[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
C.O
383
61262
REC
[September 18.]
SECTION 2.
REG 14 DEC17
No. 1.
!
[181821]
(No. 233.)
Mr. Alston to Mr Balfour.-(Received September 18.)
Sir,
Peking, July 28, 1917. WITH reference to my despatch No. 172 of the 9th June, I have the honour to enclose a copy of the report which I stated therein that I had called for from His Majesty's consul-general at Mukden on the subject of the reported growth of the morphia habit in Manchuria and the smuggling of the drug into that province.
The evidence obtained by Mr. O'Brien-Butler is not very definite, but at the same time it tends to show, especially the last paragraph, that the purchase of doses of morphia is both easy and cheap.
Since writing my above-mentioned despatch, I have received from His Majesty's Ambassador at Tokyo a copy of his note of the 9th July to the Japanese Government, notifying them of His Majesty's Government's decision to permit the export of morphia from the United Kingdom to none but consignees approved by their own Government anthorities. This action on the part of His Majesty's Government should go far to check the evil in China, and a diminution of the smuggling into China should be the logical result.
As it would seen only right that His Majesty's Government should receive credit from the Chinese Government for their humanitarian action, I had the honour to suggest in my telegram No. 336 of the 26th July that, if the export from the United Kingdom to other countries is subject to similar conditions as that to Japan, I should inform the Chinese Government of the present position, and endeavour to induce them, on their part, to cope with the evil from within.
A copy of this despatch has been sent to Sir Conyngham Greene.
I have, &c.
B. ALSTON.
Enclosure in No. 1..
Sir,
Consul-General O'Brien-Butler to Mr. Alston.
Mukden, July 24, 1917.
ON receipt on the 12th ultimo of your despatch No. 13, I had & conversation with Mr. S. F. Drakeford, the Secretary of the British Chamber of Commerce here, on the subject of the importation of narcotics of all descriptions into Manchuria, especially by the Japanese, and that gentleman promised to make enquiries for me and let me know the result. He told me at once that he knew that the Mitsui Bussan Kaisha, one of the largest Japanese commercial undertakings in the country, did a very considerable trade in practically every description of goods, and that it was not unlikely that the firm dealt also in drugs; but he doubled very much whether this more or less illegitimate trade was its only source of profit in Manchuria.
On the 14th instant Mr. Drakeford wrote to me as follows:--
I am unable to tell you anything to implicate any particular firm, but enquiries I have in hand may bring something to light in a day or two. It is common knowledge, however, that special provision is made in the Japanese settlement to encourage opium smoking amongst the Chinese, and that they openly indulge in it there. Also, morphia is openly sold to Chinese in the Japanese concession and in so-called Japanese drug stores just outside the city wails. One Chinese states that his wife buys 20 cents worth every day. I am told there is no difficulty in getting it either in bulk or in small quantities. It is said that it comes to Mukden from Dairen, and there are certain circumstances connected with its distribution which lead colour to the assumption that it is imported by a big firm, and that its distribution amongst the Chinese is either winked at or encouraged by those in authority as part of the policy for the peaceful penetration of Manchuria by the Japanese,
"A Korean, who speaks English, states that lately he visited the Japanese consul to get a passport to go to some of the British or American colonies, but was told that it
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