the
Medical Officar) and for the purposes described above
is illegal. It has therefore not been found necessary
to impose any restriction on the exportation of
opium since the amount imported depends on the purely
local consumption the maximum amount of which can be
ascertained.
The conditions in the Malay peninsula and in Hongkong
appear to preclude for the present any system of
registration of opium consumers, the object of which
is to compile a list to which no addition can be
made; the constant changes in the population of
Hongkong and the regular immigration of Chinese into
Punisalar
Malay [cannot, at present, ba made to lend themselves Z prevent the introduction of
such a system since under present conditions a
large proportion of newcomers are consumers of opium.
Should the cultivation of the poppy ever become extingt
in China and the importation of opium cease altogether
? omitt
36
it will no doubt be possible in time to establish
abolition by registration. But in the meantime the
Governments góncerned can only endeavour to restrict
the traffic as far as possible.
Both
AEL
Both in Hongkong and in the Malay Peninsula
the policy of the Government has been and continues
to be the restriction of the traffic so far as is
163
possible consistently with the prevention of the
substitution of morphia injection and other forms
of drug taking. The habit is already deplorably
prevalent, and smuggling is hard to check since
the packages containing the drugs are capable of easy
concealment.
Until the beginning of 1910 the importation, pre-
paration and sale of opium was farmed by the government
of the Straits Settlements to a syndicate, whose inter-
est lay in encouraging the use of the drug as far as
possible. By Ordinance No. 21 of 1909 the Government
took to itself the monopoly of the right to import, ex-
port, prepare, sell, and retail opium. Chandu, 1.9.
opium prepared for consumption, can only be retailed by
+ at a fried puce,
duly licensed persons and licences are required for
the maintenance of smoking divans. Only adult males
can buy chandu. Further restructions on the sale were
imposed by a heavy increase in the price which in 1910
was raised by 50 per cent and by the rigid suppression
of