66
نادر الدار
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.1.
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
6
C.O
24090
[May 15]
TRED SECTION FG 14 JUL 13
1
[22280]
No. 1.
Messrs E. D. and Messrs. D. Sassoon and Co. to Foreign Office.-(Received May 15.) Sir,
17, St. Helen's Place, London, May 14, 1913.
WE beg to refer to the statement made in the House of Commons on the evening of Wednesday, the 7th instant, re the opium question, by the Under-Secretary of State for India.
Mr. E. S. Montagu is reported to have stated that approximately 20,000 chests of opium has been accumulated in the treaty ports, and to have added:-
"And now,
when better order has been established-this is the point-these stocks are no longer lying at the treaty ports, but are going into the country in the regular way, competing with the Chinese native opium. It is going into all the provinces, except the provinces which are closed, at the rate of 2,000 chests a month, so that, roughly speaking, in a little over a year the difficulty will have disappeared and will have been entirely dispelled."
We submit that in speaking of stocks the quantity in Hong Kong, which is not of course a treaty port, must be reckoned with. The actual stocks in Shanghae and Hong Kong, including opium on the way and to be shipped, amounts at the present moment to approximately 26,000 chests, the bulk of which is in the treaty port of Shanghae.
Mr. Montagu stated that these stocks "are going into the country in the regular way, competing with the Chinese native opium," but we beg to point out there is no regular off-take in the way Mr. Montagu's words would imply, as the regulations and restrictions are still in force. There is, however, a certain amount of leakage, but this does not amount to 2,000 chests a month, as will be seen from the following figures cabled to us each week of total weekly clearances :--
Clearances from-
For Week ending
Total.
Shanghae.
Hong Kong.
February 13
76
192
268
20
373
115
488
3:
27
172
170
342
March
7
459
149
608
18
212
158
370
11
21
816
124
440
27
28
218
126
344
**
April
4
701
236
306
12
73
193
266
18
93
197
290
+
20
114
180
291
"
May
2
95
103
198
9
100
106
206
35
It will be observed from the above that clearances which at first averaged about 500 chests per week owing to special circumstances, have since dropped first to 300 chests and now to 200 chests per week, and at this rate of progression the stock cannot be absorbed in a year, while each additional province closed will tend still further to reduce the off-take.
Mr. Montagu stated that "His Majesty's Government have also agreed that three other provinces should be subject to a joint investigation with a view to their closure if the result is satisfactory," and in a telegram to the "Times," dated Peking, the 8th May, it is stated that the Wai-chiao Pu that morning presented to the British Minister a lespatch requesting, under article 9, that the Opium Agreement may be revised by mutual consent, China desiring liberty totally to prohibit the importation of Indian opium and the sale of native opium.
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