CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910 — Page 413

M to amsoodadł si

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

CO

7291

411

OPIUM.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[5267]

No. 1.

[February 21.]

REGE TI MAR 10

SECTION 1.

Sir,

Foreign Office to India Office.

Foreign Office, February 21, 1910. WITH reference to the letter from your department of the 27th November last, I am directed by Secretary Sir E. Grey to transmit to you herewith a copy of a letter from the London and Edinburgh Committee for the suppression of the opium traffic,* urging that His Majesty's Government should take steps for modifying the arrange- ment whereby the Government of India have undertaken to bring the exportation from India to China to a close within ten years.

The following considerations occur on this communication :---

The committee quote as a reason for the modification of the ten years' agreement the fact that in the greater part of the provinces of China decrees have been issued by the Chinese Government ordering the cessation of the cultivation of opium with one, or at most two years, and apparently assume that the issue of a decree is in itself sufficient to ensure the attainment of the object in view within the time specified. Szechuan is included among the provinces cited as having been ordered to cease cultivation within the year. This province is notoriously the one where it is admitted the greatest difficulty will be encountered in carrying through the intended reforms, as by far the larger proportion of the native grown opium of China comes from that province.

All authorities are agreed that some time must yet elapse before the opium evil in Szechuan can be eradicated, and of this fact the committee must be well aware, from a perusal of the report of the acting British consul at Chungking, which was laid before Parliament simultaneously with Mr. Max Müller's report, to which they refer. Mr. Sly states in that report that no progress had been made on the eastern side of the province, that in most districts no steps had been taken towards suppressing the cultivation of opium, while in some there had been an actual increase in the amount grown in 1908.

It may be desirable to draw the attention of the committee to these facts, and Sir E. Grey would propose at the same time to refer them to the information contained in the annual report of the trade of China for 1908 (p. 38), in regard to the move- ments of native opium in China for that year. No diminution appeared to have taken place at that date.

With regard to restrictions being placed on the export trade of morphine from this country to the Far East, Lord Morley is aware that the Board of Trade have decided to defer taking any steps in this direction pending a decision in regard to the participation of this country in the Opium Conference which the United States have proposed shall assemble at The Hague. It would, therefore, seem sufficient, in replying on this point, to state that the matter has not escaped the attention of His Majesty's Government.

These observations might be embodied in a provisional reply to the Edinburgh Committee, but Sir E. Grey would be glad to have Lord Morley's view in regard to this communication, and is of opinion that it would be advisable to obtain the views of His Majesty's Minister at Peking before sending a definite reply to the committee. At the same time I am to enquire whether the Government of India have as yet furnished any reply to the suggestion of Sir J. Jordan and Sir A. Hosie, which was referred to the India Office in the letter from this department of the 4th November last, that at the end of this year consular officers should be dispatched to the principal opium producing provinces of China with a view to ascertaining whether the steps which are being taken by China for the suppression of opium justify His Majesty's Government in adhering to the arrangement for suspending the Indian traffic within ten years. In the event of the Government of India concurring in this suggestion, the fact that an investigation of the matter was to be undertaken might be communi- cated to memorialists addressing His Majesty's Government on the subject.

I am, &c.

F. A. CAMPBELL.

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* London and Edinburgh Committee, February 12, 1910.