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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882/11

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

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

C. 63017/29 (No. 84].

288

No. 253.

STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 11.54 a.m., 18th September, 1929.) TELEGRAM.

[Answered by No. 254.]

18TH SEPTEMBER. Confidential. Your telegram 2nd September.* Opium. Sarawak has been warned as suggested but I submit that objections are purely technical. Proposal is that this Government supply Sarawak, making no profit, in the same way as Federated Malay States and Unfederated Malay States are supplied. Proposal will facilitate control and co-operative buying and assist Sarawak to prevent smuggling and thus further intention of the Convention. Trust proposal will be approved.

C. 63017/A/29 [No. 96].

No. 254.

STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR. (Sent 12.8 p.m., 19th October, 1929.)

TELEGRAM.

CONFIDENTIAL. Your telegram of the 18th September.† My telegram of to-day. Supply of opium to Sarawak. In view of the express provisions in The Hague Convention and the Geneva Agreement on the subject of the export of prepared opium I consider that it would be necessary to consult the Opium Advisory Committee of the League of Nations before taking any step in the matter. There are objections to raising the question at all unless convincing reasons can be produced to show .at substantial advantage would be gained in the direction of controlling supply and preventing smuggling. Sarawak reports hitherto have not indicated any particular difficulties which could be adduced as justifying the change. Please report fully what reasons can be given in support of the change.-PASSfield.

C. 63017/A/29 [No. 104].

No. 255.

NORTH BORNEO AND SARAWAK.

THE BRITISH AGENT to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 23rd December, 1929.)

(Confidential.)

MY LORD,

Government House, Singapore, 28th November, 1929. WITH reference to Your Lordship's Straits Settlements Confidential telegram of the 19th October,§ and previous telegraphic correspondence regarding the proposal made by the Government of Sarawak that, on the introduction in Malaya of the system of packing chandu by machinery in tinfoil tubes, the Samwak requirements of chandu should be supplied so packed from the Singapore factory, I have the honour to enclose herewith a copy of a letter from the Private Secretary to His Highness the Rajah.

2. I fully appreciate the difficulties of the situation in view of the express pro- visions in The Hague Convention and the Geneva Agreement, and I am aware of the contents of the Foreign Office letter of the 30th July, 1925, to the Secretary-General, League of Nations, conveying the information that His Majesty's Government was

§ No. 254.

* No. 252.

† No. 253.

‡ No. 190.

289

prepared to ratify the Geneva Agreement and Protocol thereof without excluding from the operation of those documents any of the British Possessions and Protectorates in the Malay Peninsula or the State of Brunei in the Island of Borneo on the specific under- standing that no interference would be caused by Article 6 in the existing arrange- ments whereby, for convenience and efficiency of administration, the whole of the supply of prepared opium for the above-mentioned possessions and protectorates was manufactured in the Straits Settlements Government factory at Singapore. A copy of this letter, which was signed by Mr. Waterlow, formed an enclosure to Mr. Amery's Straits Settlements despatch No. 371 of the 24th August, 1925.*

3.

While I regard the cumulative force of the arguments in favour of the proposal adduced by the Sarawak Government to be very considerable, to my mind the individual argument which has most weight is that based on the advantages which the supply of chandu packed in tubes would bring with it in furthering the intentions of the Convention.

4. As Your Lordship is aware, the main reason for the introduction of the system of packing in tubes in Malaya is that it is expected to render as difficult as possible the disposal of opium which has eluded the vigilance of the Preventive Service and found its way into Malaya. Under the present system of packing disposal of illicit opium is a comparatively simple matter, as contraband can be marketed under the guise of Government packets, either by itself or mixed with Government opium. The detection of even Government employees in Government shops in such illicit trade at present presents great difficulty. As evidence of this trade it may be mentioned that in Malaya there is a market for used Government wrappers, which could only be reused in an illicit manner. This market must disappear with the introduction of tubes, which are hermetically sealed and can only be used once.

5. While the Sarawak Government can hardly he expected to provide the expensive plant which would be required for packing its own chandu in a similar manner, the approval of the proposal that it should be allowed to draw its requirements of chandu packed in tubes from the Singapore factory would eliminate illicit dealings of the type disclosed in paragraph 6 of the enclosure to this despatch as well as the possibility of the illicit trade by means of reused Government wrappers which now exists in Malaya.

6. I feel that the advantages of the new system of packing might well be urged as a strong, and, in conjunction with the others, even a convincing, reason for obtaining approval of the proposal.

7.

I may mention that the Superintendent, Government Monopolies, Straits Settlements, spoke quite informally on this subject to the Secretary of the League of Nations Opium Commission in the Far East, who, with the Members of the Commission, had seen the present and the proposed new systems of packing and appeared very favourably impressed with the latter. The Sarawak question was not brought up in any way in the course of the official inquiries of the Commission in Singapore, but before leaving Mr. Remborg informed Mr. Gordon Wilson that he had made a note of it and would mention it at Geneva. These conversations were quite informal and could not well be referred to in any communication to the League of Nations, but I have nevertheless thought them worth mentioning in this despatch.

8. The matter is one which I should prefer to leave entirely to Your Lordship's discretion, and it is apparent from the concluding sentence of the enclosure to this despatch that the Rajah also does not wish to press it unduly. Should the decision be in favour of raising the question, however, I suggest that it might be as well that the British North Borneo Company should be informed that the question is to be raised. I think that the Company should then be given the opportunity of stating whether it would welcome a similar arrangement, since the question could hardly be raised again later should the Company desire it. It has not been raised locally in any way, and I cannot even hazard a guess at what reply the Company would be likely to give. But should it be in the affirmative, it would seem to be reasonable to suggest to the League of Nations a single system for all the British Possessions and Protectorates in the Far East which are within the sphere of influence of the Officer Administering the Government of the Straits Settlements.

35017/25: not printed.

I have, &c.,

JOHN SCOTT, British Agent for North Borneo and Sarawak.

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