CO129-395 - Public Offices - 1912 — Page 429

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

OPIUM.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[25092]

No. 1.

Colonial Office to Foreign Office.-(Received June 12.)

(Confidential.) Sir,

C. O.

C2 [June 12.]

SECTION 2016 JUL 12

;

:

Downing Street, June 11, 1912. WITH reference to your letter of the 26th April and to the previous correspondence, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to transmit to you, to be laid before Secretary Sir E. Grey, a copy of a despatch from the Government of the Straits Settlements with regard to the shipment of a large quantity of opium from Calcutta to Macao.

2. I am also to enclose a copy of a letter which Mr. Harcourt has caused to be addressed to the India Office.

3. In Mr. Harcourt's opinion, if the present state of affairs is allowed to continue it will be impossible for His Majesty's Government to escape incurring a considerable share of the responsibility for the prevalence of opium smuggling in the East. Whilst therefore urging that the Government of India may be moved to restrict supplies of opium intended for Macao, he desires me also to press for the making of suitable representations to the Portuguese Government with a view to inducing them to compel the authorities at Macao to limit the imports of opium into that colony to the amount which is sufficient to satisfy legitimate requirements.

I am to refer in this connection to the remarks on pp. 5 and 36 of the report enclosed in your letter of the 15th May with regard to the attitude of the Portuguese appear delegates at the recent Opium Conference at The Hague, from which it would that the existing conditions at Macao are not likely to be changed for the better without strong pressure from other Powers.

I am, &c.

H. J. READ.

P.S.--Since this letter was written, your letter of the 29th May, enclosing a copy

of a letter from the India Office of the 21st May, has been received. Mr. Harcourt has carefully considered the views of the Secretary of State for India, but his opinion remains unaltered.

Mr. Harcourt has also received a further telegram from the Governor of the Straits Settlements, of which a copy is enclosed.

H. J. R.

Enclosure 1 in No. 1.

(Confidential.) Sir,

Colonial Office to India Office.

Downing Street, June 11, 1912. WITH reference to the letter from this department of the 26th April, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to transmit to you, to be laid before the Marquess of Crewe, the enclosed copy of a despatch from the Government of the Straits Settlements with regard to the shipment of a large quantity of opium from Calcutta to Macao.

2. The governor's despatch of the 6th March, of which a copy was enclosed in the letter from this department of the 20th April, showed that since the beginning of last November 635 chests of opium had been shipped to Macao from Singapore, and it now appears that, since shipment from Singapore was prohibited, 600 chests have been sent to Macao from Calcutta. In other words, in a period of less than seven months the imports of opium into Macao have reached the enormous total of 1,235 chests.

3. The legitimate requirements of Macao, including the amount needed for export to Mexico, have been estimated by competent authorities at 440 chests a-year, and therefore the amount imported within the last seven months has been almost sufficient for three years' consumption. The conclusion to be drawn from these figures is obvious enough. Macao has always been notorious as a centre of opium snuggling, and there cannot be the slightest doubt that by far the greater part of the opium which has been

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