CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909 — Page 439

This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.j

C.O. 17912

CHINA TRADE.

CONFIDENTIAL.

IRECR

Rec 27 MAY 09

No. 1.

437

[April 17.3

SECTION 3.

[14368]

(No. 92.)

Sir,

}

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.(Received April 17.)

Peking, March 2, 1909. WITH reference to previous correspondence, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith copies of documents, as marked in the margin,* relating to the recent International Opium Conference at Shanghae.

I have the honour to report the closure of the Conference and the resolutions adopted by it in my telegram No. 52 of the 27th ultimo.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

J. N. JORDAN,

Inclosure 1 in No. 1.

Speech by Sir A. Hosie at the International Opium Conference at Shanghae.

THERE is no member of this Commission more in sympathy than I am with the desire and aim of the Government of China to eradicate the cultivation of the poppy and the consumption of opium in China, for it has been my lot to reside and travel for years in the chief opium producing centres of the Empire, in Szechuen, Yunnan, and Kueichow, and to have had personal contact with the wretchedness, poverty, misery, and evil which the abuse of opium has brought to the people of these three Western Provinces. I trust therefore that in putting some questions in regard to statements made in the Memorandum on opium presented to this Commission by the Chinese delegates, and in calling attention to points that appear to the British delegation to require elucidation I shall be exonerated from the charge of earping criticism, and that it will be understood that my sole object is to arrive at facts which are intended to assist, not to embarrass, China in carrying out the gigantic task which she has set herself to accomplish.

Mr. Tong in presenting the Memorandum disarmed serious criticism by stating that it has been impossible to procure or present returns of the acreage under poppy or of the number of smokers. Acreage was called for by the Imperial Decree of the 26th June, 1907, and by regulations approved by Imperial Decree on the 23rd May, 1908, the provincial authorities were called upon to direct the local authorities to make returns within six months of the area of land under poppy for transmission to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Interior, and by the same regulations the provincial authorities were instructed to obtain from their subordinates the number of opium smokers before the end of the year for transmission to the same Ministries for purposes of record. The wording of the Imperial Decree in regard to acreage is the following:-"It is also commanded that an annual return of the land under opium cultivation be made by way of verification and to meet the desire of the Court to relieve the people of this evil." Such returns have not been laid before this Commission and the British delegation would ask the Chinese delegates whether they are in a position to state that returns of acreage and smokers will be made for each province and duly published as official documents. Mr. Tong might have informed the Commission with equal truth that it was impossible to furnish au official reliable return of the production of opium in China; but an attempt has been made to arrive at a rough estimate of production and to draw a comparison between the output of 1905 and 1906 when the Imperial Decree was issned; but this rough approximation of production loses much of its value as it is admitted in the Memo- randum that as regards the inland provinces--the greatest opium-producing districts in

* The British, Austro-Hungarian, Japanese, German, Chinese, Netherlands, Italian, Canadian, Persisu, French Indo-China, American, Portuguese. Siamese, and Indian Memoranda; questions and answers of British, Dutch, and Chinese Delegations; and Minutes of 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th Meetings of Conference (under separate cover).

B

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