§ Sir W. COLLINSasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he has official information to the effect that the whole of the surplus Indian opium stocks have been purchased by the Chinese Government with a view to resale to a syndicate, described as an anti-opium society, thus reviving the opium traffic in China; and, if so, whether His Majesty's Government proposes to take any and, if so, what steps with a view to obviate the revival of the traffic in Indian opium in China?
Mr. BALFOURHis Majesty's Government have received official information to the effect that an agreement has been concluded between the Chinese Government 533W and the Opium Combine for the purchase of the stocks of Indian opium in bond at Shanghai and Canton, but they have no official information as regards the resale of the stocks to a syndicate.
His Majesty's Government have not taken any part in, or given any official countenance to, the negotiations which led up to this agreement, but, inasmuch as the stocks of Indian opium which have been purchased by the Chinese Government were imported into China under the terms and during the course of the 1911 agreement, they were unable to prevent the conclusion of this private transaction.
The importation of certificated Indian opium into China has ceased to be legal with the expiration on the 31st December last of the 1911 agreement. His Majesty's Government, therefore, have no reason to fear that the formation of a Chinese syndicate for the purpose of disposing in China of the stocks of Indian opium remaining unsold at that date in the hands of the combine will lead to a revival of the traffic in opium between China and British India.