23rd FEBRUARY, I 909
THE PRESIDENT took the Chair at io.3o a.m.
After the Chief Commissioner of the British Delegation had read replies to questions asked by the American and Chinese Delegations during the last sitting, Dr. R6SSLER moved that the resolutions to be submitted to the Commission should first be discussed by a Com-mittee, in order that unnecessary debate might be avoided. The Right Hon. Sir CECIL CLEIENTI SMITH thought that the resolutions should go to a Committee after, and not before, they had been submitted to the Commission. This view was also expressed by the Chief Commissioner for France.
On Dr. ROSSLER's proposition being put to the House it was lost by 6 votes to 5.
The Chair then announced that resolutions would be taken in alphabetical order, i.e., in the order of the various Delegations as given on the official list.
Dr. HANIILTON WRIGIIT, rising to present the American resolutions, spoke as follows:—
" Mr. President and Fellow Commissionel s of the International Opium Commission,—The American Delegates, after due consideration of the historical aspects of the opium question, after a complete and careful study of the literature on the general question of opium abuse throughout the world, and more particularly after a specific study of the various reports laid before this Commission, have considered and drawn up a ,eries of resolutions which we hope may receive, along with others of similar sense, the unanimous approval of the International Opium Commission. We have, in considering and drawing up these resolutions, kept in mind the magnitude of the question we were instructed to review, and the relative values of the economic, moral, and international interests of the different Government represented in this Commission.
" It may be remembered that in one of the early despatches which led to the calling of this Commission, our Secretary of State took the following ground: That the Government of the United States had not actually engaged in the opium trade in the Far East ; that it had
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from early days discouraged the opium trade in the Far East through Treaties made with Far Eastern countries, and by statutes passed to make those Treaties effective, that it had by special laws endeavoured to prevent its citizens from pushing- the trade on unprotected people. All this is a matter of record in our report. Our Secretary of State was of the opinion that, in view of the historical position of the United States, its Government was, perhaps, best position-ed to propose that there should be called together an International .Commission to study the scientific, moral, economic, political and all other sides of the opium question, and if possible for the Commission to suggest methods for its solution.
" The American Delegates can assure this International Opium Commission that our Secretary of State in calling for this Commission, sympathized with, and expressed the sympathy of the' American people, for those countries which had become involved in a financial maze based on a too free production and traffic in opium. His mind and the mind of the American people was also stirred by a profound sympathy for all people who have become involved in, and thus rendered less effective in world affairs by, the abuse of opium. The American Delegation is here, and has studied the opium problem in all of its phases, in the same spirit and with the same sympathy in which the International Opium Commission was conceived and finally brought into being. We feel certain that the other Delegations to this International Commission have thought as deeply on the opium question as we have since we assembled at Shanghai : that you have thoug-ht as deeply, and with more real knowledge of the facts, as have thought that large number of able men and women who have agitated this opium question during the last fifty years ; that you have thought as seriously and deeply as those statesmen will be bound to think to whom this Commission must leave the final adjust-ment of the problem.
"You are all, I am sure, in cordial agreement with the American Delegates that the opium problem is a difficult one, especially for China and India. We, as well as other Delegates, were gratified when, in opening the discussion on the Chinese report, Sir ALEXANDER HOSIE expressed his great appreciation of, and his sympathy for, the hardship that confronts the Chinese people and Government in dealing with their opium problem. Our Delegation would enlarge upon Sir ALEXANDER HOSIE'S fine spirit, by expressing our appreciation of, and our sympathy for, the great difficulties which, we know, confront the Governments of British India, Hongkong, the Straits Settlements, French Indo-China, Siam, Portugal and the Netherlands, in dealing with the serious financial problems which have supervened on their production, and manufacture, or their trade in or use of upium. We, however, are glad to be able to congratulate our German, Austrian and Italian colleagues that, through the wisdom of their governments and the self-restraint of their peoples, their opium problem is not of a nature to be alarming. We rejoice also that, the Government of French Indo-China is so surely and steadily resolving its opium problem to final extinction.
"Yet, in spite of the sympathy and interest which our Delegation have for the difficulties, financial and other, we have concluded that the traffic in opium for other than necessary uses ought not much longer to continue, or, there will yet loom between the East and West a problem that in its magnitude and potentialities for strife will outstrip the magnitude and forces of that long since, and happily settled, slavery question. The slavery question agitated the civilised world for a century. No more emotion was expended, no greater misconception of facts occurred, no greater stubbornness of opinion was shown in the initial stage of the solution of that problem, than has been shown in the initial stages of the solution of this opium question. Before the slavery, question was finally settled it well-nigh tore a continent in two. In the United States we were dominated for fifty vears by discussions of the slavery question, which finally led to a horrid war,—and that in spite of the great example set us by the British Government in voluntarily freeing the slaves in her colonies, and in charging her Imperial budget with a sum which may be said to be fifteen tirnes the sum involved in the Indian opium traffic, the opium farms of Hongkong, the Straits Settlements, Federated Malay States and Ceylon.
" During the last few years our people have watched with admiration a repetition of history. For they have seen the beginning of a determined, and they hope a final, effort by that same great nation to sacrifice a great revenue to the end that another 1,videspread evil may cease. In watching this historical day, our people, besides cleaning its own house, have felt that the century old desire of China is about to be fulfilled. That we live in a new day in which, were he alive, the great Warren Hastings would, while enunciating the great fundarnental principles which filled his mind, say somewhat differently in the matter of foreign commerce in opium. We believe that Ile would say, and would be endorsed by the decent opinion of mankind, that opium was not a necessary of life, that it was undesirable to increase the proluction of any such article, that opium was a pernicious article when regarded as an articl
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of luxury, an article, on the other hand, which the wisdom of Governments should carefully restrain from consumption, internally, and let us add, abroad. The day we are in is a modern and more happy day than the day of Warren Hastings. It is a day in which moves the force of another great Indian and Imperial statesman, a great philosopher also—Lord Morley. Lord Morley is not afraid to say that he did not wish to speak in disparagement of the Royal Commission, but somehow or other its findings had failed to satisfy public opinion in this country, and to ease the consciences of those who had taken up the matter . . . . What was the value of medical views as to whether opium was a good thing or not, when we had the evidence of nations who knew opium at close quarters. That the Philippines Opium Commission in the passage of their report, which he hoped the House of Commons would take to heart, declared that the United States so recognized the use of opium as an evil for which no financial gain could compensate, that she would not allow her citizens to encourage it, -even passively.'
Lord Morley could further express himself on three most important points:—
" The first, concerning his insistence that China must fulfil her part of the agreement founded on her OW11 proposals, if England is to do the same. He (Lord Morley) explained that from his point of view such insistence was intended, not as a threat to China, but rather as a help to her to hold fast to her obligation, and to go forward with its fulfilment.
"' The second point concerned the action of our Government in case China should fail to carry out her own proposals—was it to be understood that the present movement for the gradual extinction of the Indian opium export should, in that case, come to an end? Lord Morley did not see that that was implied. There were two broad grounds for the present move-ment; one, the proposals of the Chinese Govermnent, the other the resolution of the House of Commons on the 3oth May, r906. If the first should fail, the second did not necessarily cease to be a ground of action.
" The third point concerned a possible plea on the part of China that the process of reduction might go no more swiftly than her own first proposals contemplated, Would Lord Morley be prepared to consider such a plea if deliberately put before him by the Chinese a.uthorities ? In reply Lord Morley said that he could only refer to his statement on the 3oth May, r906, that any deliberate proposals from the Chinese Government on the subject of opium would meet with sympathetic consideration.'
