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entry of the drug unless in accordance with the regulations of the receiving country. This resolution was carried unanimously and forms the basis of clauses (b) and (c) of article 8 of the convention.
33. Two further resolutions of the American delegation were carried without opposition, and laid down (1) that any prepared opium which might be exported from one of the participating countries should bear a special mark of identification, and (2) that the export of prepared opium should only be allowed to specially authorised These resolutions form the basis of clauses (d) and (e) of article 8 of the con- vention.
persons.
34. The concluding American resolution, brought forward at this session, was that the Universal Postal Union should prohibit the transmission of prepared opium through the post. It was pointed out by Sir Cecil Clementi Smith that the conference had no power to bind the Postal Union in this, and the resolution was consequently carried in the following form:---
Qu'il est à désirer que des mesures soient adoptées par l'Union postale universelle pour réglémenter la transmission de l'opium préparé par la poste.
It now finds place, like the similar resolution on the subject of raw opium, as a vou in the final protocol, clause 1 (3).
35. At the seventh session (13th December) the last American resolution on the subject of prepared opium was brought forward, and passed, with an amendment suggested by the Japanese delegation, in the following form :-
Il est convenu que tous les Gouvernements représentés à la conférence prendront des mesures pour la suppression graduelle et efficace de la fabrication, de la distribution et de l'usage de l'opium préparé, en tenant compte des conditions différentes de chacun des pays en cause.
It forms the basis of article 6 of the convention.
36. It may be conveniently mentioned here that at the tenth session (18th December), the Persian delegate brought forward a resolution that prepared opium found in transit between one country and another should be considered contraband, and forthwith destroyed. After some discussion as to whether this resolution should be referred to the Programine Committee, or dealt with at once by the conference, the latter course was adopted. It was then pointed out by ourselves and by the French delegation that the proposal was an impracticable one, and that it would involve the right of searching vessels, which was one of the items in the original American programme to which is Majesty's Government had taken exception. Finally the resolution was negatived nem. com, even its sponsor refraining from voting for it.
37. The most important business of the seventh, eighth, and ninth sessious was the carrying by the British delegation of a series of resolutions in respect of morphia and cocaine, and it will be convenient to deal with these together in later paragraphs. The other matters not as yet mentioned at these sessions, were the following
38. Seventh session (13th December). The first part of this session was of an informal character, and devoted to the reception of the Dutch and British anti-opium societies who had expressed a desire to attend. The Dutch representative spoke very briefly, and Sir Matthew Dodsworth, the president of the British society, delivered an eloquent and tactful speech which produced a very good impression on the couference.
39. During the eighth session (14th December) the Chinese delegation submitted a report on the subject of the measures taken to suppress opium in Chine. In the course of his introductory remarks, their spokesman, Mr. Tang Kwo-an, referred to the intelligence reported in the "Times" that one incident of the revolutionary movement He said that if this had been a revival of opium cultivation in Yünnan and Szechuan. was true, it was only a regrettable incident of the present situation, and that when order was re-established, the Chinese Government would pursue its anti-opium measures with still greater energy than before. Mr. Max Müller pointed that a number of the figures in regard to reduction of opium cultivation furnished in the Chinese memorandum were reproductions of statistics which Sir Alexander Hosie had shown to be inaccurate at the Shanghai commission; and Mr. Tang admitted that the figures were estimates only.
40. M. Guesde (France) then asked the American delegation (a) which of the countries not represented at the conference had refused an invitation to be present; (b) which States, while not attending the conference, had declared themselves ready to adhere to its proposals; and (c) what States had not been invited at all.
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M. Guesde pointed out, as justifying these questions, that Peru and Bolivia might quite well set up as cocaine producers, and that Trieste might become a port of transport for the drugs whose abuses the conference wishes to check. These observations were supported by the Russian and Portuguese delegations; and M. Cremer, on behalf of the Dutch delegation, said that his Government was ready to invite the Governments not represented to associate themselves with the proposals of the conference. Dr. Hamilton Wright gave no categorical answer to the questions put, but observed that it would be extraordinary if outside Powers did not adhere to the proposals of the conference. He also stated that he would probably present a resolution to the effect that if countries which produced opium, or were interested in the trade in opium and its various drugs, did not adhere to the convention, their products should be considered as outside the bounds of legitimate commerce. Mr. Max Müller pointed out, in reply, that such action would conflict with the most-favoured-nation clauses of commercial treaties.
41. The Chinese delegation had framed and distributed a number of printed questions addressed to the delegations of Germany, France, Great Britain, Japan, Portugal, and Russia on the subject of opium administration in their Far Eastern possessions. The questions were couched in an inquisitorial style, and assumed the right of the Chinese delegation to investigate the efficacy and sincerity of the internal regulations of other countries.
At the ninth session (15th December) M. Guesde (France) took exception to these questions, and asked very pertinently whether the delegates were sitting in an international conference, or had become a commission of inquisitorial investigation. He emphatically refused to follow the Chinese delegation in its attempt to make for the latter category; and observed that, if this method was adopted, the Chinese themselves might be subjected to very inconvenient questions as to the resumption of opium cultivation in provinces in which it was alleged to have disappeared, or the extent to which the Chinese Government had facilitated the efforts of the Government of Indo-China to deal with the smuggling of opium, and other such matters.
42. The Russian, Portuguese, and Japanese delegations emphatically supported the French view; and we also opposed any action being taken on the questions, Mr. Max Müller pointing out that in some cases the Chinese already know the answers to them, while in others they could have obtained information through the ordinary diplomatic channels. Dr. Hamilton Wright alone supported the Chinese view that their questions were proper and relevant. The president, being called on for a ruling, held that only such questions as were germane to the issues iminediately before the conference should be proceeded with, but in answer to a suggestion by Mr. Tang declined to take the responsibility of deciding which of the questions came within this category. Finally the Chinese questions were dropped, and nothing more was heard of them,
The Chinese procedure on this occasion was typical of an attitude often assumed by their delegation. "They were constantly endeavouring to pose as the protagonists in the matter of opium reform, and to divert attention from their own shortcomings by endeavouring to cross-question other people, forgetting that this was just the way to provoke retort. As a matter of fact, the Chinese were treated with singular for- bearance throughout the conference. The other delegations generously refrained from drawing attention to the possibility of the actions of the Chinese Government of the futuro being widely divergent from the promises of the Chinese Government of the past; and it was only when the Chinese themselves, by their own action, made it necessary for this matter to be cautiously alluded to that any such doubts were hinted at.
43. We now return to the subject of morphine and cocaine. In view of the fact that it was on the initiative of His Majesty's Government that measures in respect of these drugs had become an integral part of the conference programme, it was obviously for the British delegation to suggest the specific restrictions to be adopted; and in the memorandum referred to in paragraph 7 above we were informed that His Majesty's Government considered that such action might be on the following lines :----
(1.) All manufacturers of, and dealers in, morphia and cocaine shall be required to take out a licence. Persous manufacturing or dealing in the above articles without licence shall be liable to penalty.
(2.) All such manufacturers and dealers will 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. This record shall be open to inspection and verification by a Government officer.
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