CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914 — Page 14

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

OPIUM.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[57657]

(No. 457.) Sir,

C.O

1926

[December 23.]

SECTION 1.

17 JAN 14

No. 1.

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received December 23.)

Peking, December 8, 1913.

I HAVE the honour to forward correspondence with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs relative to the placing of Honan on the list of provinces into which Indian opium shall not be conveyed under article 3 of the Opium Agreement of 1911.

The annual production of opium in Honan-even before the initiation of a policy of suppression has never been very large, and in 1907 was estimated at 5,000 piculs, equivalent to between 4,000 and 5,000 chests. Since that date the cultivation had been reported to have been practically suppressed except in the south-west, but the revolution brought along with it a recrudescence in the hill district and borderlands, and along the northern part of the Honan-Anhui frontier; in the rest of the province there appears to have been little or no cultivation of poppy last spring. The present season is as yet too early to pronounce an opinion as to cultivation, but from information recently received at this legation it seems evident that the importation of native opium has not yet ceased.

I have accordingly declined to place Honan on the prohibition list without a joint inspection on the lines of article 4 of the 1911 agreement.

Enclosure 1 in No. 1.

Wai-chiao Pu to Sir J. Jordan.

I have, &c.

J. N. JORDAN.

(Translation.) Sir,

Peking, December 3, 1913. THE following telegram has been received from the Tutu and Chief Civil Administrator of Honan:-

"Officers have been repeatedly sent to examine the state of poppy cultivation in Honan Province, and they report that it has now been completely extinguished. The importation of native drug from neighbouring provinces has also been prohibited; so the condition of Honan is similar to that of Shansi and the other provinces (on the prohibition list). Please approach the British Minister in Peking and obtain the prohibition of the import into Honan of Indian opium."

The proposal to prohibit the entry of Indian opium into Honan Province is in accordance with article 3 of the Opium Agreement, and the precedent established in the case of other provinces should be extended, and Honan placed on the list of closed provinces.

I have the honour to request that your Excellency will give your consent to this proposal, and I trust to receive your reply.

I avail, &c.

(Seal of the Wai-chiao Pu.)

Enclosure 2 in No. 1.

Sir,

Sir J. Jordan to the Wai-chiao Pu.

Peking, December 6, 1913,

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge your note of the 3rd instant communicating a telegram from the Tutu and Chief Civil Administrator of Honan, and requesting that the province should be placed on the list of those into which the import of Indian opium is forbidden, in accordance with article 3 of the Opium Agreement of 1911.

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