" Is Great Britain to halt ? Our Delegation, our people do not believe it. Great Britain will not halt if we are to credit her public opinion, her press, her present eminent Secretary of State for Indian Affairs. Our people believe tl-at Great Britain will defend herself against the criticism of all rig-ht-minded people by replacing her opium revenue, sacrificing- it mayhap, and by sacrificing dual ag-reements, and obsolete treaties, as she sacrifices, and sends to the scrapheap an obsolete class of battleships that are of no further use to defend her extensive interests. We live in a day when such things may be done by our great Mother Country. Vkre live in the day of such large minded Governors-General and Statesmen as Lord Mint() who declares, That there is no doubt throughout the civilized world a feeling of disgust at the demoralising effect of the opium habit in excess. It is a feeling in which we cannot but share. We could not, with any self-respect, refuse to assist China on the ground of loss of revenue to India.' And here let me express my admiration for the Honourable Member of the Indian Government who sits in the British Delegation, for placing this statement of Lord Minto's in the record of this International Opium Commission.
"It is the day of such great lawyers and statesmen as Mr. Elihu Root, who could bring-to life this International Opium Commission. It is the day of such practical churchmen and philanthropists as Bishop Brent whose mind grasped the opportune moment for suggesting, the calling of this Commission. It is a day when this troublesome opium question is no longer the concern of one or two Powers, who have direct interests in the traffic and illicit use of opium,—but a day when the great Powers of the world who have kept aloof from the problem may join with those others and, out of their experience, advise on this question. It is a day, let us hope, in which moves the old happy spirit that leaped at the discovery of opium as a-n anodyne for those irretrievable ills from which the human mind and frame may sometimes suffer. It is a day, we venture to hope, when opium shall by the voice of this International Opium Commission be relegated and consecrated to its proper use in relieving the really sick. The American Delegation trusts that it is a day when opium shall no longer be made to descend from its high place among the gifts of nature to pander to the desires or vices of mankind.
"Personally, through this more recent and more through study of the opium question, I have seen that the abuse of opium is a sad business. It was with a feeling not far from shame that it fell to my lot to place before this Commission the unhappy state of the opium
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question in the United States. I venture to place myself with those other gentlemen on the floor of this House who by their training are best able to judge of the mental and physical conditions that arise and ultimately call for the use of opium. We would agree that the need for opium often occurs. We know, as the great Sydenham said, that medicine would go limping had it not been for the discovery of the drug. We would agree, I think, that there is a constant temptation to the most enlightened members of' the medical profession to thc use of the opium to relieve mental and physical pain, a temptation to which the medical profession too often gives way; yet because I know these particular phases of the opium problem, all the more am I firmly convinced that opium in all of its forms is a drug to be honestly and simply used only in those stresses and strains of mental and physical life that may be said to be extreme.
"With these thoughts in our minds our Delegations has had to face an International Problem that earnestly calls for the stuclv of questions of revenue, of treaties between various Powers on the question of opium, of dual agreements of the same nature for the control or reduction of the use of opium among-st those people!, to whom it is a familiar and ready remedy for all the minor ills that flesh ancl mind are heir to. There has at times been a temptation to look at the opium problem from the moral, the medical, the financial, or the historical. point of view alone. But on the whole we may assert that we have resolved the opium problem in its most comprehensive sense; and that, if we had any thought that it was a problem of easy solution without the conjoint action of the different Governments here represented, we have been sobered. It is with strong convictions but in generous spirit that the American Opium Commission presents its resolutions with a hope that they may be acceptable to this Commission as a whole, with a hope that there shall speedily- be recorded the first great International step in the solution of this vexatious questions, so that the East and the West may be free without further conflict of opinion to proceed to discuss those other, but minor, problems that still agitate them."
Dr. WRIGHT, continuing, said that in introducing these resolutions their Delegation had no intention of being dogmatic. They were presented more in the shape of a skeleton, which it was hoped the wisdom and thought of the other Delegations would be able to clothe. They were couched, perhaps, in too precise language, but in drawing them up their Delegation thought it was better to have them as precise as possible, and to trust to the advice of other Delegations to soften them, or to give them a new direction, where needed.
Dr. WRIGHT then read the first of the American resolutions :
That, whereas the reports submitted to the International Opium Commission by the Delegations present recognise that opium, its alkaloids, derivatives and preparations are, or should be, confined to legitimate medical practice.
Be it Resolved, therefore, that in the judgment of the International Opium Commission a uniform effort should be made by the countries represented at once or in the near future to confine the use of opium, its alkaloids, derivatives and preparations to legitimate medical practice in their respective territories :
And be it further Resolved, that in the judgment of the International Opium Commission each Government represented is best able to determine for its ONV11 nationals, dependent or protected peoples, what shall be regarded as legitimate medical practice.
Dr. WRIGHT stated that his Delegation realised that the term legitimate medical p7 actice did not mean the same in every country, and that what constituted legitimate medical practice in France, the United States, etc., would not be considered as such in India or China, where there were not a sufficient number of physicians ; so in the last paragraph, bearing on the first postulate, they had taken the view that each Government was capable of deciding itself what constituted legitimate medical practice in its own territory?.
The second American resolution, as read by Dr. WRIGHT, ran as follows :—
That, whereas the reports submitted to the International Opium Commission by the Delegations present recognise that, as the result of inadequate knowledge in the past of the baneful effects of the unguarded and indiscriminate use of opium, its alkaloids, derivatives and preparations, there have arisen certain revenue problems which depend upon the production, sale and use of opium, its alkaloids, derivatives and preparations :
And further, whereas, in the judgment of the International Opium Commission these revenue problems remain and will require a certain time for solution :
Be it Resolved, therefore, that in the judgment of the International Opium Commission no Government should, as a matter of principle or necessity, continue to depend upon the pro-duction of opium, its alkaloids, derivatives and preparations for an essential part of its revenue :
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And be it further Resolved, that in the judgment of the International Opium Commission such revenue problems as exist are not of a nature to baffle the Governments confronted by them; and that they should be settled a.s soon as possible to the end that opium, its alkaloids, derivatives and preparations should be relegated to their proper use in legitimate medical practice.
The second postulate, Dr. WRIGH r said, was based on facts gleaned from the reports• They recognised that the United States had no financial interests in the opium question except in the Philippines, where they had lost 3 per cent of revenue by prohibition, and where they had had to add considerably to the budget by preventive work, but at the same time tht'v recognised that there were larger problems affecting some of the countries represented on the Commission. Therefore they had resolved that " these revenue problems remain and will require a certain tirne for solution."
Continuing, Dr. WRIGHT stated that they wanted to avoid going into details ; they, of course, recognised that an export duty was a perfectly legitimate tax, but that formed a very small part of the revenue derived from opium by several of the countries represented there. The country that would be most seriously affected by the withdrawal of revenue on opium was India. They had the assurance, however, of the representative of the Indian Government that that Government was not baffled bv the problem. With reference to the wording of the last paragraph of the resolution, where it was stated that such revenue problems as exist " should be. settled as soon as possible," the speaker regretted that the language used was so positive ; but his Deleg,ation was perfectly willing- to make any alteration that might be considered desirable.
