CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924 — Page 212

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point of view as it involved the abandoning of the Import

the only

Certificate system, which had been boknowledged as

effective system of controlling the international traffic

and which had already been accepted by over 30 countries. More-

over it was not in compliance with Art. 3 and Art. 13 of the

Convention. The system of export permits in duplicate proposed

in substitution afforded no guarantees at all against the export

of drugs to countries which did not want or require them or to

countries where they would be used to supply the illicit traffic.

3. It limits the bonding of opium, eto, to persons duly

authorised, a system which seemed to be impracticable.

4. It implied an alteration in the principles of penal

law in certain comtries.

5. The criticism that direct limitation reste on two incon-

sie tont bases as not admitted. It was also pointed out that the

reference on page to a system of boycott, inciting the boy-

cotted countries to cultivate and manufacture for themselves, did

not touch the British scheme for limitation, as there was no pro-

posal in that scheme to prevent a country which might repain outside

the Convention from being supplied with the amounts that mit be necessary for its legitimate requirements.

M. Bourgois replied that as some members of the Committee had considered that the limitation of the production of raw opium was

not possible there was accordingly no leason why the French Gove rime ut should be reproached for abandoning the direct limitation

of manu-

factura.

It aimed at achieving limitation indirectly by limiting contraband. He maintained that the Hague Convention was only to a certain extant ineffective, because it was incomplete as far

as transit, free ports, warehousing or free zones were concerned: in the same way as it has proved to be possible to accomplish an efficient control of the national trade, you may accomplish the sane results as to the international trade by completing the measures of the Convention.