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SIR,

134

Enclosure 4 in No. 166.

Antigua, May, 1913.

I HAVE the honour to call your attention to the fact that the Opium Ordinance of 1913, which the Government carried through the Legislative Council on the 30th ultimo, met with the united and determined opposition of those elective members present, chiefly with regard to section 8.

Those gentlemen are most of them interested in stock and were conscious of the probable consequences of this Bill to them,

Its passage showed a lack of knowledge of local conditions and a want of con- sideration for needs often arising.

Section 6 gives the Senior Medical Officer authority to authorise the withdrawal of opium, but section 8 plainly states it will not be lawful for him to do so except to duly qualified medical practitioners, dentists, and to licensed druggists.

By the above Ordinance a veterinary surgeon is debarred from importing and afterwards removing opium from a store.

Having an extensive practice in this Island and prescribing also for the stock in Barbuda, likewise for stockowners in some of the other Presidencies, I am placed in a very awkward position, and I would therefore most respectfully beg that this Ordinance be amended and that a duly qualified veterinary surgeon be granted the same privileges as the medical officer and druggist.

Apart altogether from the slight paid to a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, there is a disregard of certain conditions relating to one of the most important branches of local agriculture, and it now becomes a very serious matter for owners in the Island, who, after the past few years, are not in a position to stand losses of the few head of stock they have left.

There are local and tropical conditions that arise every year at certain seasons, which are the cause of unhealthy changes, chiefly among bovines, and which call for the immediate administration of this drug and its derivatives, or death soon results.

There is no reliable substitute to take its place and it is an unpleasing prospect to estate owners and stock breeders to know that at any time there is in store for them the loss of any number of their animals.

The health of the stock in these Islands is governed by very different influences, and there can be none greater than those existing between Barbados, St. Kitts, Montserrat, and Antigua,

Of the Lesser Antilles, Guadeloupe and Antigua approach more closely to each other with regard to the conditions affecting the health of animals, their diseases and the insect pests troubling them.

I would respectfully point out that any unqualified practitioner holding a druggist's licence (be he native, Chinese, &c.) is able to supply himself with all the opium he needs, while a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons of England is prevented from doing so.

To the Right Honourable

23469

The Secretary of State for the Colonies.

I have, &c.,

H. GOODWIN, M.R.C.V.S.

135

which has been enacted in accordance with the instructions contained in your despatch, No. 228, of the 8th ultimo,* together with the report of the Attorney- General thereon.

I have, &c.,

F. D. LUGARD,

Governor.

Enclosure 2 in No. 167.

REPORT ON THE OPIUM PROCLAMATION, 1913.

This Proclamation is being enacted for the purpose of putting into effect in this Protectorate certain terms of a Convention made at the International Conference at the Hague in January, 1912, whereby it was agreed that all necessary steps should be taken to prevent the habit of opium taking from being introduced into all places belonging to the Powers who signed the Convention.

It is a Proclamation to which, in my opinion, the Governor may properly give his assent.

Zungeru,

13th March, 1913.

23636

SIR,

No. 168.

GAMBIA.

J. M. M. DUNLOP,

Attorney-General.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 10th July, 1913.)

[Ordinance sanctioned, 18th July, 1913. No. 193. L.F.] [Copy of Enclosure 1 to Foreign Office, 8th August, 1913. L.F.]

(No. 169.)

Government House,

Bathurst, Gambia,

11th June, 1913.

I HAVE the honour to submit herewith, for the signification of His Majesty's approval, Ordinance No. 15 of 1913,† entitled "An Ordinance to give effect to the measures decided upon in the International Opium Convention signed at the Hague on the 23rd day of January, 1912, and to regulate the importation into and the storage and disposal of opium, morphine, cocaine and similar drugs in the Colony and Protectorate.'

2. I also transmit my Legal Adviser's report on the Ordinance, in which he gives his opinion that the same may properly receive my assent.

I have, &c.,

H. L. GALWAY,

Governor and Commander-in-Chief.

No. 167.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

(No. 170.)

SIR,

NORTHERN NIGERIA.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 9th July, 1913.)

[Copy to Foreign Office, 8th August, 1913. L.F.] [Ordinance sanctioned, 18th July, 1913. No. 351. L.F]

Government House, Zungeru, 12th June, 1913. (London, 7th July, 1913.)

I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith one authenticated and twelve ordinary copies of Proclamation No. 7 of 1913* entitled "The Opium Proclamation, 1913,"

• Not reprinted.

Enclosure 2 in No. 168.

•

THE

REPORT ON AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED AN ORDINANCE TO GIVE EFFECT TO

MEASURES DECIDED UPON IN THE INTERNATIONAL OPIUM CONVENTION SIGNED AT THE HAGUE ON THE 23RD DAY OF JANUARY, 1912, AND TO REGULATE THE IMPORTATION INTO. AND THE STORAGE AND DISPOSAL OF OPIUM, MORPHINE, COCAINE AND SIMILAR DRUGS IN THE COLONY AND PROTECTORATE.”

This Ordinance has been passed upon instructions contained in the despatch of the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Gambia, Miscellane- ous, dated the 19th July, 1912.

33541

• 14554: not printed.

↑ Not reprinted.

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