CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909 — Page 607

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Sir,

Inclosure 4 in No. 1.

Consul-General Sir P. Warren to Sir J. Jordan.

Shanghae, July 20, 1909. I HAVE the honour to enclose a copy with a Chinese translation of a despatch addressed to his Excellency Jui-ch'eng, governor of Kiangsu, pointing out that the new rules for the licensing of shops selling raw and (or) boiled opium and of smokers of opium in the province of Kiangsu would, if applied to foreign opium, tend to create a monopoly in an article of trade legally imported, and also a translation and copy of the governor's reply, in which he states that he has instructed the bureau for the suppression of opium in the province of Kiangsu that these new rules apply solely to Chinese native grown opium.

I have, &c.

Sir,

Inclosure 5 in No. 1..

PELHAM L. WARREN,

Consul-General Sir P. Warren to Governor of Kiangsu, Jui,

Shanghue, July 20, 1909. I HAVE the honour to address you on the subject of a proclamation issued on the 15th day of 4th moon of this year by the bureau of opium suppression for the province of Kiangsu.

This proclamation contains provisions for limiting the sale of raw and for prepared opium by confining it to those dealers who receive official licences, the number of which is to be fixed by official investigation and no increase allowed thereafter.

This provision, if carried out and applied to dealers in foreign opium, will amount to the creation of a monopoly, thus restricting in a manner contrary to treaty stipulations free trade in an article which is legally imported.

Further, the provision that no opium is to be bought by persons without licences will, if applied to foreign opium, operate as a restriction on the trade by discouraging the sellers of the drug from dealing with the foreign opium merchants.

As you are aware, a special agreement has been made between the Governments of Great Britain and China for the reduction of the import of Indian opium, which agreement is being faithfully carried out by the British Government in order to assist China in the suppression of the opium habit; at present, however, the import of Indian opium is still legal, although the annual reduction will eventually result in the extinction of the trade, and it is manifestly unfair, besides being contrary to treaty, that a class of merchants whose trade is thus in process of extinction should be subject to further harrassing by the restriction of their business while it is still legal.

For this reason, when similar action to that contemplated in the proclamation referred to was taken by the provinces of Chekiang, Kuang-tung, Hupei, Anhui, and Kiangnan, protests were addressed by the British consuls to the local authorities and also by the British Minister to the Central Government, with the result that assurances were received that the regulations applied only to native opium, and that the trade in foreign opium would not be interfered with, on the 16th May last, the Nanking Viceroy stating this personally to the British consul at Nanking.

Now that it is proposed to introduce new regulations for opium suppression into the province of Kiangsu, I trust that you will give instructions to the bureau concerned to make it clear that these regulations apply to native opium only, and do not apply in any way to Indian opium, in order to preserve the freedom of legitimate trade.

Sir,

5

Inclosure 6 in No. 1.

Governor of Kiangsu, Jui, to Consul-General Sir P. Warren.

July 25, 1909.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your despatch of the 20th instant on the subject of a proclamation issued by the bureau of opium suppression for the province of Kiangsu that shops dealing in raw or boiled opium were to take out a licence, and that in future no more such shops were to be allowed to open; that no one who did not take out a smoker's licence would be permitted to purchase raw or boiled opium, and pointing out that if these rules were carried out and applied to foreign opium the trade in this article would be limited (to certain dealers), and requesting that I would direct that bureau to give notice, in the interests of free trade, that these new rules were intended to apply to Chinese raw and boiled opium.

The suppression of opium in the Kiangsu jurisdiction is to be attained by using the same regulations as are in force in the jurisdiction of Nanking. As the Nanking regulations apply solely to native grown opium, it is needless to say that in the Kiangsu jurisdiction foreign opium will not be interfered with.

The issue of licences to shops dealing in raw opium and to opium smokers is solely intended to facilitate the investigation of the increase or decrease of the production and sale of Chinese grown opium and of the number of smokers.

The amount of opium grown in Hsü-chou in the Kiangsu province was very considerable, but (the magistrate of that district) has now reported that it has been entirely uprooted. Such are the measures for suppressing opium in the province of Kiangsu, which in no way limit (the sale of) foreign opium, and that they are not in any way intended to promote the sale of Chinese grown opium is, you may rest assured, self-evident and above discussion.

I have given the (opium suppression) bureau instructions in this sense, aud

(Seal of Governor of Kiangsu.)

have, &e.

0

I have, &c.

PELHAM L. WARREN.