Drug Abuse

5th FEBRUARY, I 909

THE CONIMISSION assembled at it a.m. The PRESIDENT announced that the Minutes of the previous meeting would not be read unless called for.

Monsieur de GIETER having given notice of his intention to resign, Monsieur de Laforcade was nominated Assistant Secretary, on the proposition of Monsieur Ratard ; and Mr. True was appointed official stenographer to the Commission.

A Committee of Ways and Means was appointed, with authority to defray, and at the same time devise means for meeting, all expenditure incurred by the Comtnission as a whole.

The PRESIDENT then addressed the House. Taking the Report of the Hague Peace Conference of 1907, he read extracts from the instructions given by the Secretary of State for the United States to the delegates representing that Government at the Conference, and spoke briefly on the object and scope of the International Commission on Opium. He retninded the delegates that they were neither Envoys Extraordinary nor Ministers Plenipotentiary ; that it was clearly laid down that none of the Governments represented would be bound to accept the conclusions or to act upon the recommendations of the Commission ; consequently, they would not in any sense commit their Governments to any definite course of action by the-views which they might express, individually or collectively, during the course of the enquiry. It was their duty to thoroughly examine all questions that might come before them, and in, doing so to speak their minds with the utmost freedom, otherwise it would be next to-impossible to arrive at any practical conclusions, and the Commission would have failed to, serve any useful purpose.

The following names, having been reported to the convening Power, were formally added to the official List of duly accredited members of Delegations :—

WU PAO-YEN,    Associate-delegate for China.
F. A. CARL,    do.    do.    do.
J. L. CHALMERS,    do.    do.    do.
F. W. CAREY,    do.    do.    do.
C. CLEMENTI,    Assessor for Great Britain
W. D. BARNES,    do.    do.    do.

As Chairman of the Committee on Rules and Order, Mr. R. LAIDLAW, M.P., presented the following report :—

The Committee met from 3.3o p.m. to 5.3o p.m. on the 2nd, and from 0.00 a.m. to, 12.3o p.m. on the 4th February. The following Rules were drawn up :—

It is resolved :—

1.—That the Chair shall be addressed as " Mr. President."

2.—That no delegate shall continue to speak until recognised by the Chair.

3.—That when a vote is taken each delegation shall have only one vote. In the event of a vote being equally divided, the President shall have a deciding vote.

4.—That immediately upon the adoption of these Rules, the President shall call for the presentation of reports concerning the various phases of the Opium ques-tion in the territories and dependencies of their respective countries from the delegations taking part in the International Opium Commission.

5.—That each delegation in its turn (alphabetically) shall then lay a report covering its data on the opium question before the Commission, without discussion or debate.

6.—That a reasonable time shall be allowed to members of the Commission generally for the examination of the reports presented.

7.—That whilst the Commission will as a rule sit in "'Zeno, one or more Committees may be appointed for the purpose of studying the reports referred to under Rules 4, 5, 6, or any specific portion of them, when it is apparent that previous study by a limited number of experts is necessary for arriving at a conclusion regarding any problem under consideration.

8.—That any Committee so appointed for the detailed study of a report, or section of a report, shall, upon the termination of its labours, report the result of its examination to the Commission in plenary session, whereupon a general discussion on the report of such Committee shall be in order.

9.—That the number and constitution of Committees shall in every case be decided by the Commission in plenary session, but a Committee may complete its own organisation.

10.—That the manner of forming Committees shall be as follows : Each delegation shall hand in the name of one of its members to the President, who from amongst them will proceed to nominate the number necessary to serve on any one Committee.

11.—That all proposals submitted to the Commission shall be handed to the President (or Chairman of a Committee) in writing, and a copy supplied on request to each delegation.

I2.—That the public shall not be admitted to the Commission, but that such communications regarding the progress of the general proceedings as may be deemed useful or expedient to make public shall be made to the Press by a Committee of three to be elected for that purpose.

13.—That the Minutes of the plenary sessions of the Commission shall give a succinct resume; of their deliberations, a proof copy of which shall be opportunely delivered to the members of the Commission ; and the Minutes shall not be read at the beginning of a session unless specially called for. Each delegate, shall, however, have the right to request the insertion in full of his special declarations, according to the text delivered by him to the Secretary, and to make observations regarding the Minutes.

