CO129-395 - Public Offices - 1912 — Page 376

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

OPIUM.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[21417]

No. 1.

1

[May 28.12

SECTION 1

100 JUNIO

(No. 151.) Sir,

Sir Edward Grey to Sir J. Jordan.

Foreign Office, May 28, 1912. I HAVE received your despatch No. 200 of the 30th ultimo, reporting on the recrudescence of opium cultivation, particularly in the provinces of Kansu and Shensi. The lementable condition of things described is to be deplored on all grounds, and it is clearly contrary to the intentions of His Majesty Government, in concluding the Opium Agreement of 1911, that the Indian Government should be held to their treaty obligations, while the cultivation of opium flourishes unchecked in certain provinces of China.

I have already suggested to you in my despatch No 143 of the 18th instant that Yuan Shih-kai should make a declaration of the intention of the Chinese Government to continue the work of suppression of cultivation, and requested you to discuss this suggestion with him.

In view of the situation now reported, you should take an early opportunity of speaking to him in this sense, and urge upon him the desirability of his making an explicit statement on the subject in his inaugural address, pointing out to him the unfairness of expecting the Indian Government to carry out their obligations under the agreement while the Chinese Government make no serious attempts effectively to carry out theirs.

[2502 ee -1]

I am, &c.

E. GREY.