PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :--
LICO. 882
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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(8.). Moved by Joseph R. Grenier, Esq., Advocate. Seconded by S. G. Lee, Esq.
"That the following be nominated a committee to promote the petition now adopted to his Excellency the President and the Hon. the Members of the Legislative Council, to secure signatures to the same, and to request the Hon. the Sinhalese Representative to present this petition, and to endeavour to secure the support of the other members, official and unofficial, to its prayer" :--Petition. (See page 54.)
E. Aitken, Esq., J.P.
"Convener: J. Ferguson, Esq. "Committee:
Philip Brito, Esq., M.B., C.M., M.B.C.S.
Peter De Abrew, Esq.
K. Dhammarama Terunnanse, Peliyagoda. Rev. A. E. Dibben,
Rev. R. T. Dowbiggin.
Solomon Fernando, Esq., M.B., C.M.
Rev. G. T. Fleming.
J. N. Grant, Esq.
Joseph R. Grenier, Esq., Advocate.
Rev. T. C. Hillard.
Major Jaya Vera (Salvation Army).
8. G. Lee, Esq..
L. F. E. A. Lisboa Pinto, Esq. L.M.S.
W. Lamout, Esq.
M. I. Mohamado Ally, Esq., J.P.
S. C. Obeyesekere, Esq., Proctor.
J. C. Walter Pereira, Esq., M.M.C.
J. H. Renton, Esq.
Rev. W. H. Rigby.
Tambiah Sanmugam, Esq.
A. T. Shamsedeon,
lim Friend."
Esq., Editor of “Mus-
E. W. S. Senathi Raja, Esq., Barrister-at-
Law.
High Priest Sumangala.
N. Teyagaraja, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. Rev. F. D. Waldock.
H. L. Wendt, Esq., Advocate.
Waskaduwe Subuthi Terunnanse, Kalu-
tara.
Weligama Sri Sumangala Terunnanse,
Kalutara.
“(With power to add to their number.)
"(Secretaries: Rev. W. Hankinson and the Misses M. and M. W. Leitch.") Carried unanimously.
(9.) Moved by Solomon Fernando, Esq., M.B., C.M. Seconded by F. E. A. Lisboa Pinto, Esq., Licentiate, M.8.
*
That, in the event of this memorial failing of its object, the same committee be empowered to draft another petition to the Honorable the Commons of the United Kingdom in Parliament assembled,' and that Mr. Schwann, M.P., be asked to present the same."-Carried unanimously.
Thanks to the chair: Rev. W. Welchman.
Enclosure 2 in No. 9.
(Extract from " Ceylon Observer" of 13th December 1893.) OPIUM AND BHANG IN CHTLON.
MEETING in the PUBLIC HALL of all Races and Classes, to promote Restrictions on Import and Sale, and Petitions to the Legislative Council and House of Commons.
SATURDAY'S Meeting.
THE meeting at the Public Hall on Saturday evening was very well attended, considering the short notice, there being present in the 250 to 300 in the hall repre- sentatives of every nationality and creed in Ceylon. On the motion of the Hon. M. C. Abdul Rahiman (Member of Council for the Muhammadan or Moormon of Ceylon), seconded by 8. C. Obeyesekers, Esq. (Sinhalese landed proprietor and lawyer), John Ferguson, Esq. ("Ceylon Observer" editor), was voted to the chair, and he was supported on the platform by Messrs. J. C. Walter Pereira (barrister-at-law), E. 8. W. Senathirajah (barrister-at-law), N. Tiyagaraja (barrister-at-law), M. I. M. Mohamed Ally, J.P. (consul), A. T. Shamsedeen, Joseph Grenier (advocate), and 8. G. Lee, Rev. Messrs. F. D. Waldock, A. E. Dibben, T. C. Hillard, and W. Hankinson, 8. C. Obeyesekere, Esq., Hon. M. C. Abdul Rahiman, M.L.C., High Priest Sumangala Dhammarama Thero, and several other Buddhist priests. In the body of the hall, there
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were between 250 and 300 persons, amongst whom were the Hon. W. W. Mitchell, M.L.C., Rev. W. Welchman, Misses Leitch, Messrs. M. Cochran, Maddock, Davidson and several of his colleagues, Miss Young and Miss Child, Messrs. W. P. Ranesinghs. Drs. S. Fernando and Lisbos Pinto, Messra. Jayewardena, Gunesekere, &c., &c., &c.
