CO129-395 - Public Offices - 1912 — Page 111

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As it is anticipated that the conference may be in a position to conclude its labours this week, the matter is one of considerable urgency.

Sir,

Enclosure 2 in No. 1.

Customs to Board of Trade.

I

um, &c.

GEO. J. STANLEY.

J

Custom-house, London, December 20, 1911. IN reply to your letter of the 20th (sic) instant, I am directed by the Board of Customs and Excise to acquaint you that they have no power under the existing law to prevent the importation or exportation of opium. If, however, the Government decide to adhere to the proposal made at The Hague Opium Conference that the importation and exportation of prepared opium should be prohibited, and if suitable legislation in this sense were passed, my Board would do their best to make the prohibition effective so far as the customs machinery could be adapted for the purpose.

I am to remind you, however, that duty-free goods are not examined by the customs on exportation.

am, &c.

I

E. C. CUNNINGHAM.

would be required before legislation were introduced with the object of conferring such them. But as the delegates were leaving London almost immediately for power upon The Hague there was no time to consult their lordships at this stage.

The Board have now received from the Board of Trade a letter (Enclosure No. 1) from which it appears that a proposal has been submitted to the conference "that the (participating Governments bind themselves to prohibit the importation and exportation of prepared opium.” A copy of the Board's reply is also attached (Enclosure No. 2). Here again, owing to the urgency of the matter, and the very limited time afforded to my Board for its consideration, there was no time to consult the Treasury.

The object of this letter is to inform their Lordships how the matter at present stands in relation to the Customs and Excise Department. Their Lordships have on several occasions expressed their reluctance to impose upon the department additional duties of a non-revenue character. If, however, the Government should decide to give its adhesion to a convention embodying stipulations which necessitate customs co-operation in preventing or restricting the importation of morphia, cocaine, or opium, my Board have no doubt but that machinery could be set up which would ensure the fulfilment of these stipulations as effectively as is reasonably possible with articles which lend themselves so readily to importation and exportation without being brought under the cognisance of the customs authorities. The requisite customs control over exports of these drugs could be secured by an extension of the Board's powers of requiring "due entry and clearance before shipment" under Section 139 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876.

&c.

I am,

J. P. BYRNE.

Ypt

Sir,

Enclosure 3 in No. 1.

Customs to Treasury.

Custom-house, London, January 6, 1912.

I AM directed by the Board of Customs and Excise to acquaint you that by their instructions Mr. Cunningham attended on the 27th ultimo a meeting of the British delegates to The Hague Opium Conference, in order to give them some information as to the extent to which the Customs and Excise Department could co-operate in giving effect to certain proposals that were likely to be laid before the conference.

It appeared that, having regard to the conditions on which the Government had agreed to join the conference, the British delegates were practically pledged to submit to the conference an outline of a scheme for "restricting the manufacture, sale, and distribution of morphia and cocaine," the ulterior object being to prevent the smuggling of these drugs into India and other eastern countries. The scheme provisionally drawn up for this purpose was briefly as follows :---

1. All manufacturers of, and dealers in, morphia and cocaine shall be required to take out a licence. Persons manufacturing or dealing in the above articles without a licence shall be liable to penalty.

2. All such manufacturers and dealers shall be required to keep a record of all transactions in such drugs, including the names and addresses of all persons from whom they obtain or to whom they sell them, and the quantity involved in each transaction.

3. It is advisable to prohibit the sale of these drugs except to persons authorised to purchase the same by licence or otherwise.

4. The customs shall be empowered to detain imported consignments, except in transit, of the above drugs until satisfied that the consignee is a licensed manufacturer or dealer, or a person duly authorised to receive the drugs.

5. Exportation to foreign countries, whether adhering to the convention or not, and to other portions of the British Empire, to be permitted only upon production to the customs authorities of a certificate from the country of destination that the consignee is authorised to import the drugs either in accordance with the stipulations of the convention or with local laws or regulations which in the opinion of the competent Government department are equally stringent.

In this scheme the co-operation of the Customs and Excise Department would only be required in connection with paragraphs 4 and 5, i.e., in detaining consignments of imported or exported morphia or cocaine unless certain conditions are fulfilled.

It was explained to the delegates that my Board have no power under the existing law to take the action suggested, and that the preliminary sanction of the Treasury