CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923 — Page 307

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additional demand resulting from the reduction of

smuggled opium due to the stricter preventive measures

taken by the Government, and urging that in view of the

terms of the undertaking given at Geneva, the Colonial

Office should not agree to this proposition.

(The position was that although Sir R.E.

Stubbs had been informed of the proceedings at Geneva,

these had not been reported officially to the Hong Kong

Govement, as no official report of the League of Nations meeting had been received in the Colonial Office.)

After further correspondence with Sir M,

Delevingne in which it was agreed that (as the undertaking

was conditional on the recommendations of the Opium Advisory Committee) a full statement of the position

should be laid before the Advisory Committee at its

meeting in the Spring, a despatch was sent to the Governor

on the 7th of December asking him to prepare a memo r'an-

dum for submission to the Committee, together with a supplementary nemrandum (if he thought it desirable) for the confidential information of the British Representative

He was also instructed to review the position generally

with a view to determining what measures are necessary

in order to carry out the pledge given by the British

Representative to the Assembly of the League,

Mr. Severn's reply (dated 17th November) to Colonial Office despatch of 27th September crossed the despatch mentioned in the preceding paragraph and was received in the Colonial Office on 28th of December.

On the basis of consumption in the year 1922, he

estimated the Colony' a requirements for 1923 at 25 chests per month, but he pointedout that in addition

to the imported opium, much of the opium seized was

used

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