CO885-(21-23) — Page 388

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

106

2. I take this opportunity of transmitting, for your approval, the draft of a Regulation which has been prepared by Sir C. Major, the Chief Judicial Commis- sioner, to give effect to the instructions contained in your despatch, marked "Mis- cellaneous," of the 4th October last,* and in your despatch, No. 221, of the 13th of November last.t

I have, &c.,

BICKHAM ESCOTT,

High Commissioner.

►

107

medicinal opium" means raw opium which has been heated to sixty degrees centigrade, and contains not less than ten per centum of morphine, whether or not it be powdered or granulated, or mixed with indifferent materials;

morphine" means the principal alkaloid of opium, having the formula

C1,H1NO,;

"heroine" means the diacetyl morphine, having the formula C.,II, NO.:

Cocaine" means the principal alkaloid of the leaves of Erythroxylon coca,

having the formula C1,H,,NO.; "similar drugs" includes-

SIR,

Enclosure 1 in No. 147.

GILBERT AND ELLICE ISLANDS PROTECTORATES.

Resident Commissioner's Office,

Ocean Island, 22nd November, 1912. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency's letter, No. 192/1304/12, of 30th September, 1912, and, in reply to the Secretary of State's Circular of 7th March, 1912 (enclosed therein), beg to inform you that I am, of course, prepared to agree to the International Opium Convention being signed on behalf of these Protectorates, as stated in the High Commissioner's letter, Western Pacific, No. 115, of 9th May, 1912.

2. In reply to the Secretary of State's Circular of 16th May, 1912, there are at present no laws in force relative to the matters referred to in the Convention, except that we have adopted similar prohibited articles for transmission through our parcels post as the Commonwealth of Australia, which prohibits the importation of opiumi.

As far as any returns of imports show, no opium has been imported into the Protectorates, save to medical men, all of whom are Government officials.

may smoke smug- Although it may be possible that some of the Chinese traders gled opium in small quantities in the privacy of their houses, I have never heard of such a case.

The importation of opium may therefore be taken as nil for the last five years, and similarly for 1912.

the High Commissioner

His Excellency

for the Western Pacific,

Suva, Fiji.

I have, &c.,

JNO. QUAYLE DICKSON,

Resident Commissioner.

"

(a) all preparations, whether officinal or non-officinal, as well as the so-called anti-opium remedies, which contain more than 02 per cent. of morphine, or more than 0.1 per cent. of

cocaine;

(b) heroine, its salts and preparations, containing more than 01

per cent. of heroine;

(c) all new derivatives of morphine, of cocaine, or of their respec- tive salts, and every other alkaloid of opium which has been demonstrated by scientific research to be liable to similar abuse, and in its abuse to be productive of like ill effects; "opium" when used without any qualifying epithet, includes raw opium, medicinal opium, morphine, heroine, cocaine, and similar drugs;

store

"

means any place in a Protectorate appointed by the Resident Com- missioner in that Protectorate for the storage of opium on its arrival at any port therein.

3. It shall not be lawful to import any prepared opium into a Protectorate.

Prepared opium.

4. It shall not be lawful to cultivate the opium poppy (papaver somniferum) Opium in a Protectorate.

5-(1) It shall not be lawful to import any opium into a Protectorate except tation, by sea.

poppy.

Impor-

deposit,

Short title.

Interpre- tation.

(Draft.)

Enclosure 2 in No. 147.

KING'S REGULATION to govern the importation, storage, and disposal of opium, morphine, cocaine, and similar drugs into and in the Protectorates of the British Solomon Islands and the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.

(Formal Parts.)

1. This Regulation may be cited as the Solomon and Gilbert Islands Opium Regulation, 1913.

2. In this Regulation--

"a Protectorate means either the British Solomon Islands Protectorate or the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate, as the case may be; raw opium" means the spontaneously coagulated juice obtained from the capsules of the papaver somniferum which has been only submitted to the necessary manipulations for packing and transport; "prepared opium" means the product of raw opium, obtained by a series of special operations, especially by dissolving, boiling, roasting, and fer- mentation, designed to transform it into an extract suitable for con- sumption, and includes dross and all other residues remaining when opium has been smoked;

• No. 112.

↑ No. 131.

(2) All opium imported into a Protectorate shall be deposited, at the cost, risk, and with- and peril of the importer, in such store as shall be appointed for that purpose by drawal of the Resident Commissioner in that Protectorate.

(3) No opium shall be delivered or withdrawn from a store in a Protectorate except to a medical practitioner, a dentist, or a druggist, and except on the written permission of the Resident Commissioner in that Protectorate, or of a medical officer authorised by him in writing to permit the delivery or withdrawal.

opium.

6. Any person who contravenes any of the provisions of the last three preceding Penalty. sections shall be liable on conviction to a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, to a term not exceeding twelve months, and the magistrate may order any prepared opium, or opium unlawfully imported or withdrawn from a store, to be forfeited to His Majesty.

7. It shall be lawful for the High Commissioner to make rules to regulate the Rules. importation, landing, storage, withdrawal, conveyance, and sale of any opium imported into a Protectorate, and any person who contravenes those rules shall, on conviction, be liable for every offence to a penalty not exceeding five pounds, or to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding one month.

8. It shall be lawful for a magistrate, if satisfied by information on oath that Search any opium or prepared opium is being unlawfully kept, conveyed, landed, or sold in warrant. contravention of this Regulation or any rules made hereunder at any place, whether it be a building or not, or in a ship (not being nor having the status of a ship of war) or vehicle, at any time, and (if need be) by force, on Sundays as well as on other days, the place, ship, or vehicle named in the warrant to enter and examine, and to search for any opium or prepared opium unlawfully kept therein and demand from the owner or occupier thereof the production of his authority to be in possession of the same.

(2) Wifen the person executing the warrant aforesaid has reasonable cause to believe that any opium or prepared opium found by him in any such place, ship, or vehicle as aforesaid is being kept, conveyed, landed or sold in contravention of this Regulation or any rules made hereunder, he may seize and detain the same until a magistrate has decided whether it is liable to forfeiture or not.