CO129-516-5 Policy of Hong Kong government on the purchase and supply of opium 25-2-1929 - 10-5-1929 — Page 25

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S.0.209.

29 APR 1329

Ause by 8

Home Office,

Whitehall,

S.W.1.

26th April, 1929.

6

My dear Grindle,

I have read carefully the secret despatch

from the Governor of Hong Kong which you enclosed with your

letter of yesterday, and I entirely agree with the lines

of the answer that you propose to send. Apart from the

fact that the Governor's proposals are highly controversial,

any considerable departure from the settled policy at the

present moment seems quite out of the question when the

League Commission is about to proceed to investigate the

existing situation at the special request of the British

Government.

To avoid any possibility of misunderstanding,

however, I would suggest that the last part of the answer

should follow more closely the terms of the exact assurance that

was given before, namely, that the Government of Hong Kong

would be permitted to buy Persian opium to make up for the

reduction in the supplies obtained from India.

The wording

you suggest would seem to imply that the Governor would be

allowed to purchase opium in excess, or even greatly in excess,

of the present or recent normal rates of consumption, provided

there was a demand for the opium at the rate approved for the

time being by the Government. The Home Government has not committed itself to this policy and I think that, put in this way

it would be regarded simply as an abandonment of the obligations

Sir Gilbert Grindle, K.C.M.G., C.B.

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