CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911 — Page 371

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

368

со

OPIUM.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[31176]

(No 296.) Sir,

No. 1.

[August 8.]

27903

SECTION 2

REC Rrat 25 AUG 1

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received August 8.)

WITH reference to your telegram No. 108 of the 15th instant and to my telegram

Peking, July 20, 1911. No. 161 of to-day's date, regarding the desire of the Government of India to obtain the earliest possible information of the amount by which the exports of certified opium will have to be reduced during the next three years, I have the honour to state that, owing to the imperfect knowledge in Hong Kong and the treaty ports of China of the marks on certificated opium on the 8th May, the task of distinguishing uncertificated from certificated opium was found exceedingly difficult, and, in the case of Shanghai, where the great bulk of the opium had accumulated, this difficulty was further increased by the fact that many of the original covers of the chests were matted over, necessitating the examination of each chest, a process which, when several thousands of chests are involved, will require considerable time to complete. Another difficulty has been that the certificates are largely in the hands of Chinese purchasers whose interest it is to withhold their production.

The stocks of opium in bond at Shanghai on the 3th May are given as 15,042 chests, of which 4,604 were found certificated, but 2,370 still remain unclassed, while during the period from the 8th May to the 15th July, at which latter date all ports were closed to uncertificated opium, the import into Shanghai amounted to 9731 chests for which no certificates had then been produced.

At the other treaty ports stocks of uncertificated opium in bond on the 8th May amounted to over 400 chests, principally at Foochow, Swatow, aud Amoy; but the figures received from some of the ports are doubtful, and discrepancies have to be adjusted. The import of uncertificated opium into Canton during the period from the 8th May to the 15th July amounted to 198 chests.

As regards Hong Kong, the stocks of uncertificated opium in the colony on the 8th May are placed as 1,330 chests, but the certificate of the colonial and Chinese customs authorities has not yet been received.

Exclusive of the 2,370 chests unclassed at Shanghai, part of which is probably uncertificated, the total number of chests of uncertificated opium in stock in Hong Kong and in bond at the treaty ports on the 8th May, together with the uncertificated imports at Shanghai and Canton between the 8th May and the 15th July, is roughly 12,000 chests, and pending adjustments and the receipt of exact figures, which will be at once communicated to the Government of India, I think that 13,000 chests may be taken as the approximate quantity on which to base the reduced exports of certificated opium from India during the next three years.

I have, &c.

J. N. JORDAN.

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