CO882-(4-5) — Page 370

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

Excess con- fined to the opulent.

Policy of Straite

Government prevents general

excess.

Consumption decreasing and not. incresaidg.

Inconvenient time for siterations in fiscal system.

Experience with pawa- brokers farm.

Conditions

affecting

Straits Settlements

farms.

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them is a boon and not an evil and enables them to maintain their strength and vigour under adverse conditions of life and climate and to make and save money for the support of their parents in China.

10. Excess, of course, takes place occasionally, like drunkenness does in England, but the degrading appalling scenes of the gin palace are not to be found in the opium shop, such excess being almost entirely confined to the well-to-do, who do not, as a rule, resort thereto.

11. In his Despatch to Sir William Robinson of 9th April 1892, Lord Knutsford states that the evils to which he previously referred were more particularly those consequent on excessive consumption of opium in the Colony. Now I have no hesitation in saying that the settled policy of the Straits Government in respect to opium licenses which has pre- vailed for many years past has made such general excess impossible. high. In previous paragraphs I have testified from personal observation to the fact that The price is too amongst the principal consumers, namely the coolies excess is rarely to be found. It is the rich and well-to-do who alone can afford to indulge to excess and I fail to see how any legislation or regulations can stop excessive consumption in this quarter.

.

12. Moreover, the consumption, both rich and poor, is not increasing, as the great falling off in our excise receipts bears witness to. In these days of depression and bad trade every body, high and low, is making less money, and the first thing that feels the result of this depression is revenue from stimulants. I am at present at Penang on inspection duty and have taken the opportunity of again going over the opium shops of that Settlement. The total local consumption of opium is about 900 taels a day, equivalent to 1,200 ounces, and this amongst a male Chinese population of say 60,000 souls. At 100 hoons to the tael this gives an average daily consumption per head of 1 hoons, only supposing the large Malay and Indian population do not smoke at all, which is very far from being the case. Now a coolie can consume from 4 to 5 hoons (say 25 grains per diem) without injury to himself, as already explained. I cannot conceive, therefore, that it can be held that in this Settlement the consumption is at all excessive, and what holds in Penang will be found, I have no doubt, to apply with equal force to the Southern Settlement of Singapore.

13. Even were the consumption of opium by our Chinese population attended with the evils popularly, but incorrectly, supposed and even were such consumption excessive, which facts show to be not the case, I would earnestly deprecate any alteration or tam- pering with our fiscal system at a time when the Colony is going through a financial crisis and when, for want of funds, public works and education are at a standstill, sanitation neglected and the general well being of the community allowed to remain unimproved.

14. Our last experiment in the way of exchanging a farm for a licensing system should serve us as a warning. In 1888 the amount received from the pawn-broker farms wal $148,800. In the following year licenses produced only $79,800 and in 1890 $36,810, at which sum stands the estimated revenue from this source for the current year. The Chinese have proved too much for us altogether. have been put to the greatest inconvenience by the change of system; to suit The native community their wants they have recourse to the sly pawn-broker; petty thefts and robberies are more rife than ever they were; and the police authorities appear to be unanimous in the opinion that administration and detection have been rendered more difficult since the farmers' shops were abolished. They would gladly see a reversion to the former arrange- ments, by alteration of which much revenue has been sacrificed without any commensurate gain either to the Government or the people.

"

15. The Blue Book referred to in paragraph 3 contains the following sound axiom, "Government is bound to be satisfied that anticipated benefits will actually result before existing machinery is dislocated." Now I venture to say that no benefit will result as regards the opium traffic by the substitution of a licensing for a farming system. The advisers of the Government have had to deal with the question in the face of facts and local conditions and not in the light only of irresponsible sentiment. They have been obliged to recognise that the ports of the Straits Settlements are free and not hampered with customs and a large preventive staff. In this and many other particulars we differ essentially from India, and in no point more than that we have here to deal with a class of consumers who possess unique ability and power for combination, organization, and secret dealing. The open straightforward methods of British administration are ill adapted at the best of times to meet with the ways and wiles of the Chinese and any attempt to take the working of the opium traffic into our own hands would be a herculean task which I feel certain would prove even more unsatisfactory than the attempt to work the pawnbroking business.

