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official class in Yunnan, we may expect no co-operation in preventive measures from that side.
At the frontier meeting of 1916, I communicated to Chang I Shu, the best type of Taoyin I have had the good fortune to meet at the different frontier meetings I have attended, particulars of certain Chinese merchants who were suspected of being concerned in the traffic of opium into China, but against whom I could get no sufficient information to justify action. Nothing was done by the Chinese as the result of that information, though it is certain that, if the firms concerned had been properly watched, I should have got information which would have enabled me to expel the representatives of the firms from the States.
Again, in 1917, I supplied His Britannic Majesty's consul, Tengyneh, with the names of a number of Chinese traders who were found with large sums of money in one of the principal opium markets of West Manglun and who were obviously there for the purpose of buving opium. Mr. Eastes thought it best not to use that information, as, from his knowledge of the Chinese officials, he believed that the Chinese administrations would not take any action except possibly in the way of wholly illicit extortion.
Again, though the import of opium into China is forbidden, the Chinese officials have arranged a revenue station at Shunning which is out of the way of any consular or European customs officer's observation, where fees are regularly levied on all consignments of the drug which pass through.
Even if, for the sake of argument, it were possible to block the frontier from Namhkam to the Salween and again along the northern and eastern border of Kokang to near the Kunlong Ferry, it is quite impossible to take any action at present east of the Salween from the Kunlong Ferry to Panghsang Nalawt. This frontier is over 150 miles long; it encloses the unadministered Wa States, and the actual border line is in dispute with China. Preventive measures taken in this area, which produces large quantities of opium, will revive the dispute with China about a part of the frontier which is of very little importance and will undo all the work which has been quietly done for years to disarm the suspicions of the unadministered tribes and to induce them to look more and more regularly to Lashio for the settlement of their disputes. Yet, if this part of the border is left open, it is entirely useless blocking the northern frontier.
All the indications point to the fact that the Yunnan officials mean to relax the opium restrictions when it suits them, The destruction of crops was this year carried out along our border in a very arbitrary way. In the Mong Mao State, the Sawbwa levied a tax on cultivation. A Chefang official told Mr. Gaudoin that the Kachins had been informed that they would be permitted to cultivate opium for the season 1919-20 onwards. On the other hand, on the Chengkang Mong Ting border, crops were destroyed by the Chinese, which incidentally were within our frontier line and belonged to our own men. If, however, as seems likely, cultivations will increase in China, our problems become easier-there will be practically no smuggling, as the crop can be grown more easily nearer home.
It is essential for us to fulfil our treaty obligations, and it is also essential to take action for the sake of the Shan States themselves, to prevent them being ruined by the extension of cultivation of opium in place of food crops.
I believe, however, that we shall succeed more faithfully in carrying out our obligations to China and our duty to our own people if the whole question is tackled systematically and quietly as a revenue matter of the States themselves and not by the exercise of the forre at the disposal of the paramount Power. The use of this can only be oppressive and arbitrary under the conditions which prevail, and will cause a blaze of resentment which will make the whole of our administration more difficult,
ANNEX 5.
Mr. Cabell (Officiating Commissioner, Mandalay Dirision) to the Assistant Secretary to the Financial Commissioner, Burma.
November 15, 1919.
WITH reference to the correspondence ending with your letter dated the 9th May, 1919. on the subject of poppy cultivation in the Kachin Hill Tracts. I have the honour to forward copies of letters received from the Deputy Commissioners, Bhamo, Katha, Myitkyina and the Ruby Mines.*
• Not printed,
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2. There has been some delay in replying to your letter, because all the Deputy Commissioners of the frontier districts, with the exception of Mr. Wilkinson at Katha, were new to their charges, and it was desirable that they should have some time to consider the result of any changes which it was proposed to introduce. Moreover, the death of Mr. Scott has removed from the Sinlum Tracts an officer who was looked upon as a father by the people. His successor should have at least one season to make the acquaintance of his people before he puts any restrictive measures into force.
3. It would be useful to summarise the proposals which have already been made for the control and suppression of the cultivation of the poppy in the Kachin Hills on the Burmese side of the frontier. Up to the year 1913, there was no prohibition of the cultivation of opium and nothing was attempted. In 1913, owing to the accession of the British and Chinese Governments to the International Opium Convention, which was signed at The Hague early in 1912, the Wai-chiao Pu brought to the notice of His Majesty's Minister at Peking the difficulty of suppressing the consumption of opium in Yunnan owing to the fact that opium was cultivated in the Kachin Hills and Shan States on the Burmese side of the frontier, and the The local Government consequent smuggling of opium into Chinese territory. asked for recommendations regarding the steps to be taken to control the production of raw opium, to prevent its export and to check its smuggling across the frontier into China. Apart from the obligations of this Government under the Opium Conven- tion, it was represented by several officers that the consumption of ouium among the Kachins was on the increase, that it was doing them considerable harm and that the In this cultivation of the poppy ought to be suppressed for this reason alone. connection I must point out that the opinions of various officers who know the Kachins really well are diametrically opposed to one another. Mr. G. W. Dawson and Mr. Rae say :-
"In malarious tracts such as Kaukkwe, Sinkan (Bhamo), Jade Mines, Hukawng and Mogaung valleys (Myitkyina) it (opium) has become indispensable as a febrifuge. These tracts are not on the border. But the proposed prohibi- It is my settled tion does not distinguish between border Kachins and others. belief that many will die for want of it or if they are sent to jail for having it,
Except possibly among the Kauris, its consumption has no evil results whatever. It is very seldom taken to excess, and in the case of men in regular work can be taken in considerable quantities with astonishing results in the way of physical endurance.”
CL
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On the other hand, Mr. Scott says:-
CC
A Kachin who uses opium is ruined both morally and physically, and whereas its use can be justified in fever-stricken tracts in the plains, its use in the hills can only be described as a curse.'
There is no one
Mr. F. V. Clerk's opinion is given in Major Bazett's letter.* with better knowledge of the Kachins than these three officers, Messrs. Rae, Scott and Clerk, and I can only make the suggestion that in Mr. Rae's time the poppy was not cultivated in the Sinlum Tracts to anything like the extent to which it is noW under the commercial stimulus afforded by the repressive policy in Yunnan and that excessive use of opium was rare. Moreover, cultivation in the Myitkyina Tracts is not yet extensive, so that excessive use of opium is, I believe, rare also in those tracts. Mr. Scott's opinion as to the ruinous effects of the use of opium is the latest and may be confidently accepted.
4. It was reported in 1913 that except in Bhamo there was little cultivation for the purposes of export, but that in Bhamo poppy cultivation was decidedly on the increase in the Kachin Hills, and that the cultivation in that district was on a Such cultivation as existed in commercial scale and amounted to about 2,000 acres.
the Ruby Mines and Katha Districts was in small patches and the total extent of the cultivation was so small as to be practically negligible. In his letter dated the 1st July, 1913, Colonel Aplin summarised the position and made certain proposals to carry out the policy indicated by Government. These proposals were that in the Bhamo District there should be total prohibition of cultivation, but that no action should be taken as regards possession of opium until the effect of the total prohibition of cultivation has been carefully examined.
• Not printed.
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