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of Persia and Siam in regard to articles 15 to 19; and by the Persian delegate alone in regard to article 3 (a).
131. Looking now to the convention as a whole, it will be observed, from the foregoing history of the proceedings of the conference, that its chapter I, dealing with raw opium, is based on resolutions submitted by the British delegation, while in framing the resolutions which formed the basis of chapter II (prepared opium) the chief initiative came from the United States delegation.
132. Chapter III, dealing with medicinal opium, morphine, cocaine, &c., may be said to be of Anglo-German parentage. The original resolutions which formed its foundation were moved by our delegation after private conference with the Germans; and, as has been shown, the German delegation later on procured important amendments to some of the articles.
133. Chapter IV again, which contains the special articles relating to China, may be said to owe its origin to Anglo-Chinese initiative. The actual resolutions on which it was founded were brought forward by the Chinese delegation, but they had previously consulted us on the subject and we had had much to say in regard to the wording.
134. Of the two articles in chapter V, article 20, on the subject of taking measures against the illegal possession of opium, morphine, cocaine, &c., is due to British initiative; while article 21, dealing with the exchange of information in regard to laws statistics, &c., owes its existence to an American resolution.
135. Finally, the effectuating clauses in chapter VI may again be described as of Anglo-German parentage. The framework of the scheme which they embody was put forward by the German delegation, but we procured material amendments.
136. We may now fittingly consider how far, and with what extension, the recommendations contained in the resolutions of the Shanghai Commission of 1909 have found place in the present convention.
The first of the Shanghai resolutions was as follows :---
"That the International Opium Commission recognises the unswerving sincerity of the Government of China in their efforts to eradicate the production and consumption of opium throughout the Empire; the increasing body of public opinion among their own, subjects by which these efforts are being supported; and the real, though unequal, progress already made in a task which is one of the greatest magnitude.”
There was no necessity for framing any article in this sense. The good faith of the Chinese Government was of course assured by the conference.
As a matter of fact, one of the main difficulties felt by some of the delegations was in regard to the difference between Chinese protestations of what they had done and were going to do in the matter of the suppression of the poppy, &c., and actual facts and probabilities. These doubts wore accentuated by the revolutionary movement which was in active progress while the conference sat; by the apparent certainty that a Chinese Federal Republic would result in still less control over the provincial administrations that had been obtained by the Empire; and by the ominous news that in some tracts the revolutionary authorities had permitted the recrudescence of poppy cultivation. Such doubts were, however, only allowed to appear when the Chinese delegation themselves brought the matter into prominence by injudicious or uncalled-for action.
137. The second of the Shanghai resolutions was as follows :—
"That in view of the action taken by the Government of China in suppressing the practice of opium-smoking, and by other Governments to the same end, the International Opium Commission recommends that each delegation concerned move its own Government to take measures for the gradual suppression of the practice of opium-smoking in its own territories and possessions, with due regard to the varying circumstances of each country concerned.'
This policy has found place in article 6 of the convention, which extends the policy of effective suppression to the production, internal distribution and use of prepared opium. It was recognised that such policy could, in the case of some countries, be only of gradual application, and that the repressive measures contemplated must be suitable to the varying circumstances of the countries concerned.
138. As regards the application of this article in His Majesty's dominions in the Far East, it may be pointed out that as shown in Sir William Meyer's paper, which forms Appendix II to this report, the policy indicated has been adequately complied
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with, so far as circumstances permit, in Burmah, where the consuraption of optum mainly in the form of smoking. The consumption of opium by Burmans is limited to persons specially registered as having been confirmed smokers in 1894, and this class is now diminishing to total extinction. As regards the non-Burman element of the population, consumption is stringently restricted by special regulations and preventive ) measures; but it is clear, as the Government of India have pointed out, that a policy of total probibition would, in present circumstances, be practically impossible of successful application by reason of(i) the floating character of a large part of this population, which prevents the registration of individual habitués; (2) the present impossibility of exercising adequate control over certain hill tracts in the north where the poppy is grown to a certain extent; (3) the continued existence, as yet, of Chinese production on the border; and (4) the danger of more deleterious drugs, such as morphine and cocaine, taking the place of opium.
In India proper, again, as will also be seen from Appendix II, while there has been no categorical prohibition of opium-smoking by individuals, measures recently adopted will have the same practical effect.
139. As regards the colonies, &c., it will be observed from Appendix III that in Wei-hai Wei and Ceylon it has been found possible to institute a system of registration, as in regard to Burman consumers, which will gradually abolish opium consumption, while in the Malay Peninsula and Hong Kong, where the floating character of the Chinese population precludes such a system at present, the policy of the Government has been to restrict the opium trailic as far as possible. Here again, however, the danger of morphine and cocaine coming in as substitutes has hitherto formed a very difficult barrier to the policy of prohibition. The successful application of the measures which the conference has framed against morphine and cocaine will, therefore, also be of material assistance in facilitating more drastic action against opium-smoking.
140. The third of the Shanghai resolutions was as follows:-
That the International Opium Commission finds that the use of opium in any form otherwise than for medical purposes is held by almost every participating country to be a matter for prohibition or for careful regulation; and that each country in the administration of its system of regulation purports to be aiming, as opportunity offers, at progressively increasing stringency. In recording these conclusions, the International Opium Commission recognises the wide variations between the conditions prevailing in the different countries, but it would urge on the attention of the Governments concerned the desirability of a re-examination of their systems of regulation in the light of the experience of other countries dealing with the same problem."
Read with the resolution preceding it, this resolution was clearly to apply mainly to raw opium primarily used for eating, and this matter is dealt with in article 1 of the
convention.
141. In this article, as in the original resolution, there is no attempt to aim at the extinction of the use of raw opium otherwise than by medical prescription, a policy which could not, of course, have been accepted in India, for example, for the reasons stated in Sir William Meyer's paper in Appendix I of this report. What is agreed on is that there shall be effectual laws or regulations to control the production and distribution of raw opium, and that condition has already been complied with in India and in the Far Eastern colonies. Such measures must necessarily, as the Shanghai Commission recognised, depend on the internal characteristics of the countries concerned ; but each country is morally bound to revise its regulations from time to time in the direction of greater stringency, and to learn if it can, as the commission suggested, from action taken elsewhere in so doing. It is largely, indeed, with this object that article 21 of the convention prescribes the interchange of information in regard to laws and measures, present or future, on the subject of the matters dealt with by the conference, as well as the exchange of statistics.
142. We may further point out, with reference to resolutions 2 and 3 of the Shanghai Commission, that--
(1.) Article 20 of the convention pledges the contracting Powers to investigate the possibility of making penal regulations (such as already exist in India, for example) against the illegal possession of opinn and other drugs dealt with by the convention, if such measures have not already been taken.
(2.) The first part of article 17, and article 18, impose upon the contracting Powers having treaties with China the obligation (a) of taking measures to restrict and control opium-smoking in their leased territories and settlements in China; and (b) of
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