CO885-11 — Page 612

TIT

IT

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference:-

C.O.882/11

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

3

48

ration is agreed to by the Conference. They consider, however, that conditions in North Borneo are not suitable for the introduction of any system of registration and licensing, and are not prepared to go further than to watch the results of registration in neighbouring territories, with a view to its possible ultimate adoption in North Borneo."

""

“minor.”—Surely they are very considerable. Page 3,* line 18. Delete Page 3, lines 29 and 30. Should read. "The Malayan Governments depend

their "for its"). (and substitute Page 3. lines 49 and 50. In the light of the telegrams, I presume you will wish to

cut out this sentence.

I am sending copies of this letter, the telegrams, and my draft Memorandum to Waterlow.

Enclosure 4 in No. 32.

OPIUM POLICY.

COLONIAL OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Yours sincerely,

G. GRINDLE

1. I regret that I am unable to concur in the proposals made by Mr. Henderson, but after consulting the Governors of the Colonies concerned, I find that they are convinced that these proposals would not be effectual, and that the attempt to carry them out would have very serious consequences to these Colonies.

2. I have read the Home Office Memorandum which sets out clearly the necessity for a Cabinet decision as to the policy to be adopted by the British Delegates to the International Opium Conference in November, and I quite appreciate that if the policy advocated by the Home Office could be carried out, there would be no further ground Whether it for the adverse criticism to which we are exposed in certain quarters. would put an end to such criticism is another matter.

3. It is clear, however, from the Reports which I have received from the Governors of the Far Eastern Colonies that they not only consider that the adoption of a policy of total prohibition would give rise to feelings of great resentment among the masses of the Chinese populations of their territories, and would create very serious and (in views of the Governors) insoluble problems for the Governments concerned; but also that the adoption of this policy would not carry us a single step further towards the ultimate total suppression of opium smoking, which is one of the main objects of the Opium Convention signed at The Hague in 1912.

4. The only article in the Convention which (it is alleged) is not being carried

out in the Far Eastern Colonies reads as follows:-

21

The contracting Powers shall 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. 5. Briefly, my view is that (1) the policy advocated by the Home Office does not pay that regard for the local circumstances of the Far Eastern Colonies and Protec torates which is contemplated by the Convention; (2) it is in direct opposition to the very strongly expressed views of the Governors, who have been assisted in arriving at their conclusions by the Reports of very representative local Committees which have considered the matter carefully in all its aspects; and (3) that although the Conference is being convened to consider measures for the more effective application of the Convention, total prohibition within a stated time goes far beyond the language of the Convention.

6. The measures which have already been taken in Malaya and Hong Kong to give effect to the Article which I have quoted may be summarised as follows :—

The manufacture and wholesale distribution of prepared opium has been taken out of the hands of private persons, by the creation of Government Monopolies in the various Colonies, and steps are now being taken to complete this process by completely eliminating the licensed retailers. Government opium of high quality is sold at an artificially high price (fixed by the Government) with a view to restricting consumption. The amount that may be in the possession of any person at any time is strictly limited. Very heavy penalties (generally followed by banishment) are inflicted on persons found in possession of any opium other than Government opium, or convicted of trafficking in opium; and considerable forces of preventive officers with drastic powers of search are maintained.

*Page 43 in this Volume.

49

7. Apart from the high price charged for the Government opium and the penalties imposed in respect of illicit opium, there is no check on consumption; and although the Governors maintain that shortness of purse on the one hand and fear of the consequences on the other do in fact keep the opium habit well within bounds, it has to be admitted that the continuance of the present policy cannot lead to the total suppression of the sinoking habit.

8. This fact, as well as the fact that considerable proportions of the Colonial revenues are derived from the profits of the opium monopolies leaves the various Colonial Governments (and the British Government responsible for them) open to criticism, and the situation has to be faced. Before discussing the revenue question I propose to deal with the practicability of the institution of further measures for the more effective application of Article G of the Convention, and since the circumstances of the various territories are so radically different, it is necessary to consider them individually. I will deal first with Hong Kong, as the issue there is to some extent more clear cut

Hong Kong.

13

9 For the purpose of the question now before the Cabinet, Ilong Kong is geographically and racially an integral part of China, and with the exception of a mere handful, the whole of its population (estimated at well over a million) is Chinese. lt has a total area of 376 square miles, and a coast and frontier line of 400 miles over any part of which Chinese may come and go at will. In fact it is estimated that some A large ten to twelve thousand Chinese pass daily between Hong Kong and China. part of the population, having permanent homes in China, is in the Colony for a longer or shorter period according to the prospects of remunerative work; and there are periodical inrushes of refugees who escape from disorder in China and dribble back at varying intervals as quiet is restored to their individual village or districts. More- over, llong Kong is the second largest port in the world, and in addition to an immense trade in ocean-going and coasting steamers, the port is thronged by countless junks which come and go at will.

10. These conditions are sufficient to invalidate at once any comparison with places like Formosa, the Netherlands East Indies, or the Philippines, which are distinct from China, and where the Chinese are an alien and not an indigenous race and form a very small fraction of the total population. Even in such of these territories as have adopted them the systems of registration and rationing of opium smokers have (in the view of the Governor of the Straits Settlements) achieved only a limited success as regards the indigenous populations and non-success amounting practically to failure when it is sought to impose the same measures on the Chinese. The Governor also makes a

point of the fact that registration and rationing would check the flow of emigration of Chinese into Malaya, with very serious effects upon the labour supply and the prosperity of that country, and there would also, of course, be very serious effects on Hong Kong, if any measures taken impeded the free movement of Chinese from China to the Colony.

11. In Hong Kong, in the view of the Hong Kong Committee (in which the Governor concure), no system involving individual control of opium smokers (such as is involved in a system of registration and licensing) is possible. The keynotes to the situation are the undoubted existence of a wide-spread demand for opium for the purposes of smoking. the complete absence of any public opinion condemning the practice, the existence of unlimited supplies of Chinese, Turkish, and Persian opium, and in the circumstances outlined above the virtual impossibility of stopping smuggling. The Committee observe :-" Opium is carried in receptacles bolted outside the bottom of a junk, in a hollowed-out spar, in a compartment inside a tin of petrol, or a jar of wine, in the leg of a bedstead, in a bag of flour, in a woman's hair, in fact in every possible place in which the ingenuity of the Chinese can devise means to hide an article the bulk of which is as small as its value is large."

12. The Committee have expressed their conviction that any diminution in the amount of opium legitimately available would undoubtedly be counter-balanced by an increase in the use of illicit opium, and that if the use of opium were prohibited it is probable that the situation would get entirely out of hand. They suggest as a com- parison the placing of a small foreign Government in Marseilles, and the prohibition by it of the drinking of wine by the French within the town; except that opium is much more easily smuggled than wine. They suggest that it is impossible to prevent indul- gence in a practice which they describe as habitual in a nation of four hundred million people unless that nation desires to give up that indulgence, and unfortunately there is no present indication that the opium habit will be abandoned by the Chinese people in the near future.

606