The third American i'esolution was to the following effect :—
That, whereas, the reports submitted to the International Opium Commission by the Delegations present state that opium smoking is prohibited to their nationals; further, that some of the Reports submitted state that opium smoking is prohibited to protected and dependent peoples of some of the Governments here represented:
Be it Resolved, therefore, that in the judgment pf the International Opium Commission, the principle of the total prohibition of the manufacture, distribution and use of smoking opium is the right principle to be applied to all people, both nationals and dependent or protected; and that no system for the manufacture, distribution or use of smoking opium should continue to exist, except for the express purpose and no other of stamping out the evil of opium smoking in the shortest possible time.
Dr. WRIGHT thought that this resolution called for no comment, and he continued to read the fourth resolotion :—
That, whereas, the reports submitted to the International Opium Commission by the Delega-tions present, record that each Government has strict laws which are aimed directly or indirectly to prevent the smuggling of opium, its alkaloids, derivatives and preparations into their respective territories.
Be it Resolved, therefore, that in the judgment of the International Opium Commission it is the duty of all countries which continue to produce opium, its alkaloids, derivatives and pre-parations, to prevent at ports of departure the shipment of opium, and of its alkaloids, derivatives and preparations, to any country which prohibits the entry of opium or of its alkaloids, derivatives and preparations.
Dr. WRiGHT explained that in drawing up this resolution the American Delegation had in mind their own problem in the Philippines. He then read the fifth resolution :—
That, whereas, the reports submitted to the International Opium Commission by the Delegations present, indicate that the use of morphia, its salts and derivatives, is iudissolubly bound up with the abuse of opium itself, and that their use accompanies, or sooner or later supervenes, on the use of opium itself :
Be it Resolved, therefore, that in the judgment of the International Opium Commission, strict International Agreements are needed to control the trade in, and the present or possible future abuse of, morphia and its salts and derivatives, by the people of the Governments represented in the International Opium Commission.
In drawing up this resolution, Dr. WRIGHT said, his Delegation had no other country in mind but their OW11. They had, perhaps, the largest morphine problem to face of ant. country represented on the Commission, but here again they were willing to accept any
reasonable amendment.
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Dr. WRIGHT then read the last two of the resolutions drawn up by his Delegation, without further comment :
That, whereas, the reports submitted to the International Opium Commission by the Delegations present indicate that though each Government represented is best able by its National Laws to control its own internal problem as regards the manufacture, importation or abuse of opium, its alkaloids, derivatives and preparations, yet that no Government represented may by its National Laws wholly solve its own opium problem without the conjoint aid of all those Governments concerned in the production and manufacture of opium, its alkaloids, derivatives and preparations:
Be it Resolved, therefore, that in the judgment of the International Opium Commission, a concerted effort should be made by each Government represented in the Commission to assist every other Government in the solution of its internal opium problem.
That, whereas, the reports submitted to the International Opium Commission by the Delegations present, directly or indirectly recognise that the foregoing resolutions cannot be made effective except by the conjoint action of the Government concerned:
Be it Resolved, therefore, that the Commission as a whole, record its sense in favour of the principle of an International Conference for the solution of the problem.
H.E. Monsieur MIYAOKA enquired of the Chair if each Delegation would be at liberty to introduce any resolution at any time during the proceedings until the final vote on all the resolutions was taken. The PRESIDENT said it was for the House to decide whether it were-preferable to take up the individual resolutions which had already been presented, or to-receive others that might be in hand, and to discuss them all seriatim. He understood that the Chinese and Netherlands Delegations were prepared to submit resolutions to the House.
Mr. T'ANG KUO-AN stated that the Chinese resolutions were not quite ready for distribution.
The Right Hon. Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH suggested that the House should proceed to consider the resolutions presented by the American Delegation, and his proposal was. accepted.
Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT, having moved the adoption of the first American resolution,. the Right Hon. Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH addressed the House as follows :—
" Mr. President,—The British Delegation considers that it would be more re,pectful to put in a formal way before this Commission the views that it holds as regards this resolution._ With your permission, therefore, I will read our opinions which have been put in formal language:—
" It has been the earliest wish of the British delegation that the labours of the Com-mission should result in the unanimous recommendation of measures ivhich might have some practical effect in leading to the removal of those abuses which are found, though in varying degrees, to be connected with the use of opium. lt is, therefore, with extreme regret that we find ourselves unable to give the conveners of the Commission our entire support in all the proposals which they put forward. I may say at the outset that the form of their proposals. would alone make it difficult for us to accept them. Misunderstanding and misapprehension, we believe, can only. result from a vote in favour of prohibition in the unqualified form in which it is presented in these resolutions. They will see in due course that we are prepared to go-with them on the practical issues connected with the question of opium smoking. I should, however, be out of order in discussing the resolutions collectively. We have now to deal with the particular resolution before us, and I will state the reasons for our inability to support it.
" The resolution purports to reproduce, and the recommendation which it contains purports to follow directly from, the statements of policy which have been made by the. different participating countries in the reports submitted to the Commission. We object to the resolution in the first place because it unquestionably puts an erroneous. construction on some of these reports, when it lays down in its preamble that they recognise that the use of opium should be confined to medical practice. It is true that certain countries concerned in this investigation are already attempting, to limit the use of opium to medicinal purposes, or have definitely arrived at the decision so to limit it. This is the case, for example, with America and Canada where a foreign form of indulgence, previously unnoticed and uncontrolled, was at length found to be gaining a hold on the white. population. It is also true of China : where the practice of opium smoking has spread, uncon-trolled, until the Government of the country find that it is impairing the national strength ;,
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where the character of the administrative machinery seems to offer no alternatives other than complete extirpation or unrestricted license; and where there is strong public support behind a policy which, without that assistance, could onlv end in disastrous failure.
" There are, however, other countries to whom the opium question presents itself under wholly different conditions. Either they have not accepted the view that the use of opium can' or should be strictly confined to medical purposes, or, if they look forward to prohibition as the ultimate goal, they are still so far from its attainment that the proposition enunciated in the resolution could not be a practical guide to their action in the near future. By way of example I need only cite the case of India. You are all aware that regulation and not prohibition is the declared policy of the British Government in the whole mainland of India, and that the report which we have laid before you clearly establishes this distinction, and indeed strongly emphasizes it by the special attention which it devotes to the study of experiments in prohibi-tion in Burma. Our exatnination of the conditions in India has not satisfied us that it would be justifiable, and has made it absolutely clear that it is altogether impracticable in the near future, to depart from this established policy. We cannot, therefore, accept the unqualified statement contained in the preamble to the resolution, or the recommendation which follows from it.
" The opium habit has been known in India for centuries. You have only to look at the statistics of consumption to-day, and compare them with the lowest estimates of consump-tion in China, and remember how rapid has been the extension of the production and consumption of opium in the latter country, to see that the system of regulation built up in India is in fact, in a large measure, an efficient instrument in the prevention of abuse. You have only to consider for a moment the relations between the ruling power and the subject populations of India to realise that despotic interference with a national habit, dating, as I have said, from a period long anterior to British rule, could only be justified if that habit had been the cause of extensive social degradation, of which we have no sufficient evidence, or by the assurance of strong and g-enuinely popular support from Indian public opinion. This general support would not be forthcoming to-day. Indeed you will y-ourselves have realised, from a study of our report and of the explanations with which it was introduced, that the present would be a singularly inopportune occasion for inaugurating so questionable a political experiment. I need not enlarge on the difficulties involved, but would remind you that they are not wholly, and in our opinion not even primarily, financial, except to this extent, —that we should certainly advise that further sacrifices of revenue should not be con-templated until time had been allowed for the loss of the revenue from the export trade to be made good from the growth of ordinary taxation.
"But, as I have said abox e, the task of prohibiting opium is in any case impracticable in the near future—with which alone we need concern ourselves. I would ask you to look at the map of India, and to recollect that the countries along our northern frontier are opium-producing states to an extent which, if not great at present, admits of expansion to meet an insistent and accessible demand—that in the heart of India we have a solid block of 200,000 square miles of native state territory, with a correspondingly extended land frontier, where, among a population of over 17 millions, the production and transit of opium are not under direct control—and that still further south opium is in general use in the great state of Hyderabad, with an area of 8o,000 square miles and a population of millions, a State which possesses the right to resume the cultivation of the poppy at any time after twelve months' notice, and has only conditionally suspended the exercise of that right in order to obtain a higher revenue from an external source of supply which can be more readily taxed than scattered production within its own territories.
" I am not raising- speculative difficulties.    We know from actual experience in
regard to these same centres of production in the past what we must expect in the future. We know too from actual experience the evils and futility of a policy which: can only be maintained by the employment of enormous preventive establishments to guard an extended inland barrier. But I may take a more familiar case—one in which we can point to a candid appreciation of our difficulties by an impartial outside authority, and a generous recognition of our efforts to overcome them. I refer to Burma. You have seen. how in the far simpler case of Burma, where the religious sentiments of the people and the best opinion among thern are all on our side, and we are dealing, with a single province isolated from the mainland of India, the problem of prohibition has resisted the efforts of the Government for a period of fifteen years, and can hardly yet be regarded as solved even by the system of minute individual scrutiny which has now been attempted. It is clear that even if the British Government were prepared to admit the equity of denying the use of opium to the peoples of India generally—to proscribe it as the source of
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more extended social injury than alcohol and hemp drugs, the consumption of which they already regulate but do not prohibit—that decision could not be enforced except after a long period of preparation, during which, by perseverance with the present policy of regulation, the demand for opium as an indulgence had been gradually reduced and an effective public opinion against its use had been created. It would be difficult indeed to get as far as this, for the obstacles I have already mentioned will interpose themselves there as restriction becomes more irksome.
" It is equally clear—and I take it to be the intention of the last paragraph of the resolution to recognise—that we cannot, either by excessive restrictions or by direct prohibition, withhold from the peoples of India a drug which is one of the main household remedies on which they rely. Even if we adopted the resolution in principle we should still, and for a long time to come, be compelled to put a most liberal construction on the term medical purposes ' ; and to entrust the distribution of the drug for such purposes to a subordinate agency, constantly, exposed to strong temptation. This further opportunity for irregularity would go far to complete the undermining of a scheme of nominal prohibition.
"We should not be dealing fairly with the Commission in slurring over these difficulties and objections. We cannot advise our Government to pledge itself to a principle for which it cannot be seriously urged that the information placed before the Commission supplies anv new foundation, and which would not lead directly and in the near future to any action other than that already implied by the existing policy of regulation.
We are at one, however, with every member of this Commission in desiring in every practical way to prevent the abuse of the drug, and we believe that the acceptance of the fourth of the resolutions which we have placed on the table will tend towards this common end.
" In conclusion I can only add that we shall be unable to support the resolution brought forward bv the American Delegation."
Dr. WRiGHT.—" If the preamble to Resolution No.    contained the words Legitimate
medical practice or Government Regulation would that meet the objection of the Right Hon. Commissioner for Great Britain ?"
Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH.—" I regret to say that we consider that this would not meet the difficulties which I have already indicated at some length in the paper which I have just read."
Dr. RbSSLER suggested that the words " as far as practicable" might be inserted after the word " confine" in the second paragraph of the resolution. This, he thought, might meet the objections of the British Delegation.
Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITII.—" To put it perfectly plainly, and to be entirely frank, the British Delegation is not able to accept the view that opium should be confined simply and solely to medical uses."
Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT agreed that one of the greatest difficulties which the British Indian Government would have to contend with N\ as the definition of what constituted " legiti-mate medical practice," it being impossible to apply modern western medical ethics to a great country like India.
After further discussion it was decided, on the motion of Monsieur RATARD, that the further consideration of the resolution should be postponed in order that the British and American Delegations might confer together.
Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT moved the adoption of the second American resolution. Speaking for his Delegation the Right Hon. Sir CECIL CLEMENT' SMITH said:—
" We are unable to accept the proposition implied in the preamble, that the revenue derived by certain countries from opium is primarily due to the unguarded and indiscriminate use of the drug. It is a commonplace of opium administration, and is abundantly clear from the reports themselves, that it is the most efficient systems of regulating the use of opium which yield the highest return in revenue.
" Nor are we prepared to give to the revenue aspect of the opium problem the prominent position which this resolution assigns to it. I think our attitude in this matter will be sufficiently clear from the observations which I have already made on the first of these resolutions.
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" Finally we can find no warrant for the sweeping statement in the last paragraph of the resolution that such revenue problems as exist are not of a nature to baffle the Govern-ments confronted by them. If any country finds the prohibition of the use of opium to be incumbent upon it, its revenue problem will no doubt be faced and ultimately successfully faced. But we have no justification for minimising the revenue difficulties involved, or indeed, in the judgment of this delegation for intruding at all into their fiscal domain. It is not only those countries in which the use of opium prevails which derive a substantial portion of their revenue from an excise on articles the consumption of which is associated with abuse."
Monsieur RATARD.—" 1 should like to observe that as regards opium prohibition, fiscal considerations have very great weight in certain countries. But it must not be imagined that a growing revenue derived from opium means any relaxation of the policy of regulation On the contrary the result would be reduced consumption. In such countries as Java, and French Indo-China, the fact that the tax on opium is regularly increased practically takes the drug out of the reach of the native population."
Dr. ROssLER suggested that the resolution under discussion should also for the present be withdrawn and reconstructed for further consideration.
Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT said that it would have been better in his opinion if the resolu-tion had been previously discussed by a Committee such as the Chief Commissioner for Germany had proposed, but as that could not be done he hoped that the various delegations would reserve their opinions on this resolution until later. For the present Ile withdrew the resolution. He then moved the adoption of the third of the American resolutions.
Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH.—" I should like to say in regard to this resolution that we accept in principle what is aimed at, and what we are prepared to do is to vote for a resolution which would recommend that each Delegation move its own Government to take measures for the gradual suppression of the practice of opium smoking in its own territories and possessions. We are of opinion that the practice of opium smoking is one which should be done away with. It is manifest to everybody', however, that you would require in different countries, where circumstances vary, different systems by which to carry out the'object in view, and if it is acceptable to the Commission as a whole, then that principle is one which the British Delegation \vould be prepared to submit as an amendment to the resolution."
Chief Commissioner for Japan.—" I rise to express the opinion of the Japanese Delegation that from experience gained in Formosa the Japanese Government consider that the best way of dealing with the opium habit, i.e., the most practical way, is by gradual abolition, so that men and women addicted to the use of opium may break off their habit with least inconvenience to themselves. From experience gained, the Japanese Government is of opinion that gradual suppression is the only practical solution. Therefore, I agree with the Right Hon. Chief Commissioner for Great Britain in suggesting an amendment to Resolution No. 3 based on the principle of gradual abolition. Of course, should the American Delegation see their way to chang-e the nature of their resolution we should be only too glad to accept it "
Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT, speaking on behalf of his Delegation, said that Ile was willing to modify the resolution to meet the wishes of the other Delegations.
