HC Deb 16 April 1919 vol 114 cc2879-80
12. Major JAMESON

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what action has been taken with a view to secure the ratification and enforcement of the International Opium Convention, 1912, by those Powers which, prior to the War, had not deposited their ratification?

The UNDER-SECRETARY Of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. C. Harms-worth)

The British Peace Delegation have submitted a proposal that all the Powers represented at the Conference should bind themselves to take such steps as may still be required on their part to bring the Opium Convention of 1912 into force, and that a Clause should be inserted in the peace terms imposing upon the enemy States the obligation of ratifying the Convention at an early date and enacting the legislation necessary to carry out its provisions. The British Delegation have further suggested that the League of Nations should be entrusted with the duty of supervising the execution of the terms of the Convention and generally of exercising control over the international traffic in opium and other deleterious drugs.