2
districts of the northern circuit, that, although occasional illicit cultivation had taken place, the magistrates of the above districts had in every case sent in a report and the crop had been completely rooted up. The tutu finally declared that the whole province had, in fact, been cleared of poppy.
The Wai-chiao Pu have the honour to observe that the province of Fukien led the way in opium suppression some years ago, and in doing so was earlier than any other province. During 1911 opium was already prohibited and the province completely cleared. Missionaries of various nationalities gave their assistance in investigating, and sigued a statement recognising these facts. In the sixth moon of that year a procla- mation was issued by the customs forbidding the import of opium from neighbouring provinces. The authorities were on the point of broaching negotiations for the prohibition of import of the Indian drug, when the revolution broke out, and there was no time to look into the matter. A result was that illicit cultivation began again in the southern prefectures, but the poppy there has now been ploughed up without exception and the whole province is now clear. Therefore, article 3 of the Opium Agreement of 1911 and the precedent of Chihli and other provinces should be acted upon, and the import of Indian opium should be stopped. The Wai-chiao Pu have the honour to request Ilis Majesty's Minister to take note of the above and to consent to place Fukien on the list of provinces into which import of Indian opium is forbidden pending the revision of the Opium Agreement. The Wai-chiao Pu trusts to receive a reply from His Majesty's Minister.
(Seal of the Wai-chiao Pu.)
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
Memorandum communicated to Wai-chiao Pu by Mr. Alston.
HIS Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the memorandum from the Wai-chiao Pu, dated the 6th June, asking for the inclusion of Fukien among the provinces into which the import of Indian opium is forbidden.
The Wai-chiao Pu are no doubt well aware that His Majesty's Legation has ever been ready to make the necessary investigations in all cases of provinces which it might be desired to place on the prohibition list.
The poppy season in Fukien is now over, and it is too late to attempt any investigations. It is unfortunate that Fukien did not make its application earlier if it wished to be placed on the prohibition list this year.
The evidence in the possession of Mr. Alston would not justify him in acceding to the request put forward by the Wai-chiao Pu until he has made fuller and more detailed enquiries.
His Majesty's consuls at Amoy and Foochow are being called upon to submit reports in this connection, and on their receipt Mr. Alston will again communicate with the Wai-chiao Pu on the subject.
Peking, June 10, 1913.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
110
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[June 30.]
SECTION 1.
[30168]
No. 1.
Sir Edward Grey to British Delegates at the Second International Opium Conference, Gentlemen,
Foreign Office, June 30, 1913. YOU have already been informed that His Majesty's Government have selected you to be the British delegates at the International Conference which is to meet at The Hague on the 1st July to consider the question of the ratification of the Inter- national Opium Convention of January 1912.
You will doubtless remember with what difficulties you were confronted at the former Conference owing to the fact that, the Powers represented being limited in number to twelve, they were not alone competent to carry out the full extent of international co-operation contemplated by the convention, and owing to the danger also that the participating Powers might eventually find that they had unavailingly sacrificed their trade interests for the sake of international morality, while outside Powers, on whom no such obligation might rest, had merely profited by this altruism to advance their own interests, at the same time nullifying to a great extent the objects aimed at by the convention. The circumstances of the Conference were in this respect unprecedented, since some of the matters dealt with at its sittings were of world-wide interest and could not be adequately carried out by the small number of Powers represented, especially in view of the fact that some of the non-represented Powers occupied a very important position in regard to the questions under discussion, as for instance, Turkey in regard to raw opium, and Peru and Bolivia in regard to cocaine. It was difficulties of this sort that necessitated the special and original character of the "effectuating' clauses, according to which the first step after the signing of the convention was not to be ratitication by the signatory Powers, but an invitation addressed to the thirty-four Powers of Europe and America not represented at the Conference, to sign the convention, and thus put themselves on the same footing as the original participating Powers.
Article 23 further provided that in the event of the signatures of all the Powers invited not having been obtained by the 31st December, 1912, the Netherland Govern- ment should immediately invite the Powers who had signed by that date to appoint delegates to examine at The Hague the possibility of depositing the ratifications notwithstanding.
Accordingly in the month of January the Netherland Chargé d'Affaires commu- nicated to His Majesty's Government an invitation from his Government to a Conference to be held at The Hague in the month of June, to consider the possibility of proceeding to the ratification of the International Opium Convention. Accompanying the invitation was a list of countries which had signed the supplementary protocol provided for in Article 22 of the convention, as well as of those countries which had at that date either failed or definitely refused to sign.
An examination of this list shows that of the thirty-four Powers invited to sign the additional protocol, seventeen had actually signed, namely: the Argentine Republic, Belgium, Brazil, Costa Rica, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, the Republic of Ecuador, Guatemala, the Republic of Hayti, Honduras, Luxemburg, Mexico, Panamá, Paraguay, Salvador, Spain, and the United States of Venezuela.
The Powers whose signature had not been obtained by the end of last year were the following: Austria-Hungary, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, the Republic of Cuba, Greece, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Roumania, Servia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and Uruguay.
Of these last seventeen, Bolivia, Colombia, and the Republic of Cuba actually signed, while Bulgaria, Nicaragua, and Uruguay have declared their intention of signing.
The invitation of the Netherland Government, together with the accompanying list, has received the careful consideration of the departments concerned, by whom the attention of His Majesty's Government has been directed to the following points:
On the one hand it has been urged that the non-acceptance of the convention by certain countries would have no practical effect upon the interests of India, nor
[2965 gg-1]
1
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.