§ *MR. REESI beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the edict of the Chinese Government banning the introduction into and manufacture and sale within the empire of morphia and hypodermic appliances indicates that the suppression of the use of opium implies recourse to other drugs in place thereof; and whether the Foreign Office is in possession of any information to show that this is the case.
§ MR. J. A. PEASEThe prohibition of the general importation of morphia into China, except on certain conditions, was agreed to by His Majesty's Government in Article XI of the Commercial Treaty between China and Great Britain of 1902. The stipulation contained in that article, that the probibition should only come into force on all other Treaty Powers agreeing to its conditions, has, however, only recently been fulfilled. The edict has, therefore, no direct connection with the measures adopted for the suppression of the use of opium. Whether the suppression of the use of opium in China, if successfully accomplished, would have to any extent the effect indicated in the Question is a matter on which my right hon. friend cannot express an opinion. It is not implied in the edict.