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16. The Anti-opium Society themselves would appear to be averse to the suggestion Objections that the traffic should be regulated by means of licenses for in their letter to the of Anti- Secretary of State for India, dated 30th July 1890, they say, "The main objections to opium "the licensing system are two, the greater facility for the spread of the vice, and the Society to

injurious influence of Government patronage."

system of Government licenses. Line of

17. Holding that a tax on opium is a proper source of revenue in the same manner as a tax on spirits, we have, in the Straits Settlements, adopted a system which relieves us in policy taken a great measure of any such patronage, and is calculated to keep the consumption with- by Straits in reasonable limits. We fix a price for the retail price of chandoo at a high figure, which, Government. whilst not making its purchase prohibitive, brings it within the class of luxuries; we make it a condition that the supply shall be of the purest description, equal to samples deposited with us; and we then see who will pay monthly into the general revenues of the Colony the largest sum out of the difference between the cost of the business and the amount collected by the monopoly from the purchasers.

18. The consumers are taxed, the farmer is taxed. The price is too high-as I have High taxe often been told in the opium shops-for the ordinary consumer to get more than a small tion and supply; the farmer dares not lower the price in the hope that lower rates would lead to pure quality. increased purchases, so keen has been the competition, and so heavy are his expenses. The coolie has a pure, bigh-priced article free from harmful adulteration; the Government by its action puts a check on excessive consumption and has the collection of the tax con- veniently carried out for it without being brought into contact with the actual consumers themselves.

19. In contrast to this beneficent system let us briefly consider what would take place Evils of were Government licenses issued instead. The revenue which we now derive by the licensing restrictive conditions of our contracts would pass in a great measure into the pockets of "ystem. smugglers and farmers of adjoining states and territories. From its relation of small bulk to great value no substance can be so easily introduced surreptitiously into a coun- try as opium and its preparations.

sent system.

20. In spite of the facilities which Chinese have of protecting themselves against Smuggling illicit traders and of gaining information when a run is to be attempted, the high rates under pre- at which retail is fixed obliges them to keep a very large preventive staff and epies and a number of revenue cruisers; yet notwithstanding all their precautions seizures have constantly to be made of chandoo purchased or manufactured outside the Colony and smuggled in even from China itself at much cheaper rates and at considerable profit.

21. Free trade and the absence of custom house restrictions is the basis of our Free trade. existence, and this in itself adds greatly to the difficulties of successfully working the Geographical

facilities, monopoly. The very configuration of our settlements lends itself to smuggling opera- tione. A minimum of territory to the maximum of coast line, our bay, creeks and rivers are full of boats and junks passing incessantly to and from adjacent foreign states which can be reached by them in smooth water and in a short time.

and employ-

ment of

22. To cope with these smuggling difficulties it has long been recognised that the Combination farms of two adjacent states such as Singapore and Johor must be in the hands of the of farmers same syndicate, and they are consequently let by their Governments simultaneously and in concert. The syndicates are also obliged for their own protection to take into their employ as preventive agencies the most daring and successful of the would-be smugglers and to give them an honest calling and a share in the business.

smugglers.

ment power-

23. The farms as at present constituted are, therefore, the most powerful instruments Government that can be devised for the prevention of illicit traffic in opium, and for keeping the price establish- of the drug at a luxurious figure. No machinery which the Government could start less. could possibly compare with them. Even if it were possible to take over the whole of the farmer's excise staff as it stands and burden our estimates and future pension list with an enormous addition to our establishments, we would not get the work half as well done as it is at present, for, as Sir James Russell points out, amongst the farmer's employés are his own people and connexions who work loyally with him and for him, a very different thing from working for Government on fixed monthly salaries.

Excise

24. The working rank and file of the preventive staff must necessarily be Chinese; Evils under many men now employed by the farmers would not and could not be taken on by Government. Government; the sympathy of the whole would be with their smuggling countrymen and establish cheap chandoo; wholesale corruption and collusion would be rife; espionage and powers ment. of search would carry with them extortion and oppression, and the unfortunate failings of the policeman would be found to be intensified in the exciseman.

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