Mr. R. A. Butler, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in reply, gave the House information derived by the Government from various parts of the Far East.
One very serious feature of the growth of the traffic, he declared, was the growth of the use of heroin, "which is far more serious than the use of opium—itself a terrible, gripping vice."
After referring to the steps now being taken by the British and Japanese authorities in mutually com. municating information regarding the proceedings and movements of persons known to be engaged in the illicit drug traffic, Mr. Butler said that, although it might not give an immediate solution to the grave problem, it at least meant that "we are in closer touch with the representatives of Japan, and that thus we are able to illustrate the gravity which we attach to the matter."
No Evidence of "Deliberate Plan"
Reviewing the position, Mr. Butler declared that, from information in the possession of Lord Halifax, (the Foreign Secretary), there was "no evidence that the drug traffic in China was the outcome of any deliberate plan on the part of the Japanese Government," or that it "aimed at the systematic demoralization of the Chinese people."
He thought that the diagnosis which most correctly fitted this "extremely grave position" was somewhat as follows:—"Reports we receive from North China seem to confirm statements made at the meeting of the Opium Advisory Committee last June. In North China, prior to the Japanese Occupation in 1937, an attempt was being made by the Central Government to enforce drastic opium and narcotic laws, which were promulgated in 1995. There are indications that they were to some extent being successful.
"Since the Japanese occupation of this region, these deterrents, to a large extent, have disappeared. It is as these deterrents disappear that the positions seems to us to get worse."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.