CO129-542-1 China- traffic in arms 31-10-1932 - 9-2-1934 — Page 140

In any further communication on this subject, please quote

No. F 4231/16/10.

and address→→

not to any person by name,

but to-

"The Under-Secretary of State,"

Foreign Office,

London, S.W.1.

Sir,

FOREIGN OFFICE.

S.W.1.

25th July, 1933.

53

137

(391

The 28 an

52192/28

Suditó

bony to Hr. Kong

In reply to your letter No. 13702/33 of the 26th June,

respecting the extent to which the Convention and Statute of

the Freedom of Transit, signed at Barcelona on the 20th April,

1921, applies to the export and import of arms, I am directed

by His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign

Affairs to inform you that he has given further consideration

to this question in accordance with the views expressed in your

letter.

2. It appears to have been overlooked that on the 19th

November, 1928 the Law Officers of the Crown delivered, at the

request of your Department, an opinion, in the case of the

seizure at Singapore in 1927 of certain arms and explosives

on board the German steamship "Deike Rickmers", which deals

with the effect of the Barcelona Convention and Statute on the

transit of arms. The Law Officers held that the seizure of

the goods in question on the grounds of their destination for

China was contrary to the provisions of the Convention.

Accordingly the statement contained in Foreign Office letter

(28) No. F 3030/160/10 of the 11th May last to the effect that the

Convention expressly excludes the export and import of arms

from the scope of the Convention requires to be modified.

The statement, however, which occurs in the letter from the

(14) Board of Trade of the 14th September, 1932, referred to in On 92596/32

paragraph 1 of your letter, to the effect that there are

provisions

The Under-Secretary of State,

Colonial Office.

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