To
320
No. 201 OP 1913.
2454
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.
1912.
FINANCE DEPARTMENT.
SEPARATE REVENUE.
Opium,
507
ne
THE MOST HONOURABLE THE MARQUIS OF CREWE. XC15 C
His Majesty's Secretary of State for India.
Simla, the 18th July 1912.
MY LORD MARQUIS,
Our attention has been drawn to the telegram No. 120, dated the 29th May 1912, from His Majesty's Minister at Pekin to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, of which a copy was forwarded with Sir Thomas Holderness' letter No. R. and S. 1673, dated the 7th June 1912. In that telegram Sir John Jordan remarked, referring to the smuggling of uncertified Indian opium into China, that "the remedy seems to lie with the Government of India."
2. We are deeply sensible of the debt which India owes to the firm advo- cacy by Sir John Jordan of her legitimate claims, and to the zeal with which he has endeavoured to insist on the performance by the Chinese Government of its treaty obligations. We are aware that at the present time the situation is such that his task is particularly difficult, and we can understand that the smuggling of uncertified opium is a factor which must tend still further to increase his diffi- culties. We are very reluctant therefore to take exception to any remark made by Sir John Jordan on the merits of any part of the opium question. Nevertheless, we feel unable to allow the above statement to pass unchallenged. We should regard it as most unfortunate if it should appear to your Lordship that the efforts of Sir John Jordan are in any way hampered by the acts or omissions of the Gov- ernment of India, and we feel that we must firmly repudiate the notion that we are either responsible for, or able to remedy, the smuggling of Indian opium into China.
3- The nature of the particular measure which Sir John Jordan would like us to apply will be gathered from the following sentence in his letter No. 220, dated "The fact that seizures of uncertifi- the 9th May 1912, to the Foreign Office. cated opium are being made is sufficient proof that its annual export from India, reduced though it was to 14,000 chests in 1911, is still in excess of the require- ments of non-Chinese markets, and I cannot urge too strongly the desirability of reducing the export to the actual needs of countries outside China, for smuggling with its attendant evils will continue until the necessary steps are taken at the fountain head." We consider that this argument contains a non sequitur. We admit the desirability of the measure proposed by Sir John Jordan: in point of fact we have already carried it into effect. But it seems clear to us that the restriction of exports of uncertified opium cannot in itself put a stop to smuggling and it is incorrect, therefore, in our opinion to regard the existence of smuggling as any proof that these exports continue to be in excess of the requirements of We deal with these points separately in the following the non-China markets. paragraphs.
4. The quantity of non-certified opium notified for export in the current year is 13,200 chests. From our telegram No. 6779-F. E., dated the 3rd Nov- ember 1911, it will be seen that this amount was suggested by us in pursuance of our policy of assisting China in her anti-opium campaign, although, as we stated in the telegram, the data then at our disposal would have justified our taking a somewhat higher figure for the normal and genuine requirements of the non- China markets. The further statistics subsequently forwarded with your Reve- nue Secretary's letters Nos, R. and S. 2946, 3115, 3198 and 3173 and 3214, dated
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