The Chief Commissioner for the Netherlands.—" I may mention that this Delegation has a resolution to offer which embodies the views expressed by the last speakers."
The Chair expressed the opinion that the last resolution might come under the same ruling as the two previous resolutions. This suggestion was accepted, and the resolution was withdrawn for modification.
Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT then moved the adoption of the fourth resolution.
Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH suggested that the words in the second paragraph of the resolution : " which continue to produce opium, its alkaloids, derivatives and preparations ": should be omitted. This would put the pressure not upon one country only but upon all countries. He also ventured to suggest to the United States Delegation that the paragraph in question should read " it is the duty of all countries to adopt reasonable measures to prevent, etc."
52    INTERNATIONAL OPIUM COMMISSION
Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT accepted these amendments, and the resolution in its altered form was adopted unanimously by the House.
Note.—The Portugese Delegation asked permission to reserve its vote on each and all of the resolutions.)
Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT moved the adoption of the fifth American resolution.
The Chair drew the attention of the House to the fact that a similar resolution had been drawn up by the British Delegation.
Sir CECIL CLEMENT' SMITII.—" A father generally approves of his own children, and perhaps I may be pardoned for saying that though we quite follow the points referred to in the resolution under discussion, we should prefer, and it would be more in order if I moved it as an amendment, the wording of our own resolution, with the words " to China " and " other" omitted. It would then read as follows :—
That the Commission finds that the unrestricted manufacture, sale and distribution of morphine already constitute a grave danger [to China], and that the morphine habit is already known, and shows signs of spreading, among [other] peoples in the East and elsewhere : the Commission therefore desires to urge strongly on all Governments that it is highly important that drastic measures should be taken by each Government in its own territories and possessions to control the manufacture, sale and distribution of this drug, and also of such other derivatives of opium as may appear on scientific enquiry to be liable to similar abuse and productive of like ill effects.
Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT.—" We are quite willing to accept the resolution that has just been read in place of our ol,vn."
Monsieur RATARD asked whether the words " the manufacture " were absolutely necessary.
Sir CECIL CLEMENLI SMITH thought that the words should be retained.
H.E. Monsieur MIYAOKA suggested that the words " among people in the East and else-where " should be omitted.
This was agreed to, and the resolution as amended was adopted unanimously by the House when put to the vote.
The Commission adjourned at 12.3o p.m.
On re-assembling at 2.3o p.m., Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT moved the adoption of the sixth American resolution.
Sir CECIL CLENIENTI SMITH. —"The first portion of this proposed resolution admits that each Government represented on this Commission is best able by its National Laws to control its own internal problem as regards the manufacture, importation and abuse of opium, yet lays down that no Government is wholly able by its laws to solve its opium problem without the assistance of other Governments.
" I think I am not going in the least degree too far when I say that the United States of America has solved its own problem in a most effective way. At any rate I think that the Act of Congress recently introduced, or rather the substance of the Act which has been com-municated to this Commission, shows that the United States Government is entirely qualified to deal with the internal problem of their own country.
" I do not wish to press the matter,—I only. wish to take that case as an illustration of the argument which I wish to urg-e upon this Commission. It appears to me that we are interfering or proposing to interfere in a way which our instructions do not allow of in the matter of internal administration, and that alone, to my mind, makes it almost impossible for us to fall into line with the American Delegation.
" With regard to certain words in the second portion of the clause I, must only confess that I fail to see how you can have concerted effort made by each Government represented in the Commission. I do not wish to criticise the language, but no doubt that language will be severely criticised by others.
MINUTES OF PROCEEDIN(s    53
" The principle which is airned at in this resolution is a direct interference with the ;internal administration of a country, which I do not think it within our power to deal with, and on that g-round alone I think it would be imprudent to accept the resolution which has been introduced by the American Delegation."
Dr. WRIGHT.—" In the preamble I do not think that we wished to express that any Delegation has the right to interfere in the internal administration of a country ; but, to take ,our own case, we are not able and will not be able to malce the law effective unless we have Assistance. I think everybody recognizes that. We frankly acknowledge in this resolution that our Government cannot solve its opium problem by its own national law, and think that the other Governments ought to help us; and I think the same remark applies to other -countries. We would be perfectly willing to drop the word each before Government if the British Government would vote for this resolution."
Monsieur MIYAOKA pointed out that the resolution under discussion was very similar to the one numbered " 4" that had already been adopted by the House.
Several speakers concurred with this view, and Dr. WRIGHT eventually withdrew the resolution, as the question that it was intended to deal with was sufficiently covered by the two resolutions already adopted. He then moved the consideration of the seventh American resolution.
The Right Hon. Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH said that the instructions issued to the British Delegation were specific, and he felt great difficulty in going beyond them. He thought that it would be presuming on their position were they to suggest the speedy calling of an International Conference. That was a matter that should be left to the Governments .concerned. Personally, he would not like to approach his Government telling them what they ought to do, and he felt that it was impossible to accept the resolution before them.
Monsieur RATARD having suggested that the resolution should be considered at some
'future date, Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT withdrew the resolution on that understanding.
On behalf of the American Delegation Dr. TENNEY brought forward the following as a separate resolution :—
Be it Resolved, that in the opinion of the International Opium Commission every nation which effectively prohibits the production of opium and its derivatives in that country, except for medical purposes, should be free to prohibit the importation into its territories of opium or its derivatives, except for medical purposes.
Dr. TENNEY said : " Mr. President.—It is a fortunate thing that the deliberations of this Commission have not been disturbed by the clashing of extreme and hysterical views on one side or the other of the opitun question. We have met as sensible men to study the question in a sane and sober manner. The world lcnows and admits that opium and morphia constitute a danger that threatens the welfare of China, and no less that of other nations.
" The various Government regulations which we have been studying, whether prohibitive except for medical purposes, or merely restrictive, are all founded upon the premise, disputed by none, that the use of opium or its derivatives constitutes a danger to every state represented here. Beyond question it is the general opinion of the world that the use of opium or mor-phia enfeebles the will, diminishes the efficiency, and injures the characters of the people, and measures have been taken accordingly.
" Every nation represented at this Commission, with one exception, has a free hand to take such steps as it deems necessary to safeguard its people from the injury which results from the misuse of opium. But that one nation whose hands are not free is unfortunately the one which, in its own opinion as well as in that of all competent observers, has suffered most severely from the spread of the opium habit.
" Speaking for myself, a long residence in China has caused me to feel a profound sympathy for the Chinese people. I am not blind to the faults of the Chinese social and political organization, as, I trust, I am not blind to certain faults of my own nation ; but I have
ofts,
real confidence in the general soundness of Chinese public opinion upon moral issues clearly brought before them.
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" Our colleagues of the Chinese Delegation have presented a report upon the present condition of the nation in regard to the production and misuse of opium in the Empire. That report has been in many respects unsatisfactory both to them and to us. It has been quite impossible for our fellow Commissioners of China, as they have frankly admitted, to furnish us with accurate statistics from all parts of the Empire. Instead of such statistics they have only been able to give us estimates, made, I believe, by fair-minded observers of various classes and nationalities. They have been unable to prove to us that the officials and people of the different provinces and sections of the Empire are all actuated by the same degree of earnestness and sincerity in carrying out the reform movement inaugurated by the Imperial Government two years ago. The Chinese report, carefully studied, also reveals the incom-pleteness of the control exercised by the Central Government ox er the provinces, a difficulty which every American can appreciate, owing to our OW11 experience of the many difficulties in carrying on the federal system of government which has been adopted in the United States.
