CO129-381 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1911 [11-12] — Page 404

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Enclosure 1.

Prince Devawongse to Mr. Beckett.c

1715 304

Hue 17 JAN 12!

Foreign Office, Bangkok,

1st. November, 1911.

Monsieur le Charge' d'Affaires,

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of

your letter of the 4th. instant, communicating a request on behalf of the Government of Hongkong that the Siamese Government should pro- -hibit the export to that Colony of opium, dross opium, morphine or compounds of opium, except for medicinal purposes.

In reply I beg to say that His Majesty's Govern- -ment feels every sympathy with the desire to control the trade in these drugs, and will be glad to co-operate as far as it is possible

to do so. Under the existing treaties, however, any attempt to enforce

such a prohibition against foreign subjects not under Siamese juris- -diction would meet with opposition and protest. It would, therefore,

be unfair to enact such a prohibition against persons under Siamese

jurisdiction only, especially as such partial prohibition would be

quite ineffective.

The foregoing is an exposition of the present

situation as a matter of principle. In practice, however, I may say

that hitherto there has been practically no exportation of opium from Siam to Hongkong. If in fature such cases should occur, His Majesty's

Government will:-

1. inform the British Legation at Bangkok of the facts, leaving it to the Legation to convey the information to the Hongkong

Government if it sees fit to do 80.

2. warn the exporter that the importation of these drugs into Hongkong is forbidden.

Trusting that this will sufficiently indicate the desire of this Government to co-operate with the Government of Hong-

-kong, I avail myself &c.

(Sd.) Devawongse.

Minister for Foreign Affairs.

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