CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910 — Page 129

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Government for their consideration, and at the same time I beg that favour me with a reply.

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

OPIUM.

you

will

CONFIDENTIAL.

[May 14.]

17590

SECTION 15 JUN 10

127

Your Highness.

Enclosure 2 in No. 1.

Mr. Max Müller to Prince Chʻing.

I avail, &c.

Prince CHING.

[17147]

No. 1.

0

(

Board of Trade to Foreign Office(Received May 14.)

Sir,

Board of Trade, May 12, 1910.

Peking, April 20, 1910. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the note of the 13th instant, which your Highness was good enough to address to me on the subject of the opium prohibition question. In this note it is claimed that, whereas by the agreement between the two Governments the export of opium from India for 1909 should amount to 40,800 chests, the Customs returns show that an excess of 1,382 chests over that amount of Indian opium has been imported into China during that year.

The proposal of His Majesty's Government for a progressive diminution in the export of opium from India for a period of three years from the 1st January, 1908, was contained in Sir John Jordan's note of the 12th August, 1907, and was accepted by the Chinese Government in a note from your Highness dated the 2nd December, 1907. This proposal was as follows:-

The average total annual export for the years 1901 to 1905 of opium from India to countries beyond the seas having been 67,000 chests, of which China took 51,000, the Indian Government undertook, during the next three years, to diminish annually the total amount exported by one-tenth of the average amount taken annually by China; thus, in 1906, the amount exported would be limited to 61,900 chests, in 1909 to 56,800 chests (not 40,800 chests, as stated in your Highness' note), and in 1910 to 51,700 chests.

The agreement between the two Governments contained no provision preventing the 16,000 chests, the average annual export of opium from India to places other than China, from finding their way to Chinese ports should market conditions make such a course advantageous. This omission, coupled with the enormous rise in the price of opium in China is probably the explanation of the fact that more than 40,800 chests have been imported into China in the last year, and it is to be regretted that such an eventuality was not foreseen at the time the agreement was made. I am, however, referring the matter to the consideration of His Majesty's Government, and will not fail to communicate their reply in due course,

Your Highness is doubtless aware that the present is the last of the three years during which His Majesty's Government agreed to enforce a progressive reduction of the export of opium from India, and they will therefore shortly have to consider the question whether the Chinese Government have carried out the arrangements on their part for reducing the production and consumption of opium in China in such a manner as to justify His Majesty's Government in continuing the annual diminution of the export from India. I would therefore take this opportunity to remind your Highness that the freedom of the wholesale trade in the treaty ports between native dealers and the importing merchants was regarded as a condition of the arrangement by which the Indian Government agreed to a progressive reduction in the opium trade in the three years ending 1910, and to point out that should proposals be made by China for the continuance of that arrangement for a further term on the ground that she has fulfilled her share of the existing agreement, the Government of India will naturally expect to be satisfied that the condition in question has been observed, and that it will continue to be observed by the provincial Governments.

I avail, &c.

W. G. MAX MÜLLER.

I AM directed by the Board of Trade to transmit to you herewith, for Sir E. Grey's information, copy

of correspondence which has passed between the Colonial Office and this department, relative to the exportation of morphine from the United Kingdom to Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements.

I have, &c.

Enclosure 1 in No. 1.

Colonial Office to Board of Trade.

GEO. J. STANLEY.

Sir,

Downing Street, January 1, 1910. I AM directed by the Earl of Crewe to transmit to you, to be laid before the Board of Trade, a copy of a despatch from the Governor of Hong Kong, with regard to the exportation of morphine from the United Kingdom.

2. Lord Crewe would be glad to be informed whether it is the intention of the Board to deal with the matter by legislation in the near future.

Enclosure 2 in No. 1.

I am, &c.

H. BERTRAM COX.

Governor Sir F. Lugard to the Earl of Crewe.

My Lord,

Government House, Hong Kong, September 24, 1909. IN reply to your Lordship's despatch No. 160 of the 18th'ultimo, I have the honour to forward the enclosed memorandum which explains the circumstances in which this Government decided to reduce the royalty payable to the opium farmer on morphine from 30 dollars to 10 dollars per tael, and the precautions taken to prevent the sale of morphine in this colony except for legitimate medical purposes.

2. As your Lordship will have noted from the printed memorandum enclosed in my confidential despatch of the 15th March last, I hold the view very strongly indeed that the sale of morphine, and of opium for eating, which is rapidly increasing in China, constitutes a more serious danger to the welfare of the Chinese nation-and also to the Chinese population of this colony-than the smoking of the drug. I would invite your Lordship's attention more particularly to the last three paragraphs of the enclosed memorandum from which you will see that as from the 28th February next the sale by unqualified Chinese venders of morphine and compounds of opium will entirely cease, and the highest reasonable duty will be imposed upon both morphine and opium sold by reputable chemists under effective supervision.

3. I would venture in this connection to remind your Lordship that morphine is (as I understand) very largely exported to China and Hong Kong from the United Kingdom, and to suggest that those who are deeply interested in curtailing the export of opium from India, and in restricting its consumption for smoking in British colonies, should investigate the conditions of the home trade in morphia with the Far East, and the extent of the participation of the United Kingdom in the profits of a trade which in common with the highest expert authorities I am convinced to be a source of the greatest danger to China."

I have, &c.

[2705 0-1]

F. D. LUGARD.

B