14.—That the English language shall be recognised as the official language of the deliberations and acts of the Commission. The Secretary shall, with the consent of the speaker himself, see that speeches delivered in any other language are suminarized orally in English.

15.—That each delegation shall have the right to introduce a secretary of delegation to the tneetings of the Commission, providing that such secretary holds a substantive post in his Government service. Exception to this rule may be made in the case of a delegation of a country having no Consular or Diplomatic representative in China; but under no circumstances will other than bond-fide secretaries be admitted. The names of secretaries to delegations shall be formally reported to the Chair.

16.—That except when otherwise decided by the Commission the hours of meeting of the Commission shall be from 0.30 a.m. to 2.36 p.m., and from 2 to .5 p.m., on every dav of the week except Saturday and Sunday.

Mr. LAIDLAW proposed that until all the Rules had been accepted or voted upon, each delegate should vote individually.

As an amendment, Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT moved that " the Rules be considered and voted upon in the order in which they have been submitted by the Committee, and that each rule as adopted take effect automatically."

This led to considerable discussion, but eventually the amendment was lost, and Mr. Laidlaw's proposal carried.

Rules and 2 having already been accepted at the last Session, Rule 3 came up for discussion. Monsieur Ratard moved the addition of the w ords " in questions of piocedure and discipline" to the Rule, which was carried as amended.

The following- Rules were passed nem dis.:—Nos. 4, 8, 9, 1, 12, 13, and 5.

Rule 3 was accepted with the following addition, proposed by the Right Hon. Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SNIITH : " It shall be within the power of the President to allow the presentation of any report to be 'postponed on due cause shown."

Sir CECIL CLEMENT' SMITH moved that Rule 6 should be altered to read as follows:—

" That a copy of each report be supplied to each member of the Commission, and a reason-able time allowed to members of the Commission generally for the examination of the report presented ; and that thereafter the President shall call upon the Commission to discuss any report that may be ready for investigation."

This was passed nem C071.

Dr. R6SSLER moved as an amendment to Rule 7 that the words " whilst the Commission will as a rule sit in pleno" be deleted, and that the word " delegates " be substituted for "experts." After a further amendment by Mr. de Jongh had been negatived, the Rule as amended by Dr. R6ssler was passed.

Sir CECIL CLEM EN TI SMITI I proposed the following addition to Rule '0:—

" That any delegate who is not himself a member of the Committee may attend the sittings of such Committee without taking part in any of its proceedings."

The Rule was carried with this addition.

On the motion of Monsieur RATARD, Rule 14 was altered to read as follows :—

"That both English and French shall on principle be recognised as the languages to be used in the Commission, and that steps shall be taken to ensure that the deliberations be rendered, if necessary, and the Minutes recorded in both languages."

The Rule was accepted as altered.

With reference to Rule 16, Dr. TENNEY moved that the Commission should also sit on Saturday mornings, but the proposition was negatived when put to the vote.

As finally adopted by the Commission, the Rules of Procedure read as follows :— It is resolved :---

1.—That the Chair shall be addressed as "Mr. President."

2.—That no delegate shall continue to speak until recognised by the Chair.

3.—That when a vote is taken each delegation shall have only one vote. On questions of procedure or discipline, the President—in the event of a vote being equally divided—shall have a deciding vote.

4..—That iintnediately upon the adoption of these Rules, the President shall call for the presentation of reports concerning the various phases of the opium question in the territories and dependencies of their respective countries from the dele-gations taking part in the International Opium Commission.

5.—That each delegation in its turn (alphabetically) shall then lay a report covering its data on the opium question before the Commission, without discussion or debate. It shall be within the power of the President to allow the presentation of anv report to be postponed on due cause shown.

6.—That a copy of each report shall be supplied to each member of the Commission, and a reasonable time allowed to members of the Commission generally for the examination of the report presented: and that thereafter the President shall call upon the Commission to discuss any report that may be ready for investigation.

