CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914 — Page 22

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INDIA OFFICE,26 JAN 14

WHITEHALL,

LONDON, S.W.

16th. January,

1914.

Sir:.

I am directed by the Secretary of State for India

in Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of

the 6th January, forwarding for His Lordship's con-

currence the draft of a despatch on the subject of the

opium traffic at Kwongchowwan. In reply I am to say

that while His Lordship would not offer any serious

objection to the proposal contained in the draft, viz.

the conclusion of an agreement with the French Govern-

ment on the lines of the Macao agreement, he is dis-

posed to think, subject to the remarks of the Secretary

of State for the Colonies, that the object in view

might be attained without a formal agreement. If this

view is accepted, Sir F. Bertie's communication to the

French Government might take the form of (1) a fugger-

tion that an inquiry should be made into the legitimate

requirements of Kwongchowwan of opium for local

The Ulcer Secretary of State,

Foreign Office.

consumptior.