893.114 Narcotics/1460
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 10.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Embassy’s despatch No. 149 of December 27, 1935,45 regarding the regulations governing the import [Page 566] into China of narcotics, and to enclose for the information of the Department copies47 of 1) the Embassy’s note of December 2, 1935, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting to be informed regarding the nature of certain provisional regulations for the control of the purchase of narcotics as reported by the Consulate at Foochow; and 2) the Ministry’s reply of December 30, 1935.
It will be observed that these regulations, which are transmitted in English translation as an enclosure with the note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are largely concerned with purely administrative procedure. The Embassy in its instruction of December 11, 1935, to the Consulate at Foochow had already instructed that office that Americans could properly be advised to give general adherence to the administrative provisions in question, but that the American authorities, having maintained that it lies within the discretion of American medical institutions and practitioners in China to register or not as they may see fit, could not admit the right of Chinese administrative organs to restrict the supplies of such of those institutions and persons as may have refused to register, merely by reason of the fact of non-registration. A copy of that instruction is also enclosed.47
Pending the receipt of such observations as the Department may wish to make, no circular instruction is being sent out to the other consular officers in China.
Respectfully yours,