7.—That one or more Committees may be appointed for the purpose of studying the reports referred to under Rules 4, 5, 6, or any specific portion of them, when it is apparent that previous study by a limited number of delegates is necessary for arriving at a conclusion regarding any problem under consideration.

8.—That any Committee so appointed for the detailed study of a report, or section of a report, shall, upon the termination of its labours, report the result of its examination to the Commission in plenary session, whereupon a general discussion on the report of such Committee will be in order.

9.—That the number and constitution of Committees shall in every case be decided by the Commission in plenary session ; but a Committee inay complete its own organisation.

10.—That the manner of forming Comtnittee shall be as follows : Each delegation shall hand in the name of one of its members to the President, who from amongst them will proceed to nominate the number necessary to serve on any one Committee: any delegate who is not himself a member of a Committee may attend the sittings of such Committee without taking part in any of its proceedings.

11.—That all proposals submitted to the Commission shall be handed to the President (or Chairman of a Committee) in writing, and a copy supplied on request to each delegation.

I2.—That the public shall not be admitted to the Commission, but that such information regarding the progress of the general proceedings as may be deemed expedient to make public shall be communicated to the Press by a Committee of three to be elected for that purpose.

13.—That the Minutes of the plenary sessions of the Commission shall give a succinct resumé of the deliberations, and that a proof copy shall be opportunely delivered to the members of the Commission ; and the Minutes shall not be read at the beginning of a session unless specially called for. Each delegate, shall, however, have the right to request the insertion in full of his.special declara-tions, according to the text delivered by him to the Secretary, and to make observations regarding the Minutes.

14.—That both English and French shall on principle be recognised as the languages to be used in the Commission, and that steps shall be taken to ensure that the deliberations be rendered, if necessary, and the Minutes recorded in both languages.

15.—That each delegation shall have the right to introduce a secretary of delegation to the meetings of the Commission, providing that such secretary holds a substan-tive post in his Government service. Exception to this rule may be made in the case of a delegation of a country having no Consular or Diplomatic representative in China ; but under no circumstances will other than bond-fide secretaries be admitted. The names of secretaries to delegations shall be formally reported to the Chair.

16.—That, except \vhen otherwise decided by the Commission, the hours of meeting of the Commission shall be from to.3o a.m. to 12.30 p.m., and from 2 tO 5 p.m., on every dav of the week except Saturday and Sunday.

The Commission adjourned till 2 p.m. On re-assembling, the President selected three delegates to act as a Press Committee (Rule 12 ).

In accordance with Rules 4 and 5, the President announced that the House was ready to receive Reports from the several Delegations. Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT, on behalf of th-e United States Delegation, presented a Report on the Opium Ouestion as it affected the States, Territories, District of Columbia, and Possessions uncier the American flag. He summarized the data given under the following heads :—

NATIONAL.

Treaties with other Governments in regard to opium traffic.
Tariffs under which opium is imported into the United States, it.s Territories and the District of Columbia.
Excise Laws, governing the manufacture of Smoking Opium.
Statutes that restrain American citizens from engaging in the Opium trade. Effect of Treaties and Tariffs on the trade in Opium.
Opium, whence obtained.
Smoking Opium, and the Chinese population in United States.
Growth of the Poppy within the United States, its Territories and the District of Columbia.
Disposition of imported Opium.
Federal, State and Municipal Laws, governing the use of Opium and its derivatives. Final Destination of Opium imported into the United States ostensibly for medicinal purposes.
Final Destination of imports of Smoking Opium.
Recent Effect of National, State and Municipal laws bearing on Opium and its derivatives. Revenue derived from import and excise duties on Opium.
Present Status of laws on Opium of various sorts.

PORTO RICO
CUBA
INTERNATIONA L

Measures needed to make recent home Law effective.

Dr. HAMILTON WRIGHT referred to the Bill that had just been passed by Congress, which he summarized as follows :—

Sec. I.—After April first, 19°9, it shall be unlawful to import into the United States opium in any form, or any preparation or derivatives thereof, except that opium and preparations thereof other than smoking opium or opium prepared for smoking, may be imported for medicinal purposes only, under regulations which the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to prescribe, and when so imported it shall be subject to the duties which are now or may hereafter be imposed by law.

