CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914 — Page 55

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Powers found themselves in the same position as the Governments of Austria-Hungary, Norway, and Sweden, and, indeed, have not as yet elaborated all the legislative and other measures involved in the articles of the convention.

In regard to the reasons advanced by the Swiss Government for their refusal to sign, it was felt that they arose from a failure to appreciate the full scope of the convention and the necessity of general international co-operation in order to render fully effective the domestic regulations of the various nations for the suppression of the illicit trade in morphia and cocaine. In regard to the question raised by the Swiss Government as to respective spheres of the federal and cantonal authorities in the matter of the supervision of factories, we pointed out that similar difficulties had confronted the German delegates in the course of the discussions at the first Conference, that they were fully considered at the time, and that the provisions of the convention were specially drafted to meet those difficulties. It was the opinion of the represen- tatives of the six delegations who drafted the resolution, that if the Netherland Government explained these points to the Swiss Government, and represented to them how far from valueless on the contrary, how essential-the co-operation of Switzerland was, the probability was that the Swiss Government would consent to the convention.

sign

In regard to group 3, we decided that, though the attitude of the various countries included in this group towards the question of signature was not in all cases the same, it would be simpler to make no difference in the fresh representations to be made, between those Powers that had definitely refused to sign without stating any specific reason, those that had agreed to sign but had not actually done so, those that had not yet concluded their examination of the convention, and those that had not replied at all. We merely recommended that the Netherland Government should be requested to approach the Governments of all those countries again, to express to them the earnest desire of the Conference that they should sign the convention, and to point out how prejudicial their abstention might prove to the work which the signatory Powers hoped to accomplish.

In our instructions you had suggested that any action taken by the Netherland Government might usefully be supplemented by action taken jointly by all the signatory Powers, and that such action, if decided on by the Conference, would have all the greater weight as being the result of the joint deliberations of the Powers assembled at The Hague. This suggestion, which we had already communicated to the Conference, met with the approval of the delegates of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, and the United States of America, who agreed that it would add weight to the representa- tions of the Netherland Government if the diplomatic representatives of the signatory Powers at the various capitals where such representations were to be made were directed to support the action of their Netherland colleagues. A clause was accordingly inserted in the draft resolution inviting the signatory Governments to issue the necessary instructions to their representatives abroad.

The resolution, as drafted by representatives of the six delegations, was circulated to all the delegates and then formally presented to the Conference at its third session; so entirely did it commend itself to the approval of all the delegations that it gave rise to no discussion and was at once put to the vote and adopted unanimously.

With the adoption of the resolution prescribing the steps to be taken with the object of inducing the hitherto abstaining Governments to sign, it was felt that the Conference had accomplished its principal task and that little remained to be done. However, as the president pointed out, it was necessary to decide what should be the next step on the part of the signatory Powers if the fresh representations contemplated failed to produce the desired effect and certain Governments still refused to sign. In the course of the ensuing discussion the Chinese delegate explained that according to his interpretation of article 23 of the Opium Convention, under which we had been summoned, we were bound to decide before separating, either in the affirmative or the negative, the question of the possibility of ratifying the convention. He contended that, though the delegations had individually declared the ability or inability of their Governments to ratify, no decision on this point had been come to by the Conference as a whole, so that we had not as yet discharged the duty imposed on us by article 23. He suggested that the new representations contemplated by the resolution just adopted be made at once, and that, pending receipt of replies, the Conference do adjourn.

Dr. Hamilton Wright, the first delegate of the United States, seconded the proposal of the Chinese delegate, and expressed his wish that the Conference should not dissolve until the result of the fresh representations had been ascertained. The opinion of the majority of the delegates was against such a proposal. It was felt that the question of

the possibility of ratification had already been fully examined into, and it was quite evident that few, if any, of the delegates shared the views of their Chinese and American colleagues as to the time necessary to obtain the replies of those Governments which had hitherto failed to sign, several of which were at the time actively engaged in war.

Our opinion was that the event contemplated by article 23 had taken place; the Powers which had signed had met together, and had examined the possibility of depositing their ratifications notwithstanding the absence of certain signatures. That mandate was exhausted, and it therefore seemed necessary to amend or extend article 23. We accordingly proposed the following resolution :—

"That it be referred to the Editing Committee to prepare and present to the next meeting of the Conference a protocol de clôture, setting out the resolution which has been passed unanimously by the Conference, and also suggesting an amendment of article 23 with a view to meet the situation which has arisen from the signature of the convention by a large number of Powers and the abstention of a certain number."

After some further discussion our resolution was adopted, and the Conference adjourned in order to allow the Editing Committee to accomplish the duties thus imposed on them.

The reasons which guided the Editing Committee in drafting the final protocol were fully described in the explanatory statement made by their chairman, M. van Deventer, at the fourth session of the Conference. For the moment it is sufficient to say that their dralt protocol was printed and distributed to the delegates in time to permit of its consideration before it came up for discussion at the fourth session.

M. van Deventer, chairman of the Editing Committee, in submitting for the approval of the Conference the draft final protocol, referred to the assistance afforded to the Committee by the honorary president of the Conference, M. van Swinderen, who bad attended their last meeting and was in full accord with the proposals now submitted. M. van Deventer explained that the Committee had, at the outset of their labours, noticed the omission on the part of the Conference, already referred to by us, to give a direct reply to the question submitted to it under article 23 of the convention, whether, in spite of the fact that certain signatures had not yet been obtained, the deposit of ratifications could nevertheless take place. This emission, M. van Deventer explained. had now been remedied by the resolution just unanimously adopted. The Committee had next dealt with the British resolution adopted at the third session. They had had no difficulty in deciding on the incorporation of the resolution dealing with the steps to be taken to secure the signatures of further Powers, but they had found that the suggestion of a modification of article 23 of the Convention of the 23rd January, 1912, presented difficulties. It had appeared to the Committee that to modify in any way the text of the convention was open to exception, especially in view of the fact that one of the original signatory Powers to the convention was not represented at the second Conference; moreover, the chairman of the Committee explained that it was scarcely logical to eliminate a provision which had already been acted upon and to which practical consequences attached, In place of a formal amendment of article 23, the Committee accordingly proposed that the Conference should pass the following vou, which would then be inserted in the final protocol :-

"Que dans le cas où la signature de toutes les Puissances invitées en vertu du paragraphe 1 de l'article 23 n'aurait pas été obtenue à la date du 31 décembre, 1913, le Gouvernement des Pays-Bas invite immédiatement les Puissances signataires à cette date de désigner des délégués pour procéder à La Haye à l'examen de la possibilité de faire entrer en vigueur la Convention internationale de l'Opium du £3 janvier, 1912."*

This vœu, as M. van Deventer explained, goes farther than a mere prolongation by one year of the period prescribed by paragraph 2 of article 23 of the convention; it recommends that should the signature of all the Powers not be obtained by the end of the present year a further Conference should be summoned, not to examine the possibility of depositing ratifications, because that question has already been dealt with, but to examine the possibility of putting the convention into force.

In the discussion which ensued Dr. Wu Lien-Teh expressed the opinion that the

• TRANSLATION."That if the signature of all the Powers invited in accordance with paragraph 1 of article 23 be not obtained by the $1st December, 1918, the Government of the Netherlands do immediately invite the signatory Powers to appoint delegates to proceed to The Hague to examine the possibility of putting into force the International Opium Convention of the 23rd January, 1912."

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