CO882-(4-5) — Page 394

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO]

98

that excess in opium is doing them harm, or from fear of losing self-control in its use, or from the necessity for retrenchment, or from other reasons, may desire to get rid of the habit, and that under such circumstances opium smokers do give effect to their wishes is easily susceptible of proof. But that there is any general desire on the part of the great bulk of opium smokers for "freedom" I do not for one moment believe. There need be no desire for freedom where no slavery exists, and no slavery is established except in the case of those who exceed, and these are fortunately a small minority.

HOSTILITY AGAINST ENGLAND ENGENDERED BY ALLOWING EXPORT OF OPIUM FROM INDIA.

16. Is there among any Asiatic race in your Colony a feeling of hostility against England for allowing opium to be exported from India? If so, how does that feeling display itself?

There is absolutely no such feeling in any Asiatic race in the Colony. This is the opinion of 29 witnesses out of 32 who have answered this question. Probably very few of the consumers have any kind of information as to the place or manner of the production of opium, or connect England in any way with its distribution.

Three witnesses (Evans, Lamont, and Ellis) trace a feeling of injury in an educated few, who have perhaps imbibed the special prejudices of a class of European thinkers or writers, and as regards Malays, one witness (Shellabear) speaks of indignation on the part of some at the thought of the use of opium being spread among their race by Chinese influence. This is, however, a separate question altogether.

That a real feeling of hostility would be aroused against England, or the Colonial Government representing England in these parts, if there were any interference with the import of opium is the opinion of several (Haviland, Lister, Meyer, Hüttenbach) and having had personal experience of a serious rising (necessitating resort to fire-arins to repress it), on the part of Chinese, in consequence of a threatened excise measure in Perak which would have made chandu dear, I entirely agree with this prognostication.

Two witnesses (Dr. Ellis, Hare) think that, as it is, the Chinese consider that the inhabitants of the Colony are hardly treated by having opium so heavily taxed by Government.

GENERAL REMARKS.

17. Have you any other remark to make in regard to opium consumption among the people around you ?

Thoughtful observations on the subject of opium consumption in the Straits Settle- ments are contributed by Messrs. Swettenham, Gentle, Wray, Anderson, Hare, Kynnersley, and O'Brien. To these I do not desire to add much. I believe that a great deal of the prejudice against opium, which undoubtedly exists in Europe, where the use of this narcotic has never become general, is founded upon ignorance. It is doubtful, though, if the feeling of horror with which the enemies of opium may regard it is equalled by the feeling of disgust with which a good Mohammedan regards the con- sumption of pork or intoxicants. Autre pays autres mœurs.

Those who live in Eastern countries where opium is habitually consumed do not see, to shock and horrify them, the shameful sights which the Asiatic visitor to Europe can see in alcohol-consuming communities. The prohibition of the cultivation of the poppy in India (if such a step can be admitted as possible, even in argument) should be preceded by the abandonment of the cultivation of the vine in Europe and of the manufacture of spirits.

Any Government which should decide to put down the consumption of opium in the Straits Settlements would have to suppress by armed force the resistance of the Chinese, and to face unpopularity and bankruptcy, while seeing the Colony lowered in the estima- tion of the Asiatic trading public in almost every particular in which it is now superior to surrounding ports.

I believe that life in one of the Eastern Colonies under the British flag is the freest and safest that a Chinese can enjoy anywhere. It is not merely from a desire to be pleasant to Englishmen that Chinese enlarge on the freedom they enjoy in Singapore and Penang as opposed to the restrictions and disqualifications which meet them in the neighbouring colonies of the French, the Dutch, and the Spanish. Interference with the opium trade would be interference with this freedom; it would disgust those whom we should be professing to benefit, and would indirectly benefit the commerce and colonies of other European nations.

99

65

NATIVE STATES.

18. Please state how far opium consumption is common among the Native States around the Colony. Do the Rulers of those States discourage its use? or do they raise revenue from it? What is the public or general opinion of the Natine States regarding the drug, its use or abuse, and its effects on the consumers and on the people `at large ?

As to Native States, reference may be made to the evidence of Mr. Swettenham for Perak, Mr. Treacher for Selangor, and Mr. Clifford for Pahang.

Malay rulers do not, in any State that I am acquainted with, discourage the practice of opium consumption.

The sale of the monopoly of the trade in opium is a feature in the fiscal system of every Native State. The system is older than British Government in the Straits of Malacca.

Public opinion regarding opium in the Native Stafes does not differ from that already described as prevailing in the Colony, except that among Malays in the Native States perhaps more indulgence is shown towards the opium habit than among those in the Colony. On the other hand, the consumption of spirita by Mohammedans is probably much more common in the Colony than in the Native States.

I am of opinion that opium is too cheap in the Native States, and that a higher import duty than $8 a ball might not unreasonably be imposed in the mining districts, though it need not be as high as $21, the duty imposed in the agricultural district of Negri Sembilan.

Singapore, February 28, 1894.

15611.

No. 36.

WILLIAM

Villiam Maxwell,

Colonial Secretary,

Straits Settlements.

SI C. B. H. MITCHELL to the MARQUESS OF RIPON. (Received September 4, 1894.) [Answered by No. 37.]

(No. 245.) MY LORD,

Government House, Singapore, August 7, 1894. I HAVE the honour to forward Ordinance No. IX. of 1894, entitled “ An Ordinance "to consolidate and amend the law for collecting a Revenue of Excise on Opium and the

Preparations thereof."

"

Enclosure in No. 36.

I have, &c.

STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.

ORDINANCE No. IX. or 1894.

C. B. H. MITCHELL,

An Ordinance to consolidate and amend the law for collecting a Revenue of Excise on

Opium and the Preparations thereof.

[26th July 1894.] (L.8.) C. B. H. MITCHELL,

Governor and Commander-in-Chief.

It is hereby enacted by His Excellency the Governor of the Straits Settlements, with

the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:—

1. This Ordinance may be cited as "The Opium Ordinance, 1894,"and shall come. Short tits

into operation on a day to be fixed by Order of the Governor in Council.

2. The enactments specified in the first schedule shall be repealed to the extent. therein mentioned, but all rules made under any enactments so repealed shall continue in force until superseded by rules made under this Ordinance.

N 2

and com- mencement.

Repeal,