"But while we admit the inadequacy and incompleteness in exact statistical data of the report which the Chinese Delegation has presented to us, it is still possible to form certain definite conclusions from it. 1 think there can be no doubt in the mind of anyone who has carefully studied the Chinese report that these three facts are fully established :
1.—The Imperial Govermnent of China is thoroughly in earliest in the anti-opium reform movement.
2.—There has been a remarkable growth of public sentiment in favor of the eradication of opium.
3,--There has been very decided and satisfactory progress made in carrying out the Imperial Edict of i906. With few exceptions the provincial authorities have run ahead of the Edict and have reduced the poppy acreag,-e much more rapidly than the original Edict called for.
The comity of nations calls upon us to lend a helping hand to China in the gigantic task to which she has set herself. It is not easy to divert the minds of four hundred million people from the thoughts and cares that ordinarily engross them, and centre their thoughts upon a great moral reform. Those who think that the Chinese are a phlegmatic race, not susceptible to the influence of enthusiasm and emotion, and not responsive to appeals to the moral sense, do not know the nation. The Chinese like other nations are capable of earnest endeavor and g-reat sacrifice under the spur of an awakened conscience, and as is the case with all other peoples it is hard to keep them for a long period of time on the heights of moral heroism and self-sacrifice.
There is a tide in th? affairs of men,
Which takcn at the flood, leads on to foi Lune :
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallovvs, and in miseries.
This wise saying of our great poet applies to those periods of moral awakening that come to all nations. It will be easier for China to rouse herself to one mighty effort to throw off the bondage of the opium habit than to persist in a long programme me of gradual reform stretching over a term of years.
" The existing Treaties prevent China from exercising her rig-ht as a Sovereign Power to act for the protection of her OW11 people. The consciousness of this limitation acts as a paralysis upon the minds of Chinese reformers. Rightly- or wrongly it turns into pessimists multitudes who would otherwise be working with enthusiasm for the regeneration of their country. This I know by abundant evidence.
" Gentlemen, I wish to say clearly and deliberately that in our opinion it is a disgrace to modern civilization that such a condition should be allowed to continue.
" This resolution is not to be interpreted as a fling ag-ainst Great Britain on the part of the American Delegation. Nothing is further from our thoughts. Action by all the Treaty Powers is necessarily involved if China is to enjoy her rights as a Sovereign State in dealing; with the opium question. We fully appreciate the fine spirit which has been shown by the British Delegates and we hope it may be further exhibited by their supporting- cordially this resolution. Such action as that which we urge would give China a fair opportunity to show that she is in earnest, that she can help herself; and if she can help herself friendly nations ought to help her. If she proves unable to help herself, then the blame rests solely on her own shoulders. If it is, as we believe, a question of duty, then this help ought to be given without haggling or demanding any quid pro quo. No honorable man tries to exact payment for doing what honor demands of him, or refuses to do what is right because it may cost him something. I am sure that each of us wishes his own nation to conduct its foreign policy on
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the same principles that actuate the ideal man in his private relationships, and therefore we say that all the Governments of all the Treaty Powers should give China the " square deal " regardless of anv possible temporary loss or inconvenience that it may cause them. Unques-tionably a moral tide is now rising in China. Let us help the Chinese ship of state to take it at its flood and reach the harbor of national strength and prosperity !"
Mr. 'PANG Kuu- ‘N. —" The Chinese Delegation, whilst supporting the resolution just put forward bv the America!) Delegation, intend to introduce a resolution similar in effect, although coucl;ed in different terms. We will, consequently', refrain from making any remarks now, but we wish to announce officially that we endorse every word that has just been uttered
bv Dr. TENNEY."
NIonsieur    NIay 1 ask Air. T'ANG whether he is prepared that action
should be taken on this resolution before us ? I understood him to say that the Chinese Delegation intends to submit a resolution which though differently- worded, embodies the same idea."
Mr. T.ANt; Kuo-AN.—" As far as this resolution is concerned we are prepared to have it submitted to the Commission. Our own resolution is not of such a general character, but has special reference to China, and I do not think the two resolutions are likely to conflict with each other."
Sir CECIL CLEMENT'    would be exceedingly interesting to us to know
whether the Chinese Delegation is speaking with the authority of its Government, or whether it is merely expressing the personal opinion of its Members upon Dr. TENNEY'S resolution."
Mr. T'ANG KUO-AN.—" The Chinese Delegation submit that they are responsible to their Government for their actions. I do not think that, being representatives of a Sovereign Power, we should be called upon by a Member of any Delegation to state whence our authority is derived."
Sir CECIL CLEMENTE SNIITH.—" Then I will go at once to the root of the matter. As far as I understand, Mr. PANG, on behalf of the Chinese Delegation, supports this resolution which has been submitted to the Commission by- Dr. TENNEY. The effect, which, of course, would not escape Mr. T.ANG, is an entire abrogation of Treaties. Whether the Chinese Government are prepared to accept that situation I, of course, do not know, nor am I prepared to say whether any Government would accept that position but, speaking from general knowledge, I think it would be amazing to suppose that any Power would agree for one moment to the repudiation of Agreements solemnly entered into. It is only necessary to make a statement to that effect to show the absolute absurdity of the situation, and I trust that this International Opium Commission will not for one moment allow itself to agree to any forin of words which will be interpreted as meaning that nations can lightly break Treaties solemnly entered into by them."
Mr. PANG KUO-AN.—"We had intended postponing- the discussion of this point until to-morrow, but since the Right Hon. Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH has brought it up, may I be allowed to say that it is not the intention of the Chinese Deleg-ation, nor the intention of our Government, to go back upon their Treaties or Agreetnents, nor is it our intention to do anything or to say anything which might appear discourteous to the British Delegation: that would be farthest from our minds. However, we state here, and we have the authority of our Government for stating, that the ten years' arrangement entered into between Great Britain and China was, at the time, thought by us to be all that was required. But China did not have in mind never to bring up the subject for discussion. While I repeat, therefore, that we have no desire whatever to go back on any agreement, still we would appreciate any effort on the part of the British Delegation to further assist us by curtailing the period of importation into China; and it is with this view in mind that we have ventured to support the resolution brought forward by Dr. TENNEY. We do not come here to ask this as a matter of right. We are conscious of having entered into a compact with Great Britain to suppress opium in ten years by regular annual reduction, but, notwithstanding this agreement, we believe that we are not precluded from requesting the Powers whose Representatives are here assembled, and especially the British Delegation, to take our case into further
56    INTERNATION.AL OPIUM COMMISSION
sympathetic consideration ; and I may say that that is the spirit which has actuated us, and I believe that which actuates our Government in Peking-. \Ale have no instructions to go• back on anything our Government has entered into ; still our Government would appreciate any further concession which the British Government might see fit to make."
Monsieur MIYAOKA.-" Mr. T'ANG has referred to the question of the ten years' agreement concluded between Great Britain and his Government, and if I properly understood him he stated that the Chinese Government was not quite satisfied with the arrangement ?"
