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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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His Highness the Rajah of Sarawak, to their States not being excluded from the application of the Agreement and the Protocol when His Majesty's ratification of the Agreement is communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations. I am in communication with the British North Borneo Company as regards the State of North Borneo.

4. In regard to the declarations contained in the Preamble to the Agreement and in Article Ï of the Protocol it is, I think, hardly necessary for me to remind you that while it is recognized that, in existing circumstances it is impossible to assign a definite date by which the final suppression of the use of prepared opium can be achieved, it is the earnest desire of His Majesty's Government that all steps practicable in the circumstances should continue to be taken to give the fullest possible effect to the obligations assumed under Article & of The Hague Convention. In this connexion, I desire to place on record my appreciation of the care and thoroughness with which the inquiries of the British Malaya Opium Committee were carried out, and I request that you will convey an expression of my appreciation to the members of the Com- mittee. I note with satisfaction that all the Malayan Governments have accepted the Committee's recommendations, and I approve of their adoption as a working basis for the policy to be followed in Malaya. I trust that the preliminary measures (such as the elimination of the private retail shops and smoking rooms) will be carried out with the greatest possible despatch, in order to pave the way for the introduction at the earliest possible moment of the measures of control over smokers individually. which were regarded by the Committee as the essential means for ultimately bringing about the complete suppression of the practice of opium smoking.

5. In this connexion I have to inform you that the draft Protocol originally sub- mitted to the Conference by the British Delegation contained the following provision

"The steps to be taken (at the beginning of the period of fifteen years referred to in Article 2 of the Protocol) shall include the necessary measures to prevent the use of prepared opium being adopted by the persons not already smokers, and to prevent the supply of opium to new immigrants, in so far as these steps may not have already been taken at that date."

6. This provision was designed partly as a means of restricting the consumption of prepared opium during the period of fifteen years allowed under Article 2 of the Protocol for the complete suppression of the use of prepared opium, and partly as a guarantee that the number of habitual addicts whose case will fall to be dealt with at the end of the period of fifteen years, under Article 5 of the Protocol, will be reduced to a minimum, It was felt that in the absence of some such provision Article 5 of the Protocol would have been open to the criticism that it provides a loophole for the signatory States to continue to derive considerable revenues by the supply of prepared opium to certified addicts after the end of the period of fifteen years. I trust that the measures introduced to carry out the recommendations of the Malayan Opium Com- mittee will be so designed as to make it possible to carry out this policy at the beginning of the period of fifteen years.

7. Immediate steps should be taken to give legislative effect to such provisions of the Agreement as require it and are not already covered by existing legislation in order that His Majesty's Government may be in a position to ratify the Agreement at the earliest possible date; and I should be glad to be furnished with a memorandum in due course indicating the action taken and contemplated in regard to each Article of the Agreement. In this connexion you will observe that a number of the Articles of the Agreement are qualified by such phrases as "all possible steps,

"" as much as possible," and a good deal of criticism has been directed against the Agreement on the ground of the vagueness of these provisions. It is the desire of His Majesty's Government that the steps taken to give effect to the Agreement shall demonstrate the serious intention of the Colonial and Protectorate Government to carry out to the utmost the policy laid down in the Articles in question. It will, of course, be under- stood that in so far as the provisions of the Agreement fall short of the existing practice, or the policy already decided upon, it is not intended that such practice or policy should be modified.

8. As regards the prohibition of the export and transit of prepared opium, laid down in Article VI of the Agreement. I have to explain that it is not intended that any interference should be caused thereby in the existing arrangements for the supply of prepared opium to the Malay States from the Straits Settlements Government factory

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at Singapore. In this respect Article VI of the Agreement will be interpreted in the same manner as Article VII of The Hague Convention (vide the late Viscount (then Mr.) Harcourt's despatch No. 58 of the 8th of March, 1912).*

9. In your communication to His Highness the Rajah of Sarawak, you should embody so much of this despatch as you may consider necessary to acquaint him with the views of His Majesty's Government.

I have, &c.

(for the Secretary of State),

W. G. ORMSBY GORE.

(II) PAPERS (1926-1927) RELATING TO THE DISCUSSION OF THE OPIUM POLICY BY AN INTERDEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE, 1926, AND THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS, 1927.

C. 20941/26 [No. 1].

SIR,

No. 78.

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE. [Answered by No. 79.]

Foreign Office, S.W.1, 9th November, 1926. I AM directed by Secretary Sir Austen Chamberlain to transmit to you herewith a copy of a minute by Lord Cecil suggesting that a Committee of representatives of the Home Office, Colonial Office, and Foreign Office should be called to consider what attitude His Majesty's Government ought to adopt in view of the recent large increases in the purchase and consumption of opium in the Straits Settlements.

2. Sir Austen Chamberlain concurs in Lord Cecil's proposal and, if the Secretary of State for the Home Department agrees and subject to the concurrence of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, he would suggest that the date for the meeting of the proposed Committee, which should be an carly one, should be fixed by the Home Office, and that the Committee should be called by that department.

3. Lord Cecil has expressed his willingness to serve on the Committee, and representatives of the Foreign Office would also be appointed.

4. A similar letter has been addressed to the Home Office, and a copy of the present letter has been sent to the India Office for their information.

SIR AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN,

Enclosure in No. 78. MINUTE BY LORD CECIL.

"

I am, &c.,

F. ASHTON-GWATKIN.

Br The Hague Opium Convention, Chapter 2, Articles 6 and 7, the signatories, including the British Government, undertook to take measures for the gradual and effective suppression of the manufacture of, internal trade in, and use of prepared

and to opium

As you know, certain prohibit the import of prepared opium." of our Crown Colonies, including Singapore, have felt unable to do more in execution of this undertaking than to make the sale of prepared opium a Government monopoly. But they have given an undertaking that if and when the smuggling of opium from China can be suppressed they will also suppress altogether the sale of prepared opium. That was the position I was instructed to take up last year at the Opium Conference and, as I think you felt, it was not in all respects a very agreeable thesis for a British At that time the representative to maintain, although it was practically defensible. position was a little complicated by the fact that the opium sold by the Government of Singapore was produced and sold to them by the Government of India and our critics, particularly in America, constantly alleged that we were ministering to the vices of the Chinese in order to assist (1) the revenue of India, and (2) the revenue of our Crown Colonies. Since then India has announced that she will abandon the export of opium. Unfortunately at the same time the Government of Singapore has enor- mously increased its import of opium, and in order to supply the deficiency from India

*2388/12: not printed.