11
206
83035/31 [No. 1].
No. 11.
HIS MAJESTY'S CONSUL, GENEVA, to FOREIGN OFFICE.
No. 28.
(Received 2.50 p.m., 15th May, 1931.)
TELEGRAM.
(Copy received in Colonial Office 23rd May, 1931.)
[Answered by No. 12.]
FOLLOWING from Mr. Cadogan for Mr. Orde. Bangkok Conference. Views on participation of United States and China have been obtained from all interested governments except India. Netherlands Government consider United States All others consider both should par- and China should both participate as observers.
ticipate as full members. Thus we alone reject idea of participation of China in any form. There may be good technical arguments in favour of our view but as fact of our solitary opposition would nevertheless become known question may deserve recon- sideration from political point of view.
C. 83035/81 (No. 1A).
No. 12.
FOREIGN OFFICE to HIS MAJESTY'S CONSUL, GENEVA.
No. 33.
(Sent 7 p.m., 15th May, 1931.)
TELEGRAM.
(Copy received in Colonial Office, 23rd May, 1931.)
YOUR telegram No. 28 of 15th May.*
.* Bangkok Opium Conference. Following for Mr. Cadogan from Mr. Orde:-
Full memorandum adverse to Chinese participation was sent by bag yesterday. We are surprised that French should have agreed and suggest French delegation might be consulted. But if we are in fact alone we agree that we should not oppose. It seems on the whole better that China should participate as full member than as observer, but she should in that case if possible be invited on the understanding that she will be prepared for genuine co-operation in the work of the Conference. terms of reference of which are clearly defined.
Delevingne agrees.
C. 83014/31 [No. 56].
No. 14.
THE PORTUGUESE MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS to HIS MAJESTY'S REPRESENTATIVE, LISBON.
(Copy received in Colonial Office, 28th May, 1931.)
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Portuguese Secretariat of the
League of Nations,
MONSIEUR L'Ambassadeur,
Lisbon, 1st May, 1931.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the note No. 85 which Your Excellency addressed to me on the 28th April last, drawing my attention to the recom- mendation contained in the Report of the League of Nations Commission of Inquiry into the Control of Opium Smoking in the Far East concerning the measures to be taken to prevent illicit traffic and inquiring whether the Portuguese Government would be disposed to instruct their colonial administration in Macao to co-operate in the sense of that recommendation with the British colonial administrations in the Far East. Your Excellency also wished to know whether the Government of the Republic are of the opinion that the representatives of Governments at the Opium Conference to be held in Bangkok next November should be provided with full powers.
As regards the first question, the Portuguese Government entirely agree to col- laborate with the British colonial administrations for the purpose of rendering the prevention of illicit traffic more effective, and I am able to inform you at once that some of the measures mentioned in the recommendations in the above-mentioned report are already put into practice in Macao, such, for instance, as the Inspectorate of Economic Services, which centralizes and supervises everything relating to the traffic in opium and other narcotics, and is authorized to exchange information with other colonial Governments.
That part of the recommendation which deals with penalties and fines does not entirely conform with the Portuguese legislation in force on the subject, as the penalty of imprisonment is only applicable when the fine is not paid. The Government will study the possibility of a modification of the law in the sense desired by the Commission. Finally there are measures concerning which I shall only be in a position to reply accurately to Your Excellency after hearing from the Administration in Macao. In this connexion I am awaiting their report on the conclusions arrived at by the t'ommission of Inquiry in order to appreciate them properly, and I shall not fail to inform you, in due course, of any decision which may be taken by the Government of the Republic.
With regard to the question of Full Powers, the Portuguese Government, like His Britannic Majesty's Government, think that it would be convenient for the repre- sentatives to be plenipotentiaries so that they may be qualified to sign ad referendum the diplomatic instrument which will result from the Bangkok Conference. When trans- mitting their invitation to the Conference to the Government of the Republic, the Secretariat of the League of Nations also requested that the representatives should be furnished with Full Powers.
I avail myself, &c.,
FERNANDO AUGUSTO BRANCO.
C. 83035/31 [No. 21.
No. 13.
HIS MAJESTY'S CONSUL, GENEVA, to FOREIGN OFFICE.
(Received 3.40 p.m.,
23rd May, 1931.)
TELEGRAM.
(Copy received in Colonial Office, 27th May, 1931.)
No. 46. FOLLOWING for Cadogan from Orde. My telegram No. 33 of 15th
May. Bangkok Opium Conference.
India also agrees to participation of both countries.
* No. 11.
† No. 12.
C. 83035/31 [No. 4].
MY DEAR GRINDLE,
No. 15.
SIR M. DELEVINGNE (GENEVA)
to
SIR G. GRINDLE (COLONIAL OFFICE). [Answered by No. 18.]
British Delegation, Hotel Metropole,
Geneva, 1st June, 1931. THE Chairman of the Permanent Central Board under the Geneva Opium Convention (Lyall) has asked me whether it would be possible for the Board to be represented at the Bangkok Conference by an observer. If so, they would like to send Herbert May, one of the Members of the Board, who. you will remember,
PUBLIC PECORD OFFICE
Reference —
C.O.882/12
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COL:NIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON