800.114N16 Information/134

The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Japan ( Neville )4

No. 520

Sir: In a communication, dated June 29, 1923, addressed to the Secretary of State, the British Embassy in Washington referred to a recommendation of the League of Nations Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs, passed at the fourth session held at Geneva from the 8th to the 14th of January, 1923, which reads as follows:

“That the Governments be asked to extend the arrangement for the mutual exchange of information in regard to seizures to include information in regard to the proceedings and movements of persons who are known to the authorities to be engaged in carrying on an illicit traffic in drugs.”

The British Embassy stated that this recommendation had been accepted by the British Government and that a circular despatch had been sent to the Governors of all colonies and protectorates, expressing the hope that each of them would cause this recommendation to be put into force, and directing them to cause any information of the nature indicated, which might be of immediate importance to neighboring administrations, to be communicated to the British consular officers in the country concerned, for transmission by them to the local authorities. On August 7, 1923, in replying to the note from the British Embassy, the Secretary of State stated:

“I take pleasure in assuring you that the Government of the United States is deeply gratified by the action of His Majesty’s Government, and is prepared to cooperate to the fullest extent in transmitting information of the character suggested. To this end, the Department of State is desirous, if agreeable to your Government, of instructing its Diplomatic and Consular Officers to cooperate with their British colleagues, or the competent British authorities (if in British territory) in collecting and forwarding information that will lead to the seizure of illicit narcotic drugs and the detection or apprehension of persons engaged in this traffic.”

Attached to the reply to the British Embassy was a list of the United States local authorities to whom there might be communicated such information as might come to the attention of British Consular Officers in this country.

In a note, dated December 12, 1923, the British Embassy at Washington notified this Government that the British Government welcomed the proposal of the United States and that instructions were being issued to the competent authorities in the British Empire and [Page 391] to the British Diplomatic and Consular representatives abroad to cooperate with the United States authorities in the manner proposed. To this note was appended a list of the British officials to whom such information should be communicated in Great Britain, Ireland, India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Newfoundland and the British Colonies not possessing responsible Government, in British Protectorates and in Tanganyika territory. In conformity with this arrangement, appropriate instructions were sent to the American Diplomatic and Consular Officers on December 28, 1923.5

By an exchange of correspondence between the American and British Governments in 1927 and 1928, the above arrangement was made applicable to the Philippine Islands and the Straits Settlements.

This Government would welcome the conclusion with the Japanese Government of an arrangement similar to that in effect with the British Government. You are requested, therefore, to present this matter to the appropriate Japanese authorities and to state that this Government is prepared, if agreeable to the Japanese Government, to instruct its Diplomatic and Consular Officers to cooperate with their Japanese colleagues, or the competent Japanese authorities (if in Japanese territory) in collecting and forwarding information that will lead to the seizure of illicit narcotic drugs and the detection or apprehension of persons engaged in this traffic.

You should add that this Government has been gratified at the recent conclusion with the Japanese Government of the informal arrangement for the direct exchange, between the enforcement agencies of the two Governments, of certain information with regard to the traffic in narcotic drugs and believes that the present proposal, if accepted, would supplement that arrangement and provide for cooperation in matters not covered by it, thus marking a further advance in the elimination of the narcotic menace.

I am [etc.]

For the Secretary of State:
Nelson Trusler Johnson
  1. Previous correspondence with Great Britain mentioned in this instruction is not printed.
  2. Not printed.