§ MR. THEODORE TAYLOR (Lancashire, Radcliffe)To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can now give the House the Terms of Reference of the International Opium Commission which is to meet in Shanghai in February next.
(Answered by Secretary Sir Edward Grey.) The United States Government have communicated to us the terms of their instructions to their delegates. These instructions are as follows: (1) To devise means to limit the use of opium in the possessions of this country; (2) to ascertain the best means of suppressing opium traffic, if such now exists among the nationals of this Government in the Far East; (3) to be in a position so that when the Commission meets at Shanghai our representatives may be prepared to co-operate with the representatives of participating Powers, and with them to offer definite suggestions of measures which these Governments may adopt for the gradual suppression of opium cultivation, traffic, and use within their Eastern possessions, thus assisting China in her purpose of eradicating the evil from her Empire; (4) to be able to inform the whole Commission when it assembles regarding regulations and restrictions in force at present in this country, and to formulate and discuss proposals for amending such regulations in points in which they may be found, in the course of the joint investigation, to affect the production, commerce, use, and disadvantages of opium in the Far East." The British delegates are being furnished with instructions on similar lines, but it is not known how far this basis has been accepted by the other participating Government for the guidance of their delegates.