CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910 — Page 382

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

379

2

easy to realise how critical the situation has become, and with what alarm the future is viewed if energetic steps are not taken by His Majesty's Government to bring about a speedy abolition of this tax and the immediate withdrawal of all other restrictive

measures.

We and other British merchants have been engaged in the opium trade for many years, and have been trading under certain conditions secured to us by treaties; it is only right and equitable then that before these conditions are modified or altered, due notice and sufficient time should be given to enable merchants to dispose of their stocks and obtain their money from their purchasers. Apart from the fact that we as British merchants are entitled to have the support of our Government in the legitimate pursuit of our trade, we must be all the more entitled to that support when it is realised that the opium which we import is bought from the Government of India, on the clear understanding that no interference with the freedom of its sale in China will be allowed.]

We have, &c.

E. D. SASSOON AND Co.

[B]

OPIUM.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[24450]

No. 1.

India Office to Foreign Office.(Received July 7.)

C O 22504

[July 7.]

SECTION 2.

Rres 22 JUL 10)

Sir,

India Office, July 6, 1910. IN continuation of this office's letter dated the 1st July, 1910, on the subject of the proposed Opium Conference at The Hague, I am directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to forward, for the information of Sir Edward Grey, a copy of a letter from the Government of India, stating the action that they have taken and propose to take with regard to the resolutions adopted by the International Opium Commission at Shanghai.

I have, &c.

Enclosure 1 in No. 1.

COLIN G. CAMPBELL.

My Lord,

Government of India to Viscount Morley,

Simla, June 2, 1910.

WE have the honour to refer to your Lordship's despatch dated the 6th August, 1909, in which you ask for a statement of the action which we propose to take in regard to resolutions 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 adopted by the International Opium Commission at Shanghai.

2. We enclose copies of the letters which we have issued to local governments on this subject. In the first two of these, dated the 25th October, 1909, we asked for their recommendations on certain special points arising out of the commission's resolutions. In the last, dated the 26th May, 1910, and written after a full consideration of the commission's report, we communicated our concurrence in the resolutions, and intimated that we were prepared to consider any practicable means of rendering them effective in this country. Your Lordship will also have observed the references to this subject in paragraphs 48 and 49 of the speech in which our honourable colleague, Sir Guy Fleetwood Wilson, introduced the financial statement for 1910-11 in the Legislative Council.

3. Pending the receipt of replies from the local governments, we are not in a position to state what precise action it will be possible to take in the directions suggested by the International Commission; but we may with advantage indicate at once our provisional opinions. Of the five resolutions which we are asked to consider, two bear on the question of internal regulation. In the first of these the commission recommend the gradual suppression of the practice of opium smoking with due regard to the varying circumstances of the different countries concerned, and in the other they suggest the desirability of a re-examination by each country of its own system of regulation with a view (as the preamble to the resolution implies) to incorporating in it any improvements which may be expected to ensure an increasingly stringent control over the use of the drug.

4. As your Lordship is aware, the practice of opium smoking has never been generally adopted in India, it is discouraged by public opinion, and very severely restricted by our own regulations. The sale of smoking preparations is entirely prohibited, and the 600 shops where such sale was previously carried on have been abolished. No individual is allowed to be in possession of a quantity of opium prepared for smoking exceeding 180 grains in weight, and in several provinces this restriction has been supplemented by a further rule limiting the aggregate quantity which may be possessed by a party of persons to a maximum of 900 grains. The quantity of opium daily used by an opium smoker is so large in comparison with that required by an opium eater,

[2812 g-2]

*

Excluding Burmah.

B