreign Office, S.W.1, 31st May, 1930. WITH a view to the better prevention of smuggling, and generally to the increased efficacy of control of the consumption of prepared opium, the Government of Sarawak desire His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom to extend, as early as possible, to embrace Sarawak, the existing arrangement whereby, for con- venience and efficiency of administraton, the whole of the supply of prepared opium for consumption in the British Possessions and Protectorates in the Malay Peninsular and the State of Brunei in the Island of Borneo, is manufactured in the Straits Settle- ments factory at Singapore.
2. At the same time, His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom wish to provide for the-possibility that it might similarly be desirable, at some future date, to extend the arrangement also to the State of North Borneo.
3. His Majesty's Government have had under consideration the question whether such an extension to Sarawak and North Borneo is permissible, having regard to the provisions of Article 7 of the International Opium Convention signed at The Hague on the 23rd January, 1912, and Article 6 of the International Opium Agreement signed at Geneva on the 11th February, 1925.
4. In regard to Article 7 of The Hague Convention, His Majesty's Government consider that the reservation made by the British Delegation, and contained in the enclosed extract* from the official minutes of the fourteenth meeting of The Hague Conference on the 22nd December, 1911, covers the proposed extension in respect
*Not printed here.
C. 73017/1/80 [No. 36].
No. 263.
COLONIAL OFFICE to INDIA OFFICE. [Answered by No. 264.]
SIR,
Downing Street, 23rd October, 1930. I AM directed by Lord Passfield to request you to inform the Secretary of State for India that, with a view to the better prevention of smuggling and generally to the increased efficacy of control of the consumption of prepared opium, the Government of Sarawak desire the extension to Sarawak of the existing arrangement whereby for convenience and efficiency of administration, the whole of the supply of prepared opium for consumption in the British Possessions and Protectorates in the Malay Peninsula and the State of Brunei in the Island of Borneo is manufactured in the Straits Settlements factory at Singapore.
2. It was felt, however, that, while the proposed extension was, so far as concerns the provisions of Article 7 of the International Opium Convention signed at The Hague on the 23rd January, 1912, covered by the reservations made by the British Delegation and contained in the enclosed extract† from the official minutes of the fourteenth meeting of The Hague Conference on the 22nd December, 1911, it could not be claimed as being in strict accordance with Article 6 (1) of the Geneva' Opium Agreement of 1925, since that Article explicity prohibited the export of pre- pared opium from any possession or territory into which it is imported for the purpose of smoking.
* Enclosure in No. 251.
↑ Not printed here.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.882/11
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO