CO129-343 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907 — Page 103

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and be liable to a fine of twice their value.

Articles VI and VII discuss the preparation of

remedies for the cure of the opium craving, their

sale at a fixed price, or free distribution, the

establishment of anti-opium societies, and the for-

mation of en enlightened public opinion on the sub-

jecb.

Article VIII charges the local authorities with

the duty of leading the movement, giving effect to

all provisions regarding reports, inspections and

licences, inculcates the necessity of personal atten-

tion to these matters, and severely forbids any exac-

tions on the part of underlings.

Article IX forbide the smoking of opium by of-

ficials of high rank: a number of such persons are

enumerated who must solicit the permission of the

Throne to be allowed to give up the habit within a

fixed time or in default, to lose their post, if an

official, or to have their rank pass on to the next

in succession, if a hereditary nobie.

For all other officials the time limit is six

months.

Teachers, scholars, officers and men of the

Army

Army and Navy, 1f opium smokers, are to be dismissed

within three months.

Article X deals with the negotiations which are

to be entered into with Great Britain and the Govern-

ments of other opium importing countries with the

view of insuring that the import of foreign opium

shall decrease pari passu with the decrease of the

native drug and shall cease entirely at the end of

the specified ten years.

Measures are also to be taken for enforcing the

eleventh Article of the British Commercial Treaty

and preventing the importation of morphia or instru-

ments for its injection except for medical use.

The lith Article provides for the issue of pro-

clamations promulgating the Regulations for generai

observence.

So far as the Rules are concerned, they seem to

leave nothing to be desired in regard to their com-

pleteness of scope and thoroughness of aim and the

main point which arises for consideration is whether

they are capable of being enforced in practice. On

thi s

3.