[This Document is the Property of His Britannig-Majesty's Government.]
OPIUM.
CONFIDENTIAL.
| 27266
April 13.] BEGUN SECTION 3.
F1331/15/10]
No. 1.
Sir C. Eliot to Earl Curzon.-(Received April 13.)
651
(No. 73.)
Tokyo, February 26, 1921. My Lord,
I HAVE the honour to enclose herewith a copy of a despatch from His Majesty's consul at Tamsui, dated the 20th September last, in which inter alia he describes at length the difficulties he has encountered in obtaining from the authorities in that island satisfactory information on the subject of opium and morphine production and consumption.
In ordinary circumstances Mr. Consul Butler's despatch would have been submitted at once to your Lordship; but in this case transmission was withheld in the hope that the information denied in Formosa might perhaps be obtainable in Tokyo and, if so, embodied in a covering despatch from this Embassy.
Unfortunately, although Mr. Tanaka, the director of the Commercial Bureau of the Imperial Japanese Foreign Office, has promised his assistance in the matter. it has not yet borne fruit. In the meanwhile your Lordship's despatch No. 418 of the 23rd November last has come into my hands, and as I notice that the penultimate paragraph of the Home Office letter of the 9th November attached to it contains questions which are partly answered in Mr. Consul Butler's despatch, I think it desirable not to postpone the transmission of the latter any longer. I shall, however, continue to press Mr. Tanaka for the information he has promised. It should, if complete, answer the last question in the Home Office letter. I have also informally invited the attention of the Japanese Foreign Office to the fact that His Majesty's Government is still awaiting a reply to the memorandum addressed to the Japanese Embassy in London on the 12th March, 1920.
Enclosure in No. 1.
I have, &c.
C. ELIOT.
(No. 40. Confidential.) Sir,
Acting Consul Butler to Sir C. Eliot.
Tamsui, Formosa, September 20, 1920.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your Excellency's despatch No. 19 (with enclosures) of the 6th instant, instructing me to furnish a further report regarding the opium traffic in this island.
Before taking any steps in the matter I telegraphed to you asking whether your Excellency would approve my requesting from the Formosan Government full particulars regarding opium consumption, manufacture and disposal of morphine, &c. My reason for referring the matter to you was that experience has taught me that enquiries made by me on these subjects are not welcomed by the authorities— However, official channels are indeed, 1 might almost say that they are resented.
the only ones open to me to obtain the necessary data and, needless to say, the attitude Tu of the authorities leads one to assume that they have something to conceal. speaking of the authorities I actually allude to two individuals, Dr. Shimomura, the director-general, and Mr. Kaku, the director of the Monopoly Bureau, for the opium policy of the Government is entirely in the hands of these two officials.
As
On receipt of your Excellency's telegram of the 17th instant I therefore arranged an interview with Mr. Kaku at the Monopoly Bureau for the 18th. I had anticipated, this interview was neither satisfactory nor agreeable. Mr. Kaku showing a marked disinclination to afford me information, and at times getting unnecessarily heated. However, we parted amicably enough, and I should not like you to think that I was indiscreet in my questions. On the contrary, I was most careful to avoid entering into anything in the nature of a controversy (though Mr. Kaku more than once invited one) or hurting possible susceptibilities. Justice to Mr. Kaku I should like to say that his secretive attitude may perhaps he
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