Mr. PANG.-" I beg to explain further that at the time when the ag-reement was made between China and Great Britain our Government was satisfied for these reasons. They were satisfied to have a definite period of ten years, as that was far better than any indefinite period ; and they appreciated the generous spirit by which Great Britain agreed to reduce importation of opium into China. But, at the same time as it was a tentative step, there was a doubt in the mind of our Government as to the manner in which our people would assist in carrying it out. Therefore we thought that IA e would be on safe ground if we accepted the ten years' period. But certain circumstances have since arisen. Our people have responded beyond our expectations. The degree of success we have attained has astounded and sur-prised the world ; and our people are all clamouring for the suppression of the opium evil in China. I may say that since this Commission has opened its Sessions, we have received dozens of telegrams from different parts of our Empire, the gist of which has been to request us to ask the British Delegation to make further concessions by allowing us to reduce the period from ten years to a shorter period. We have not troubled this Commission by having all these telegrams read, because their purport is in every case the same. We think we are justified in asking Great Britain to meet us half-way, and therefore we come forward to-day, sooner than we expected, to ask that the British Deleg-ation may be good enough to entertain that proposal."
Monsieur MIYAOKA.-" It appears to me that this is hardly the proper time to discuss a question pending- between the British and Chinese Governments."
Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITI-I.-" It is very important that there should be no mis-understanding in this Commission upon the situation as regards Great Britain and China. I have been astounded at the words which have fallen from Mr. T'ANG. He has refused to tell us point blank whether the utterances delivered to-day have been in accordance with the instructions of his Government. He indicated that since China entered into the agreement with Great Britain the circumstances have altered ; and he takes upon himself the responsi-bility of absolutely denying the statement which has been made from Peking, delivered only in January, which was to the effect that China was entirely satisfied with the arrangement which had been come to, and did not wish it altered."
Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT.-" May I ask if that reply precluded the Chinese Delegation, from bringing up the question and getting an expression of opinion ?"
Monsieur MIYAOKA.-" It appears to me that we are drifting into an examination of a diplomatic question between China and Great Britain. My understanding of the work of this Commission is that it is to be one of investigation from a scientific and material point of view.
" In a note dated November 15th, i9o7, addressed by His Excellency Mr. O'Brien,. Ambassador of the United States in Tokyo, to His Excellency Count Hayashi, then H.I.J.M.'s Minister for Foreign Affairs, the proposal of the United States was thus described :—
To conduct a joint and impartial investigation of the scientific and material con-ditions of the opium trade and opium habit in the Far East, which affect the possessions and direct interests of those Governments' (i.e., of the Governments of Japan, Great Britain, France, Germany, The Netherlands and China) 'in that part of the world.'
"1 am of opinion that the discussion which has been going- on with reference to the ten years' arrangement is out of order."
Dr. TENNEY.-" I confess I have much sympathy with the view which lias just been expressed that the line of discussion which has been taken up is not appropriate to the words of the resolution before you, and is entirely unnecessary. The resolution reads (Dr. TENNEY here read the resolution again). ,
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS    57
" I confess I am surprised that this has not been cordially supported by the British Delegation and by every Delegation here. How can any right-mim_led man object to the principle which is embodied here! Whether it affects any agreement between Great Britain and China or not has nothing to do with it. China may be able to effectively prohibit importation of opium in ten years or she inay not, but whenever she is able to furnish proof that the production of opium has been effectively prohibited, would it not be grossly unjust for any nation to insist in forcing the drug on her."
Monsieur Mtv.\()!:.\.—" I repeat that it appears to me as though we were entering into a diplomatic question. Not that I am opposed to this principle, which may be eminently just in itself, as Dr. TENNEY observes, but in view of the fact that it is one which has to be considered in the light of existing, Treaty obligations, the question is whether this is the proper place in which to discuss it."
Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITII.—" Of course the I3ritish Deleg-ation entirely concurs with the remarks of the Chief Commissioner for Japan. This is not the place for discussing diplomatic engagements, and We would not have drifted into such discussion had it not been that the mover, in addressing us on the resolution, stated that it only referred to China and the ten years' agreement. But, as has been said by the Chief Commissioner for Japan, this is not a subject which can be dealt with by this Commission, and 1 demur at once to the statement made that it will be unjust to call upon China to follow out engagements entered into by Treaty. If Treaties or Agreements are to be treated as waste paper by any one Power I might sav that we could get rid of all Agreements at once."
The Chief Commissioner for France stated that in his opinion it did not fall within the province of the Commission to examine questions which were of a diplomatic order between Great Britain and China. Consequently the French Delegation were of opinion that Dr. TENNEY'S proposal was outside the scope of discussion, and dangerous besides.
Monsieur MIYAOKA.—" I beg to move that before a vote is taken on the adoption of the resolution before us a previous question be put as follows :—
Whether the consideration of the resolution presented by Dr. Tenney for the American Delegation is within the scope of submission to this International Commission.'"
Dr. TENNEV.—" I protest that this is a subterfuge."
Monsieur MivA()K.\.—" I beg to ask the Chair whether Dr. TENNEY iS in order in stating that the question moved by the Japanese Delegation is a subterfuge?"
The PRESIDENT ruled Dr. TENNEY out of order, and announced that the previous question was before the House.
:Monsieur MivA0KA.—"In order that there may be no misunderstanding, I propose that, in the voting, " Aye" shall mean that the resolution is within the scope, and " No" that it is beyond the scope of submission to this CoMmission."
The result of the voting was as follows:—
Aye.    No.
United States.    Austria-Hungary.
China.    Netherlands.
Germany.    France.
Great Britain.
Japan.
Persia. Portugal. Russia.
(Fhe Siamese Deleg-ation abstained from voting).
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The PRESIDENT.—" In the judgment of the House the resolution is not in order in that it is outside the scope of submission to this Commission."
The Right Hon. Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH, On behalf of his Delegation, brought forward four resolutions, and moved the adoption of the first, as follows:—
That the Commission recognises the unswerving sincerity of the Government of China in their efforts to eradicate the production and consumption of opium throughout the Empire ; the increasing body of public opinion among their own subjects by which those efforts are being supported ; and the real, though unequal, progress already made in a task which is one of the greatest magnitude.
Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT.—" May I ask first of all what the particular object of this resolution is ?"
Sir CECIL CLE'MENTI SMITH.—"We think that this Commission should let it be known to the world the view we take of the attitude of China."
The resolution on being put to the vote was adopted unanimously.
Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH then presented the second resolution, which read :—
That the representatives of China in this Commission are unfortunately not yet able to produce reliable statistical evidence of the actual extent of the diminution in the production of opium; and the Commission also apprehends that in some respects this fundamental element of the problem of prohibition may present increasing difficulties: the Commission would accordingly strongly recommend that the different Governments interested should enter into negotiations with the Government of China with a view to the initiation of more systematic methods of dealing with the question of production.
Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH.—" I think it will be patent to all from the excellent speech which was made by Mr. 'PANG when he laid the report of China before us that there has not been in the past two years, since the Imperial Edict was issued, a statistical return which would enable any Government to form a definite opinion as to what has taken place in regard to the carrying out of that Edict; and I think we shall all recognise that this is a matter of importance in dealing with this question, more especially as it effects agreements with other countries, and that there should be a system introduced into China which will ensure their being official statistics upon which everybody can rely.
" The language of this resolution has been so framed, I trust, as not in any way to encroach upon the privileges which China enjoys as a sovereign Power.
