[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.351
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[36428]
No. 1.
Sir Edward Grey to Mr. Alston.
[August 19.]
SECTION 2.
(No. 244.) Sir,
Foreign Office, August 19, 1913. I HAVE received your despatch No. 274 of the 5th ultimo, enclosing copy of a communication from the Wai-chiao Pu on the subject of the proposal to remove the stocks of Indian opium from Shanghai.
The Wai-chiao Pu state that "the true reason for bringing forward this proposal is that every day on which opium is stored at Shanghai means a day on which it is impossible to prevent its consumption, which is a great obstacle to China's prohibition of opium."
You should reply to this communication on the following lines :--
The information available regarding certain of the provinces which have been closed to Indian opium does not bear out the statement that the great obstacle to prohibition by China is the Indian supply, since it is reported that in those provinces the growth of the poppy has not been effectively suppressed in spite of the exclusion of Indian opium. Nor does it appear how, as long as the cultivation of poppy exists in a province, the suppression of such cultivation can be facilitated by cutting off an alternative source of supply. On the other hand, His Majesty's Government have shown their readiness on all occasions, when it has been proved that the native supply has been cut off by the discontinuance of the cultivation and import of native opium, immediately to assent to the exclusion of Indian opium, For these reasons, His Majesty's Government, who have shown by their past action that they do not shrink from making considerable sacrifices in order to put an end to the export of Indian opium to China, are unable to assent to the present proposal.
I am, &c.
[1836 -2]
E. GREY.
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