CO129-471 - Public Offices - 1921 — Page 515

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stating that Mr. Wyatt Smith will start on his tour of investigation on the 14th or 15th March. Mr. Tours will reach Chungking at the end of March and will proceed immediately with the inspection of Kueichow and Eastern Yunnan, while the inspection of Western Yunnan will be begun as soon as the Chinese have appointed their deputies, which I am urging them to do without delay.

For the other three provinces, I understand that deputies are to be sent from Peking. The Chinese delegates for Kiangsu are to meet Mr. Toller at Nanking on or about the 25th April, and those for Kiangsi are to be instructed to arrive at Kiukiang on the 20th March and place themselves in communication with His Majesty's consul at that port.

The inspecting party for Shensi will leave Peking at the end of March.

Enclosure 1 in No. 27.

Note communicated to Wai-chino Pu.

I have, &c.

B. ALSTON.

ON the receipt of your Excellency's note of the 19th January I referred to His Majesty's Government your request for the joint inspection of opium of the six provinces of Kiangsu, Kiangsi, Kuangtung, Shensi, Yunnan and Kueichow, and I have now received a telegraphic reply from His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs assenting to the proposal.

I have the honour, therefore, to inform your Excellency that I will appoint six consular officers as the British delegates for the purpose, and will send a secretary to the Wai-chiao Pn to make the necessary arrangements on hearing from appointment of the Chinese delegates.

Peking, February 26, 1917.

Enclosure 2 in No. 27.

Note communicated to Wai-chiao Pu.

you

of the

WITH reference to my note of the 26th February on the subject of the joint inspection for opium of Kiangsu, Kiangsi, Kuangtung, Shensi, Yunnan and Kueichow, I have the honour to inform your Excellency that I have appointed the following officers as the British delegates:-

Kiangsu Mr. W. S. Toller, His Majesty's consul at Ningpo.

Kiangsi Mr. W. R. Brown, His Majesty's consul at Kiukiang. Kuangtung Mr. S. Wyatt Smith, British vice-consul, Swatow. Shensi: Mr. E. Teichman, attached to His Majesty's Legation, Peking. Yunnan Mr. A. E. Eastes, His Majesty's consul at Tengyueh. Kueichow: Mr. B. Tours, C.M.G., His Majesty's consul at Ichang.

I beg to enclose herewith copies of the instructions that I have issued to these officers, and I should be obliged if your Excellency would inform me of the names and ranks of the delegates appointed by the Chinese Government and furnish me with copies of the instructions that have been issued to them.

In accordance with the verbal arrangements that have been made, I understand that, as regards the three provinces of Kuangtung, Kueichow and Yunnan, the Central Government has already sent telegraphic instructions to the Governors concerned to arrange with His Majesty's consuls at Swatow, Chungking and Yunnan, respectively, through the Foreign Affairs Commissioners for the appointment of the Chinese delegates, who are to be chosen locally.

The matter is especially urgent in the case of Kuangtung and Kueichow, where the poppy is already in flower, and I trust that the local authorities have been instructed to make the necessary arrangements without delay.

As regards the remaining three provinces, for which, I understand, the Chinese delegates are to be sent from Peking, I would request that the inspecting officials for

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Kiangsi should be instructed to reach Kiukiang on the 20th March and place them- selves in communication with His Majesty's consul, and that those for Kiangsu should arrive at Nanking on the 25th April, where they can also meet the British delegate at the consulate. As regards Shensi, I should be obliged if your Excellency would instruct the Chinese delegates for that province to make the necessary arrange- ments with Mr. Teichman, of the Legation, with a view to starting at the end of March.

Peking, March 7, 1917.

Enclosure 3 in No. 27.

Note communicated to Wai-chiao Pu.

IN my note of the 7th March, on the subject of joint inspection of certain provinces for opium, I have informed your Excellency that I had appointed Mr. Tours, His Majesty's consul at Ichang, to be the British delegate for the inspection of Kueichow, and had instructed him to proceed to that province immediately viâ Chungking, it having been verbally arranged with Wai-chiao Pu that the Government of Kueichow should inform him of the arrangements as regards the Chinese delegates through the Foreign Affairs Commissioner and His Majesty's consul at Chungking.

I now have to inform your Excellency that I am instructing Mr. Tours that, on the completion of his inspection of Kueichow, he should continue his journey and inspect the eastern portion of Yunnan, and I shall be glad if you will request the Governor of Yunnan to send a Chinese delegate to meet him on the Kueichow border. The western portion of Yunnan will be examined by Mr. Eastes, His Majesty's consul at Tengyueh, as stated in my former note.

I beg to enclose a copy of the supplementary instructions issued to Mr. Tours as the British delegate for opium inspection in Eastern Yunnan, and to request that your Excellency will furnish me in due course with a copy of the instructions issued to his Chinese colleague.

Peking, March 12, 1917.

No. 28.

Mr. Alston to Mr. Balfour.—(Received May 8.)

Sir,

Peking, March 28, 1917. I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith copies of a note which I have received from the Wai-chiao Pu, enclosing the instructions issued to the Chinese delegates for the joint inspection of the provinces of Kiangsi, Kiangsu and Shensi for opium.

I have, &c.

B. ALSTON,

Enclosure in No. 28.

Wai-chiao Pu to Mr. Alston.

(Translation.) Sir,

Peking, March 15, 1917. WITH reference to your notes of the 26th February and the 7th March enclosing copies in English of your instructions to the six British opium delegates, and the visits to this Ministry of Mr. Secretary Brenan of your Legation on the 27th February and the 5th March for the purpose of discussing the necessary arrangements, I have the honour to state that, as in Kuang-tung the poppy flowers comparatively early, and as Yunnan and Kueichow are distant from Peking, the Governors of the said provinces have been instructed by telegraph to depute officials to conduct the investi- gations jointly with the delegates appointed by yourself. Additional delegates for these provinces will not therefore be sent by this Ministry and the Ministry of the Interior.

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