" I trust it will be an expression from this Commission of the real importance of accurate statistical information, and that we think it is a proper subject for our Governments to bring to the direct notice of the Chinese Government. Without these statistics it is hardly possible for us to follow China in the task she has unclertaken--a task which has been described by Mr. 'PANG himself as a gigantic one. All that we have in our minds is that we think our respective Governments can very properly urge upon China to get this information before the ten years have elapsed, and it is with that view that the British Delegation submits this resolution for adoption by the House."
Monsieur MIVAOKA.—" As remarked by Sir ALEXANDER HOSIE, there would seem to be grave doubts whether the statistics in the Chinese report are of such a character as could be accepted by any Western Statistical Society. But if I am not greatly mistaken Mr. PANG clearly stated in explanation that in many cases the figures given were merely estimates, and did not claim to be statistical records. I hardly deem it proper, therefore, that we should pass judgment on the accuracy of these statistics.
"This is an International body composed of Delegates from all parts of the world,-- from all continents except South America and Africa. That 'this Commission composed of Delegates from different countries having different traditions, different forms of achninistration, and different degrees of accuracy in taking statistics, that they should all combine in passing judgment upon the statistics which have been presented by the Chinese Delegates seems hardly proper. I must refrain from instituting- comparisons of the reports submitted by the different Delegations, but I have no hesitation in saying that the area of investigation covered by the Chinese report was immense. China had the largest problem to report upon, and
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS    59
in view of these facts I think that the Chinese Delegation is to be highly complimented on the work accomplished, and with your permission I tender them my hearty congratulations. It seems to me that it would hardly be correct to vote on a resolution which has the effect of passing judgment as to the value to be attached to the report of the Chinese Delegates."
Mr. T'AN(.; KUO-AN.—" The Chinese Delegation beg to thank His Excellency the Chief Commissioner for Japan for the kind words Ile has just spoken with reference to the difficulties they had to contend against in preparing>, their Report. With reference to the resolution before us, we consider it is couched in most reasonable and just terms, and we appreciate the fair tnanner in which the British Delegation criticises our shortcomings. No one is more sensible than we ourselves of our defects in statistical matters, but I might submit to the consideration of this honourable House that not only in China, but in India and all other countries where proper methods of land survey do not exist, the same confusion would be experienced. No one knows better than the honourable Member of the British Delegation, Sir ALEXANDER HOSIE, the confusion which exists at present in China in regard to the system of land survey, and therefore we need not dilate on the fact that it was impossible for us to produce satisfactory statistics. At the same time we do not deplore the less this chaotic state of affairs, and whether the resolution passes the House or not it shall be the duty of the Chinese Delegation to draw the attention of the Central Government to our present inade-quate system for compiling of records, and it shall also be our duty to draw the attention of the Government to the fact that the lack of such proper statistics will give rise to a certain amount of difficulty when we come to adjust matters with Great Britain."
Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH.—" May I rise at once to express my high appreciation of what has fallen from Mr. PANG. I think from what he has said that the resolution is not at all necessary. We are quite satisfied with the assurance he has given to us that his Delegation will do as proposed, and, as it is a statement which will be duly noted in the Minutes, I would ask permission to withdraw the resolution."
(Resolution withdrawn).
Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH.—" As regards the next resolution, you will be aware that it is only putting into proper language the resolution which has been already adopted by this International Commission.
The resolution is:—
That as this Commission is not constituted in such manner as to undertake the investiga-tion from a scientific point of view of anti-opium remedies and of the properties and effects of opium and its products, and deems such investigation to be of the highest importance, the Commission desires that each delegation shall recommend this branch of the subject to its own Government for such action as that Government may think necessary."
Monsieur MIVAOKA.—" The discussion which took place on the 19th instant on the resolution which was presented on the i8th instant by, the Right Hon. Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITIL—the discussion and the vote taken on that resolution disclosed the fact that a wide divergence of views existed regarding the work which is to engage the attention of this Cominission. The proposal to subtnit the question to an investigation from a medical point of view having being rejected, it now remains for us to determine what shall be done, and it seems to me that nothing now remains but to urge the importance of having the question exatnined from a scientific standpoint by our respective Governments. I therefore beg to second this alternative resolution which I hope will be unanimously carried."
Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT.    " Our Delegation would be quite willing- to vote for this
resolution providing some other word could be found for scientific.' We think that as it stands, considering that we have two eminent scientists on the Japanese Delegation who are concerned with the opiutn probletn, the language 'night be modified in some way. We still think that the work of the Commission should have included scientific investigation, although we are willing to abide by the decision arrived at on the i9th February."
Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH.—"Might I point out to Dr. WRIGHT that what we say here is that this Commission is not constituted in such a manner as to undertake the investigation of this important subject. We have already heard from the French Delegation that they are precluded by their instructions from dealing- with this matter from a scientific
6o    INTERNATIONAL OPIUM COMMISSION
point of view. Monsieur RATARD read his instructions which showed quite clearly that he is prevented from entering into an examination of the problem from a medical point of view. We are in exactly the same position. We have absolutely no instructions for dealing with the matter in that wav. NVe do not for one moment imply that there are no medical men on this Commission qualified to report upon this phase of the question. What we say is that the Commission as a Commission is unable to deal with the question, and it is from that point of view that we have drawn up the resolution in the form in which it is now submitted."
Dr. R6SSLER.—" I wish to make an amendment to this proposal. I move that the resolution shall be altered to read as follows:—
'That this Commission deems an investigation from the scientific point of view of anti-opium remedies, and of the properties and effects of opium and its products to be of the highest importance: the Commission therefore desires that each Delegation shall recommend this branch of the subject to its own Government for such action as that Government may think necessary.'"
Monsieur MIVAOKA.-" This Delegation which has two scientific men as its Members is prepared to admit that the Commission, as a whole, is not so constituted as to make an International scientific investigation possible. I am therefore prepared to vote on the original resolution. But if reference to the constitution of this Commission is to be expunged, and it is to be merely stated that this Commission deems scientific investigation to be of the highest importance, it may perhaps be better."
The Amendment was put to the vote, with the following- result:—
Noes.
Ayes.
Austria-Hungary.    France.
China.    Great Britain.
Germany.    The Netherlands.
Japan.    Persia.
Portugal. Russia.
Siam.
(The United States Delegation abstained from voting).
After a suggestion by Dr. WRIGHT that the word una'artake should be substituted by permit had been accepted by the mover, the original resolution was voted on with the following result:—
Ayes.    Abstain.
France.    United States.
Great Britain.    Austria-Hungary.
Japan.    China.
The Netherlands.    Germany.
Persia.
Portugal.
Russia.
Siam.
The resolution was declared carried nem. diss.
The following resolution originally put forward by the I3ritish Delegation, was with-drawn for re-consideration:—
That the Commission finds that the use of opium in any form otherwise than for medical purposes is held by almost every participating country to be a matter for prohibition or for careful regulation ; and that each system of regulation now in force aims, as opportunity offers, at progressively increasing stringency. In view of the widtly varying conditions prevailing in the different countries the Commission is unable to pronounce that any one system of regulation is decisively superior to others ; but it would urge on the attention of the different Governments concerned the desirability of a re-examination of their systems of regulation in the light of the experience of other countries dealing with the same problem.
The Right Hon. Sir CECIL CLEIVIENTI SIVIITH.-" I beg to move an adjournment until ',.3o p.m. to-morrow. This will allow us time to hold the informal conference which has been proposed between my own and the American Delegation."
The motion was adopted, and the Commission adjourned at 4.4o p.m.