F 1643/51/87.
sir,
412
FOREIGN OFFICE, S.V.1.
June 20th, 1923.
With reference to your letter No. F 1635 of the 29th May, relative to the control of the opium traffic between the Persian Gulf and the Far East, I am directed by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to state that he agrees in principle that steps should be taken to impose upon the ships of all countries restrictions similar to those contemplated in the case of British vessels, if the present proposals are eventually carried through. There appears, however, to be certain difficulties in the way of putting such a proposal into effect.
2. The official returns show that the only non-Pritish vessels which entered and cleared in the foreign trade of the port of Bushire during the period March 1920 Waroh 1922 were seven Chinese and three Forwegian. There are reasone to believe that German and Russian ships may be trading in the Gulf in the near future. The Governments of those countries, however, do not maintain any consular posts in the Gulf, and are not in a position to exercise such control over their shipping as His Majesty's Government can enforce on theirs. It would, therefore, be useless to request these Loverments to impose such restrictions as are contemplated; the Persian Goverment alone would be in a position to do so and it is doubtful whether they have either the will or the power properly to enforce restrictions of this nature,
3. It might, nevertheless, be desirable to urge upon the Persian Goverment the desirability of their exercising upon vessels of all nationalities measures of control
Under Secretary of State,
similar /
India Office.
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