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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882/11

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC. COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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Government, would have to be prepared to pay for it. It was therefore decided that the Foreign Office should consult with the Treasury in regard to the expenses of the Commission. Whilst it was impossible at this stage to estimate the cost of the Com- mission the Committee thought that it would not prove very considerable. Suitable people could probably be found to serve upon the Commission without fee. SIR GILBERT GRINDLE thought that the British Colonial Governments concerned might be prepared to meet the costs of the entertainment of the Commission when in their territories.

As regards the contents and form of the memorandum the Committee were agreed that it should be as short as possible. It should set out:-

(1) the position as it was at the time of the signature of the Protocol to the

Geneva Agreement;

;

(2) the factors which are making it difficult for the Governments and, in the case of Hong Kong, almost impossible to control the traffic and to carry out the provisions of The Hague Convention; and which are causing the date upon which the Protocol can come into operation to recede indefinitely;

(3) the desirability of providing some authoritative basis of ascertained fact

for the work of the Conference which is to be held in 1929.

(The Committee agreed that it is very important that the Conference should be able to work upon an unprejudiced appreciation of the situation which should not be open to challenge and for this reason that the point should be stressed in the memorandum.)

Finally, the memorandum should ask for a Commission of Inquiry to be sent out to investigate on the spot. The Committee thought that as it was not yet known which countries were prepared to receive such a Commission it was not desirable to be more precise as to the localities to be investigated.

Such statistics and other evidence as are necessary to support the claim in regard to the smuggling from China should be appended to the memorandum in an annexure. It was agreed that the Colonial Office should obtain from the Governments of Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements the latest figures in regard to smuggling, prosecu- tions, &c., and a concise statement giving, the grounds of their previous reports as to the smuggling from China.

The Committee thought that the Government of India would be able to supply evidence of the smuggling of Chinese opium into Burma and might possibly wish to be associated with His Majesty's Government in the presentation to the League of the memorandum.

The Colonial Office will proceed to draft-the memorandum.

SIR M. DELEVINGNE then informed the Committee that arrangements had recently been made with the United States of America Government for the direct interchange of information between himself and Colonel Nutt of the United States of America's Treasury on matters relating to the illicit traffic. The United States of America's authorities were very anxious to be given the finger-prints, photographs, and the usual criminal particulars of any illicit traffickers reported to them. He thought that, although excellent reports were received from the Colonies, these particulars had not in fact been supplied in the past, and inquired whether the Colonial Governments could in future supply them when reporting upon drug smugglers. SIR G. GRINDLE thought that there would be no difficulty and agreed that the Colonial Office should issue the necessary instructions, on receipt of a request from the Home Office.

C. 53018/A/28 [No. 23].

SIR,

No 207.

FOREIGN OFFICE to THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

(Copy received in Colonial Office 4th August, 1928.)

Foreign Office, S.W.I, 1st August, 1928.

1 AM directed by Secretary Sir Austen Chamberlain to enclose a copy of a memorandum respecting the control of opium smoking in the Far East, which has been prepared by His Majesty's Government in Great Britain. I am to request

that copies of this memorandum may be communicated to all Members of the Council and that the question may be placed upon the agenda of the forthcoming Session of the Council in September.

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2. The French, Japanese, Netherlands, Portuguese, and Siamese Governments, as signatories of the Geneva Opium Agreement of 1925, have been invited to associate themselves with the proposal put forward in the last paragraph of the memorandum.

I am, &c.,

GEORGE MOUNSEY.

Enclosure in No. 207.

MEMORANDUM RESPECTING THE CONTROL OF OPIUM SMOKING IN THE FAR EAST.- (COMMUNICATED BY COLONIAL OFFICE, 16th MARCH, 1928.)

By Article 6 in Chapter II of the International Opium Convention, 1912, the contracting Powers undertook to

"take measures for the gradual and effective suppression of the manufacture of, internal trade in, and use of prepared opium, with due regard to the varying circumstances of each country concerned, unless regulations on the subject are already in existence.

2. In 1923 the League of Nations Opium Advisory Committee reviewed the progress which had been made in carrying out this undertaking, and came to the conclusion that the measures which had been adopted had met with a considerable measure of success, but that the maximum effect of these measures appeared to have been reached and that the position as to the reduction of the consumption of prepared opium had become stationary. The Committee accordingly recommended that the Powers concerned should meet and consider the possibility of taking in concert further measures to secure the more effective application of Chapter II of The Hague Con. vention.

"

3. The recommendation of the Advisory Committee was adopted by the Assembly in September, 1923, and representatives of the Powers having territories in the Far East, in which opium smoking was still permitted, met at Geneva in the "First Opium Conference in November, 1924. A draft Agreement was prepared prescribing certain measures, mainly of an administrative character.

4. Before, however, the "First "' Opium Conference had concluded its labours, the "Second" Conference met, and the United States delegate gave notice of a motion to present for the consideration of the Conference and for reference to an appropriate committee certain proposals. These proposals were to the effect that each of the Far Eastern Powers should agree to reduce its imports of opium for smoking by 10 per cent. annually, starting from the date of ratification of the con- vention, and not to " supplement the reduction by domestically-produced opium,' so that at the end of ten years the use-or, rather, the legal use of opium for smoking in the Far Eastern territories would be ended.

5. The discussions which took place on these proposals are on record, and it will be sufficient for the purpose of this memorandum to recall that while the Powers concerned recognized the value of the principle of suppression within a definite period, they were unable to bind themselves by an undertaking of this nature.

6. The obstacle to the adoption of the United States proposal was the fact that (in spite of their efforts to combat it) the prevalence of the smuggling of opium into their territories mainly as a result of the recrudescence of the growth of the opium poppy in China, had become a serious obstacle to the effective enforcement of the measures of control which had already been adopted.

7. The Powers concerned accordingly felt that circumstances beyond their control rendered it impossible for them to undertake to bring about the complete suppression of opium smoking in their Far Eastern territories within any fixed period of time. By a Protocol appended to the Agreement adopted by the "First " Conference, the Powers undertook, however, to suppress the consumption of prepared opium in these territories within a period of fifteen years from the date, as determined by a League of Nations Commission, when the smuggling of opium from the producing countries ceases to be a serious obstacle to the enforcement of restrictive measures.

the

8.

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At the same time a Protocol was appended to the Convention concluded at Second Conference, by which the signatory States agreed to take such measures as may be required to prevent completely, within five years from the present date, the smuggling of opium from constituting a serious obstacle to the effective suppression of the use of prepared opium in those territories where such use is temporarily authorized."

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