237
PUBLIC RECORD'OLFFICE
Peferences
C.O.882/12
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BF REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHL-NOT TO
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It is important to get other States where the offences in question are more lightly regarded than in British territories to take action on this Resolution, and it will be easier to urge that course if the necessary legislation has been passed in Malaya.
7. In paragraph 13 of your despatch, you refer to the questions of the cure of addicts and the recovery of dross. As regards research you invite reference to evidence given before a Malayan Commission in 1908, but you do not suggest any definite lines of research or indicate what help could be given in the Colony in studying the questions mentioned. I shall be glad to learn if it is possible to help in these directions.
8. In view of the meeting of the Opium Advisory Committee in the middle of May, I have to request that you will furnish as full a reply as possible to this despatch before that date.
14012/33 [No. 20].
SIR,
No. 49.
I have, &c.,
P. CUNLIFFE-LISTER.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
FEDERATED MALAY STATES
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Confidential.)
(Received 11th May, 1933.)
Government House, Singapore, 3rd May, 1933. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Confidential Straits Settlements and Malay States despatch of the 8th April, ́1933,* on the subject of the Agreement and Final Act of the Bangkok Opium, Conference.
2. Legislation for prohibition of minors from smoking opium is under con- sideration by all the Malayan Governments, and I shall address you further on that subject as soon as possible.
3. As regards the experiment of licensing and rationing at Christmas Island. 1 will communicate with you further on the results of this experiment, as yet I have nothing to report for the experiment is still in its initial stage.
4. With reference to paragraph 4 of your despatch the following are the details of the new system of registration recommended by the Standing Opium Advisory Committee :--
(i) No individual registered smoker is to be allowed to purchase more than 4 chi daily, provided that in the case of sea-going smokers, invalids, persons living at a distance, &c., permission may be granted to purchase a supply for a longer period at a rate not exceeding 4 chi per day up to the maximum quantity of chandu which it is permitted by law for a registered smoker to have in his possession at any one time (that is to say, 5 tahils in the Straits Settlements, 2 tahils in the Federated Malay States). This I regard as a great step forward to meet the wishes of the Bangkok Conference. There is at present no restriction whatever beyond the limit of 5 tahils in the Straits Settlements (2 tahils in the Federated Malay States), which is the maximum amount which any registered smoker is allowed to have in his possession at any one time. That is, of course, a large quantity; yet there is nothing to prevent a registered smoker from purchasing that quantity several times a day provided he is never found to be in possession of a greater quantity. The limitation of individual purchases to 4 chi a day will be the first effective restriction that has been introduced on the quantity of chandu consumed. It will form an essential and valuable basis for the system of rationing to which Sir Malcolm Delevigne looks forward. A proposal has since been made to allow discretion to the Superintendents to grant exemptions from this 4-chi limit in the case of the few remaining really heavy smokers (after due inquiry, including a medical certificate). This proposal, which is sup- ported by the Standing Opium Advisory Committee, is at present under consideration.
* No. 48.
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(ii) A new form of registration card will be introduced bearing the photograph of the registered smoker to whom it is issued. This again is a step towards effective control. There is at present nothing to connect the registration card with the individual who presents it at a chandu shop, and it is a matter of common knowledge that these cards are frequently presented by persons other than the registered smokers named upon them.
(iii) The registered purchasers will be limited to the chandu shop specified on their cards, provision being made for their purchases of chandu as authorized consumers when staying away from their homes.
(iv) Dead registrations will be automatically eliminated as the cards will not be renewed in the case of smokers who have made no purchase during the past twelve months.
5. The Federated Malay States have already passed rules legalizing the new system above outlined. The Unfederated Malay States have all agreed in principle. In the Straits Settlements amendments to the rules governing registration of chandu smokers have been drafted and are now being considered in Executive Council. I anticipate that they will be approved and published before you receive this despatch. 6. With reference to the improvement in the conditions of life and the alleviation of disease, and the recommendation in Resolution No. IV that development and extension of the medical and health services be treated as an important part of the opium policy of Government, I can only say that such services are being continuously improved up to the limit imposed by existing financial conditions.
Owing to the continuance of the financial depression, work on the clearing of slum areas in the towns and the building programme generally has necessarily slowed down somewhat, but strict control of building operations is still maintained in town and village areas.
The work of the Singapore Improvement Trust is a good example of what is being done in the Colony. The Trust has bought up several large blocks of slums and these are now being demolished, the areas are being laid out properly and new buildings are being erected. Large areas of swamp are also being filled in and are being developed as building sites. Occupants of hovels on the rebuilt or reclaimed areas are being accommodated at a low rental in houses built by the Trust.
The imperative need for economy in the past year resulted in a reduction in permanent anti-malaria measures, and expenditure on these lines was limited to completion of existing works. Oiling activities also were slightly reduced by oiling at ten-day intervals instead of seven as heretofore. The vigilance of the Health Department is, however, not being relaxed, and as evidence of their continued efforts I would point to the steady reduction in the number of deaths from malaria in par- ticular and in the death-rate generally. Figures for the last four years for the
Colony are as under:-
1929
1930
1931
1932
Deaths from malaria.
4,648
5,018
3,505
2,601
Crude death-rate.
26.10 per 1,000
27.32
do.
24.47
do.
21.39
do.
The crude death-rate for 1932 is the lowest on record. The average for the last
ten years is 27.58 per thousand.
Progress is being maintained in the replacement of insanitary latrines by latrines of modern type, and in Singapore the area over which the removal of night soil is controlled has been extended. It is estimated that the night soil of one-quarter of the houses in the Singapore rural area is now removed under the supervision of the Rural Board.
As evidence of the development and extension of the medical services I would refer to the erection of new general hospitals at Penang and Malacca. Malacca, when completed, will be one of the finest and best equipped hospitals in That at the East. I would also draw attention to the continued increase in popularity of Motor Travelling Dispensaries. Each year more attendances are recorded.
For information as to progress on the same lines in the Federated Malay States I would refer you to Chapters III and IV of the Annual Report on the Social and Economic Progress of the People of the Federated Malay States for 1931. short time allowed for the preparation of this despatch it has not been possible to In the collect more up-to-date information than is contained in that Report.
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