Mr. Butler went on to say that, last February, over thirty Chinese Government ordinances were repealed by the Peiping "Provisional Government," and in May it was announced that the Peiping Tax Administration had decided to allow the opening of 300 opium dens.
The "Provisional Government," Mr. Butler declared, had issued certain ordinances governing the control of the drug trafüc, the effect of which it was not yet possible to estimate. His Majesty's Government would watch the effect of the new ordinances, Mr. Butler assured the House.
Mr. Butler went on to say that he was "bound to give the House information which I possess" and it appeared to His Majesty's Government that, since the formal repeal of the Chinese Governments ordinances, Opium pipes and smoking accessories bad begun to be offered openly for sale on stalls and in markets in Peiping. There were innumerable drug establishments. in Peiping, and, Wp to the present time, there was "scarcely a single store where drugs cannot be bought openly, and indulged in."
Lord Halifax had no definite information beyond the published budget figures for Manchuria in 1938, but a report on the condition of the drug traffic in Manchuria had been requested from the British representative there.
The condition of the traffic in Central China, Mr. Butler went on, "did not appear to be so Serious" The Nanking "Reformed Government" had recently promulgated ordinances aimed at controlling the traffic in the area under their control, but he was unable to give definite information with regard do the likely result of these ordinances.
Taken together with the information he had given regarding the growth of the traffic in heroin, Mr. Butler declared, it would be seen that there had been "distinct increases in these various parts of the Far East."
In the Government's view, there had been an increase in the traffic of drugs.
Lord Halifax had no information on the attitude of the Japanese military authorities towards the trade in heroin, which appeared chiefly to emanate from Tientsin, and was often carried on by Korean camp followers."
The British Government, Mr. Butler concluded, "intended to continue their close examination of the matter, in company with other Governments, as preferable to individual action."—Reuter.
Tokyo, Dec. 23.
A Foreign Office spokesman at the press conference today made evasive answers to requests for a clarification of the statement made last night by Prince Konoye, Premier, in which he laid down the guiding principles in the readjustment of relations between Japan and new China.
Tae statement, said the spokesman, was clear if the correspondents read between the lines.
He declined to say to whom the statement was addressed, or whether the reference to the "anti-Japanese Kuomintang Government," implied an expression of Japan's willingness to deal with a pro-Japanese Kuomintang Government.
The spokesman also refused to explain the paradox of the statement made by, Mr. Hachiro Arita, Foreign Minister, on December 19, that "economic activities of other Powers in China should be subject to certain restrictions" with Prince Konoye's statement that "Japan does not intend to demand China to limit her interests to those powers who grasp the meaning of a new East Asia and are willing to act accordingly."
In his statement last night, Prince Konoye stated that Japan did not intend to exercise economic monopoly in China.
"Furthermore," he said, "Japan not only respects the sovereignty China, but is prepared to give positive consideration to questions of abolition of extrality and rendition of Concessions and Settlements—matters which re necessary for the full independence of China."—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.