Mr, Butler went on to say that, lst February, over thirty Chinese} Government ordinances were repealed jby the Peiping "Provisional Govern ment," and in May it was announced that the Peiping Tax Administration had decided to allow the opening of '300 opium dens.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 Jordinances governing the control of ithe drug traffic, the effect of which was not yet' possible to estimate, fis Majesty's "Government would watch the effect of the new ordin-lances, Mfr. Butler assured the House.
Mr, Butler went on to say that he was "bound to give the House in-{formation which I" possess." and it Jappeared to His Majesty's Government that, since the formal repeal of the [Chinese Government's ordinances, opium pipes and smoking accessories Iliad begun to be offered openly for sale on stalls and in markets in Peiping. There were innumerable drug establishments in Peiping, and, up to the present time, there was scarcely a single store where dre leannot be bought openly, and. indulged in."
Lord Halifax had no definite in. formation beyond the published byilget figures for Manchuria in 1938, but a report on the condition of the drug traMe in Manchuria had. been "r6- quested from the British represents. tive there, 'The condition of the trame In Central China, Mz. Butler went on, not appear, to be s0 serious.'
Nanking "Reformed Government' had recently promulgated ordinances aimed at controlling the traMe in the area under their control, but he' was unable to give definite' information with regard {0 the likely result of these ordinances.
Taken together with the information Me had given regarding the growth fof the trame 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 trafMle of drugs.
Lord Halifax had no information the attitude of the Japanese military authorities towards the trade in heroin, which appeared chiefly to emanate from Tientsin, and was often jearried on, by Korean "camp fol~ lowers."
'The British Government, Mr. Butler concluded, "intended to continue their close examination of the matter, in company with other Governments, ax preferable to Individual "action'
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.