[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]__
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[54329]
Sir,
No. 1.
[December 20.]
SECTION 2.
Messrs. E. D. and Messrs. D. Sassoon and Co. to Foreign Office.-(Received December 20.)
17, St. Helen's Place, London,
December 19, 1912.
WE have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter of yesterday's date, and are pleased to learn that the President of the Chinese Republic has given an assurance that the circular instructions of the 15th June, 1911, shall be re-issued under his authority. May we beg to be furnished with a copy of the instructions.
This is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, but its value entirely depends upon the extent to which the Chinese Government is prepared to go to enforce its orders upon the provincial authorities. Meanwhile the latter are still active in their hostility to the opium trade, as is shown by the following cable to hand from Shanghai :---
"Proclamation issued Nanking warning dealers that all shops dealing in raw or prepared Indian opium will be closed without distinction on 25th December, also on and after that date buyers of opium will be severely punished. Similar proclamations have been issued in Shanghai native city and elsewhere in Kiangsu."
A later cable just to hand reads:-
"All outlets for Indian opium entirely closed except the foreign settlements of Shanghai."
We are further advised by wire that by order of the Hankow authorities fifty chests of Malwa opium have been returned to Shanghai.
From the above it will be seen how necessary it is that the Central Government should be urged to act quickly in putting a stop to all these repressive measures, and it is very essential that it should be pressed to withdraw the notification of penalties in regard to the sale and use of opium.
We are deeply grateful for the assurance given to us that His Majesty's Government are giving the whole question of the opium trade with China unremitting and instant attention, and we feel confident that matters will not now be allowed to drift.
We have, &c.
E. D. SASSOON AND Co. DAVID SASSOON AND CO. (Limited).
[2736 u-2
105
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.