893.114 Narcotics/1268

The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State

No. 3710

Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Legation’s confidential despatch No. 3178 of December 7, 1934, regarding the smuggling of morphine by certain crew-members of the U. S. S. Tutuila, and to enclose a copy of a memorandum received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under date of July 18, 1935,95 transmitting the report of the Inspectorate for Opium Suppression of a case of alleged smuggling of morphine in September 1934 by members of the crew of the U. S. S. Panay.

It will be observed that the alleged culprits in the case, two Chinese named Ma Yü-ch’ing and Tu Yüan-ch’ing, were arrested by the Chinese authorities and presumably dealt with appropriately. The Chinese officials are reported to have requested that they be permitted to make a search of the U. S. S. Panay, but it does not appear that the officers of the vessel were prepared to do more than make a report on the matter to the Commander in Chief of the American Asiatic Fleet.96 The Foreign Office does not ask that there be any further action taken in this case, but it requests that the Legation “issue instructions to American warships in China that they should uniformly pay serious attention (to this matter), and that if a similar case occurs again in the future, the warship concerned will not be allowed to return to China.”

The Legation contemplates taking no action in the matter other than transmitting the Ministry’s memorandum to the Hankow Consul [Page 742] General and the Commander in Chief of the Asiatic Fleet for their information.

Respectfully yours,

Nelson Trusler Johnson
  1. Enclosure not printed.
  2. Admiral Frank Brooks Upham.