CO129-406 - Public Offices - 1913 — Page 239

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

238

[August 6.]

SECTION 1.

2

suitable arrangements may be made for inspection of cultivation to continue, and for the disposal of opium which, under the provisions of the 1911 agreement, has already been imported.'

In article 1 China should engage, having regard to the fact that notwithstanding continuance of cultivation in China further imports will cease, that she will refrain from putting obstacles in the way of opium passing into open provinces, later articles containing statement of the precise nature of her obligations in this matter, on lines similar to those of current agreement.

Article 4 should remain and be extended-first, so as to give the right to enquire into complaints that disposal of present stocks has been obstructed; and secondly, as proposed by Jordan, to allow for inspection to continue after clearance of stocks. In view of proviso (b) above, article 9 should be repealed.

Article 3 needs to be With regard to the other articles, article 2 comes out. revised as suggested by Jordan, so that until stocks are cleared provinces of Kwangtung and Kiangsu may remain open, the safeguard being justified by state of cultivation. Article 5 is not needed. Article 6 remains. Article 7 remains until clearance of stocks. Article 8 needs to be modified as suggested by Jordan, and in particular it should preserve right of entry for certificated chests sold in November and December and now en route to China or not yet shipped from Bombay. See last and penultimate sentences of my telegram dated the 10th February last. There are reported to be 1,775 such chests at Bombay now. Article 10 remains.

OPIUM.

CONFIDENTIAL

[36351]

No. 1.

Sir J. Jordan to Sir W. Langley.—(Received August 6.)

Slieve Donard Hotel, Newcastle, County Down, My dear Langley,

August 4, 1913. YOUR letter of the 2nd only reached me to-day, and I hasten to send you my views on the Government of India's telegram of the 25th July, with which I am in general agreement. China should, as suggested by the Viceroy, be reminded of the voluntary proposal she made in February last for taking over the stocks, and establishing a monopoly. She asked, in return, that the import of Indian opium should cease. The import has since ceased, but, urged on by agitators, native and foreign, the Chinese Government has gradually increased its demands until it now asks for the reshipment of the stocks to non-China markets. The Chinese Government cannot fail to realise that this proposal is unreasonable so long as the native cultivation continues, but both in China and in England the whole question seems to be in the hands of agitators who are prepared to go any length to put a stop to what they regard as a highly immoral trade. In China, at any rate, the Government is entirely at the mercy of these agitators, and will venture to make no agreement of which they disapprove. While, therefore, think that the proposals of the Government of India form a reasonable basis for the revision of the 1911 agreement, I am afraid that they stand little or no chance of acceptance by the Chinese Government. That, however, is no reason why they should not be put forward, and, in doing so, it would be advisable to review the whole question, and state, as Sir Edward Grey pointed out to General Chang, the great efforts we have made and the heavy sacrifices we have incurred in promoting the work of opium suppression in China. The question is now narrowed down to the disposal of some 20,000 chests of opium, scarcely a third of the normal annual import a few years ago, and latest accounts show that the stocks are being gradually and steadily absorbed.

It may be taken as morally certain that the pressure of public opinion will prevent China giving any guarantee that she accepts liability for the disposal of the stocks, and that the negotiations for the revision of the 1911 agreement will drag on without any result. But we shall have shown our willingness to revise on reasonable terms, and shall gain time for the disposal of at least a considerable portion of these obnoxious stocks, which have been a sort of nightmare to us in Peking ever since June 1912, when the Indian Government, to my great regret, declined to recognise the pressure of circumstances and suspend further sales. The Chinese Government and the provincial authorities know perfectly well that the opium trade exists on sufferance, and that they can stop it any time. The most, therefore, we can hope for is that the stocks will be allowed to go quietly into circulation until May 1914, when a further examination of the provinces will doubtless be demanded. The Chinese will then make a determined effort to clear the remainder of the provinces, and will probably be as successful, for the time at least, as they were this year. They will then be in a much stronger position to insist upon the reshipment of the surplus stocks, which, it is to be hoped, will not by that time exceed, say, 10,000 chests. In my opinion, the Government of India ought to be prepared to face this contingency in a practical way. The Chinese Government have long ago prohibited the import of native opium into Shanghai, and no power, short of actual force, will enable Indian opium to get into circulation after native cultivation has been suppressed, even temporarily.

This is, however, looking ahead. For the present our best course is to answer the Chinese request for revision in the sense suggested by the Government of India, and let the negotiations proceed in the usual Chinese leisurely style until the time comes round for the examination of the remainder of the provinces. It is rather a poor policy, but the only other solution would be the removal of all the existing stocks, and that would entail further sacrifices which the Government of India could not be expected to undertake.

[1836 ƒ-1]