The Chairman said: Friends, I will first read the notice under which the meeting is called: "Opium and Bhang.-A meeting of those who are in favour of the restriction "of the sale of opium and bhang in Ceylon and the establishment of regulations similar to those in Burma or the United Kingdom, will be held in the Public Hall, Colombo, commencing at 4.15 p.m., on Saturday, December 9th." I take it, therefore, that whatever other differences exist among those who have gathered together here in order to take part in this meeting, we are all united on the one common platform of desiring to see restrictions placed on the public sale of opium and bhang in Ceylon. The question as it affects this Island and its people is entirely different from that presented in India or China. I am not going to ask you what your views are respecting the inquiry now going on before Lord Brassey's Commission in India, nor am I to express any views of my own. Whatever be the result of that Commission, I do not think it will affect the Ceylon question much. I may even go so far as to say that there is no reason why a man who is opposed to interference with the opium traffic in India and China might not quite consistently vote for the application of restrictions in Ceylon. We know what widely different views are held among public men, doctors, and others, in England, India, and China in respect of this opium question as it affects India or China. When in England not long ago, I had the privilege of hearing the opinions of leading men like Sir Thomas Wade, Mr. Horatio Lay, Sir John Strachey on the one side, and on the other those of Mr. Donald Matheson, Dr. Legge, and Mr. Caine. But I would like you to note that at no single meeting, in no speech I heard, in no writing I have read, have I ever come across a word against the restrictions placed on the sale of opium and bhang in the United Kingdom. Now, why is it Thought proper to guard and regulate the sale of these drugs in England? One reason is that they are regarded as poisons; but I will give another reason, namely, that the English people have never been accustomed to the indiscriminate sale and use of such drugs. Now, I am quite sure that if I asked the strongest opponents of interference in India and China what they would recommend in the case of a country and people not accustomed to prepare opium and bhang for sale or to use it themselves, that their answer would be, "You cannot do better than apply the English rules and regulations." This, I think, is proved by what has happened in Burma. There the very Anglo-Indian officials who defend the Indian system are found applying restric tions and regulations about as strict 'as those of England. Now, I come back to the case of Ceylon. At the Society of Arts meeting, in which I was called on to take I did so to the extent of deprecating exaggerated Native stories put in print from part, Ceylon. At that time I did not at all think the Sinhalese and Tamils of Ceylon had begun to any extent to use opium or bhang. Since my return, I have learnt otherwise, and have come to know on indubitable evidence that, unfortunately, of late years both Sinhalese and Tamils have begun to buy these druge freely in the licensed shops in Colombo. But the Sinhalese and Tamils of Ceylon are not as a people accustomed to these drugs, and they do not wish to be tempted to use them. If the history of the importa- tion of these drugs in any quantity is traced, I believe it will be found to have taken its origin from the time of the employment of Malays as soldiers in Ceylon. There were Malay troops in the time of the Dutch, and in the early part of this century there were Malays in more than one Native regiment in Ceylon, and those of you who have read Majór Skinner's life, "Fifty Years in Ceylon," will remember how the young officer was sent away by General Barnes to recruit Malays in Singapore and Java. Now, I have no doubt that some of these Malays brought with them the habit of using these drugs, and continued it, and that it was in their interest that the import began in any quantity, and was continued from that time onward. I have, however, authorities beside me who will be able to say whether there is any mention in the old books, such as the "Mahawanso," of opium and bhang being used by the Sinhalese. I have myself been impressed by the fact that I have been unable to find even the slightest reference to either drug as used by the people in any of our British writers on the Island-nothing in Knox, who spent 19 years in Ceylon over 200 years ago; nothing in Pridham or Sir Emerson Tennent; not a line in the book by J. Davy, M.D., F.B.S. (brother of Sir Humphry Davy), published in 1821, and yet he, as a medical man, who travelled a good deal for four years throughout the country, might have been expected to notice the subject if anyone among the people had then been in the habit of using opium or
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