CO882-(4-5) — Page 377

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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C.O. 882

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he doubted that the skill of Chinese organisation would be directed towards smuggling, and in this they would have the assistance of every nationality.

11. The system of licenses would require the formation of a revenue service to guard against smuggling. When the natural boundaries of the Settlements are considered, with uninhabited sea shore, rivers, and forests, I fear the cost of a sufficient force, and the necessary steam vessels, would be prohibitory. I believe under existing conditions it would be practically impossible to stop the introduction of illicit opium, the temptation to which would be enhanced by its facilities.

12. With regard to the restriction of the number of licensed shops, or their total abolition, it will be desirable first to obtain particulars of the requirements in each district and the number of sinokers who use the present houses, 478 I understand, in Singapore. There are, I believe, no recorded statistics kept. The question of restricting the number might then be considered, together with rules as to supervision, and the exclusion of youths under a certain age.

13. Total abolition could not be carried out. It must be remembered that there are thousands of coolies to whom opium is a necessity: men from ships and docks, coal whippers, &c., a sort of floating population who rarely smoke to excess, and have no lodgings where they could smoke. By the abolition of licensed shops, unlicensed dens would spring into existence to meet the demand, and thus a fresh field for corruption in securing connivance would be created.

14. As to the limitation of the quantity of prepared opium which may be sold to, or kept in the possession of, one man, this might be also considered with the matters in paragraph 12, but evasion would be so easy that it is doubtful if any good result would be obtained by any rule on the point.

15. The licensing powers are already to a certain extent supervised by Government. I believe that every license has to be submitted to the head of the police, whose approval is required before à license is issued.

16. The consideration of these questions having been brought about by the action of the Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade, I desire to add my opinion to others of more weight, as to the general prejudice and incorrectness of their statements.

17. The Indian blue book attached to these papers shows that in India the greater number of people who use opium do not do so to excess, and that a large proportion use it medicinally with good effect. Experience in the Straits, as I have pointed out, leads to the same conclusion.

18. The members of this society, probably from their unfamiliarity with the drug, have been led to look upon its use as an unmitigated evil, and look with horror on the scene presented by an opium shop, with its, to them, new form of stimulant or intoxication. To those who live amongst an opium-smoking population, the opium shop seems much less of an evil than the English public-house, which is its exact equivalent.

19. The effects of excess in the use of liquor, or in [opium ?] smoking, are no doubt extremely disgusting, but to those equally acquainted with the sight of both, opium is the less disgusting of the two. The opium smoker is at least inoffensive to his neighbour, while the drunkard is violent and sometimes dangerous.

20. As for doing away entirely with the use of opium, the knowledge of its properties and the liking for its use are so fully established, that it is hopeless to expect it.

21. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that its use should be prohibited by law, it cannot be doubted that the drug would still be obtained from countries outside of our jurisdiction. The liking for it can no more be got rid of than the liking in Europe for liquor. Every nation or people has its craving for some form of stimulant, or means of inebriation, and will have it; different people have different methods, that is all.

22. The question of revenue involved in this matter is a very important one; without the opium tax this Colony would be bankrupt. I submit that no valid reason has yet been given to justify a request that this revenue should be given up; at least there is no better reason for doing so than for giving up the similar tax at home on liquor.

23. Considering all the circumstances, it appears to me that all Government can do, or can reasonably be expected to do, is not to encourage the increase of the use of opium and, by supervision and regulations, to prevent as far as possible its excessive use.

I have, &c.

The Hon. the Colonial Secretary,

Straits Settlements,

E. E. ISEMONORE,

Colonial Treasurer.

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Enclosure 8 in No. 27.

MINUTE BY THE RESIDENT COUNCILLOR OF MALACCA.

OPIUM QUESTION in the COLONY of the Straits SettlemeNTS.

1. For practical purposes this question, so far as it concerns this Settlement, if not the whole Colony as well, may be treated as affecting the Chinese only.

2. The expression "excessive consumption" may be construed in two ways, as indicating (a.) a wider prevalence of the habit of opium smoking, (6.) a habit of smoking in excess of what is wholesome.

3. To enable me to form an opinion on the subject of the evils of opium smoking based on a more solid foundation than that which I have hitherto held (which was based upon general observation only extending over the last 25 years), I have visited 22 opium shops and personally examined 100 smokers upon a variety of points.

4. Among them were people of all occupations and of all ages from 18 to 78.

5. All of them except four wished, they said, to give up the habit, these four said they did not wish to give it up.

6. Eleven sinoke more than when they began, 12 less, the rest the same.

7. Seventeen tried to give up the habit, some of them more than once, but only three succeeded, one of them by the help of a European doctor; these three, however, all took to it again, one after an interval of four months on catching cold, the two others after an interval of a year, one when he got more money, the other on his falling ill again..

8. Some try to give up smoking with the aid of opium pills, some have tried morphia, but the generality seem to try with a mixture of arrack, chandoo dross, and Chinese medicine.

9. As far as I can gather, they try to break off too suddenly, and consequently fail in their endeavour, through not understanding how to set about it.

10. Of those that I questioned respecting the effect of the practice on their appetite

for food, 44 suffered from a loss of appetite, while those who still retained it were 20 in number, and of these, two enjoyed an increase of appetite.

11. Óf 91 questioned as to the cause which led them to begin smoking, 53 stated that they began on account of some ailment, while 38 admitted that they started the practice for pleasure, i.e., in the brothels.

12. Forty-seven of the smokers swallow chandoo dross, almost all of them in addition to smoking, because they cannot afford to take their full supply in the form of smoke, and everyone complained of the dearness of opium nowadays compared with what it used to be, and even is now in the Native States, and it was stated that a number of opium smokers had in consequence left Malacca for the Negri Sembilan.

13. (a.) Twenty-nine had smoked under five years, and of these 16 had lost while five retained their appetite; (6.) 17 had smoked under 10 years, of whom eight had lost and four retained their appetite; (c.) 24 had smoked under 15 years, of whom five had lost and seven retained their appetite; (d.) eight under 20 years, of whom three had lost their appetite; (e.) nine under 25 years, of whom six had lost and one retained their appetite; (f) two under 30 years, one retained and one lost his appetite: (g.) seven under 35, of whom three lost and two retained their appetite; (h.) one under 40 years; (i.) one under 45 years; (j.) one under 55 years, the two latter of whom had both lost their appetites.

smokers.

14. On plantations there are about 3,600 coolies working, of whom 27 per cent. are In some plantations the percentage of smokers is higher, rising in one to 52 per cent., but on this plantation, the manager, a European, states that the coolics show no signs of being the worse for the habit. Of the smokers generally, 21 per cent. are said to be the worse for the habit, or slightly over 6 per cent. of all the plantation coolies.

·

15. Most of the coolies come young from China and do not acquire the habit of smoking till they have been here a year or so.

16. We have no data from the prison or hospitals here, but next year observations will be taken and recorded.

17. I attach copy extract of a report by Dr. Rowell for the year 1883 on opium cases treated in the Singapore prison.

18. As to the evil effects of the habit of opium smoking, they were stated as follows by some of those I questioned :--

It makes a man weak, lazy, sleepy, disinclined for work, robs you of energy of body and spirit, and disposes you to sit up all night, and to get up late in the day. You

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