Sec. 2.—If any person shall assist in importation or receive, buy or sell prohibited opium or derivatives, such opium shall be forfeited and destroyed, and the offender shall be fined not exceeding five thousand dollars nor less than fifty dollars, or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. Possession of such opium or derivatives thereof to be deemed sufficient evidence to authorize conviction unless defendant explain possession to the satisfaction of the jury.

He said that they were justified in feeling, so far as the United State; itself was concerned, that they were capable of enforcing the provisions of this bill. The Government could keep without its borders all opium that was not required for legititnate medicinal purposes. Nevertheless, it was the desire of the Government that countries immediately adjacent to the United States should take similar measures in regard to opium as they had done.

During the reading of the American Report the President vacated the Chair, which at his request was taken temporarily by the Chief Commissioner for Great Britain.

The Right Rev. Bishop BRENT presented a report on the opium question in the Philippine Islands. In the course of his remarks he stated that the chief difficulties encountered by the Government in carrying out prohibitory legislation were—

(I) Inadequa.te facilities, neither sufficient money nor men being provided for the vigorous enforcement of the law: and

(2) The ease s,vith which opium could be smuggled. There was a constant supply of contraband opium coining into the Islands from Hongkong, Sing-apore and British North Borneo, ancl without International co-operation it would be impossible to control such smuggling.

The Right Hon. Sir CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH followed with a report explaining the Regulations and Restrictions in force with regard to Opium and 1Nilorphine in Great Britain, Australia, Hongkong, Ceylon, the Straits Settlements and Weihaiwei.

H.E. TSUNEJIRO MIYAoli.1, in submitting a report on the Opium question in Japan and Formosa, said :—

" In a note which was addressed by the United St,ttes Chargé d'Affaires, July i4th, 1908, to H.I.J.M.'s Minister for Foreign Affairs it was stated that the subject which would come up for the consideration of this Enternational Commission was being investigated by the United States Comtnissioners, and that as far as they were concerned the investigation related to—

" I.—The importation of crude opium, its derivatives and chandu ;

"2.—Internal consumption of crude opium, both licit and illicit ;

" 3—Internal manufacture and use of chandu ;

"4..—Manufacture ofmorphia and other derivatives;

" 5.—Use of the crude drug and preparations;

"6.—Use of morphia and other derivatives, both licit and illicit ;

" 7.—Extent of poppy cultivation in Ainerica ;

" 8.—Possibilities of poppy cultivation ;

"9.—Federal laws regarding the importation of Opium;

"10.—Municipal laws governing the use of opium and its derivatives.

" It \vas not possible for us to pursue precisely the programme laid do \vn, but We have followed the g-eneral outline of the investigation suggested by the United States Government. I will not trouble this Commission by reading the whole of our Report, but I will state the general principles on which it is based.

" We have divided the subject of our inquiry into Japan Proper and Formosa. The manufacture of opium for medicinal purposes is entirely in the hands of the Government. There are three chemical laboratories maintained by the Central Government—one in Tokyo, one in Osaka and one in Yokohama. These three medical laboratories are under the control of the Minister of Home Affairs, Of these three laboratories, the one in Tokyo, of which my esteemed colleague Dr, Tahara is the Director, is the only laboratory where the manufac-ture of opium for medicinal uses is conducted. You have here, therefore, the only man who is responsible for the production of opiuin for medicinal purposes in Japan.

" In Japan proper, when the medicinal uses of opium became known to us, it was our intention, if possible, to produce the opiuna necessaly for medicinal purposes in Japan. For that purpose the cultivation or poppy was encouraged; hut we soon found out that the climate did not suit the plant, and there is now very little cultivation of poppy in Japan.

" NOW, as regards Formosa, the cultivation of poppy is absolutely prohibited. The government of Formosa imports the crude opium required for making smoking opium. That is strictly under the control of the Government, and in this report we have presented full statistics relating to the number of consumers, the amount of opium consiunecl and all other possible subjects which appear to us to be of importance, having in view the line of investigation which has been sug-gestecl by the United States."

The Chair decided that questions on matters of fact in connection with the reports presented should be deferred until sufficient time had elapsed for studying the Reports.

The Commission adjourned at 4.3o p.m.

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