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officers the Lieutenant-Governor, subject to the approval of the Government of India, proposes to accept the recommendations contained in paragraphs 6 and 9 of the Financial Commissioner's letter mentioned above. Stringent action for the suppression of poppy cultivation will accordingly be taken in the Kachin Hill areas in the Katha, Bhamo, Myitkyina and Ruby Mines Districts, and the Government of India will be separately addressed with a view to such amendments of the Kachin Hill Tribes Regulation as may be necessary to give effect to this policy. It is not for the present proposed to take any action in the Putao district, which has only very recently been brought under British administration.
4. In the Shan States, on the other hand, it is not possible, or at least expedient, to advance quite so far at the present juncture. In their case it is not only the ordinary Shan population that has to be considered, but also the attitude of the Chiefs. If the latter and their officials combine sub rosa with the people to resist the suppression of poppy cultivation, any measures that may be taken are likely to prove a failure or to cause trouble and unrest, and in the Lieutenant-Governor's opinion it is a matter of paramount importance to secure their co-operation. Again, in the trans-Salween States any immediate control is impossible. In areas such as East Manglun and the Wa States Government has next to no authority, while in the Kengtung State, which has more geographical and racial affinities with countries across the border than with Burma, difficulties of communication render it necessary for Government to walk very warily in its dealings with the Sawbwa and the people. Even in the Shan States, however, the Lieutenant-Governor does not propose to let matters remain as they are, and he is accordingly prepared to initiate a policy of progressive prohibition to be applied in the first instance to all cis-Salween States. If this policy commends itself to the Government of India he proposes to issue a notification to the effect that it is the intention of Government to control the output of opium after two years in all cis-Salween States, and the control exercised will be directed to reducing poppy cultivation, at first to the barest minimum required for internal consumption in these States, and eventually to suppressing it completely.
5. The prevention of smuggling into China is a more difficult matter to deal with, and the effectiveness of any measures that may be taken depends largely on the co-operation of Chinese officials. In point of fact, it appears unlikely that any such co-operation will be forthcoming at the moment. Recent consular reports from Tengyueh indicate that poppy is being openly cultivated in Yunnan; the price 11 of opium at Namhkim on the border of the Northern Shan States has fallen from 350 rupees to approximately 25 rupees per viss, and the tendency now is for Chinese opium to enter Burma rather than for Shan opium to be smuggled into China. The Lieutenant-Governor, however, recognises that whatever the Chinese attitude of the moment may be, it is the duty of Government to fulfil treaty obligations as far as possible, and, in fact, the more the Chinese authorities neglect their responsibilities, the easier it is for Government to enforce its wishes, as the more opium that is produced over the Chinese frontier the less is the temptation to Shans and Kachins to grow it inside the borders of Burma. The Lieutenant-Governor accordingly proposes to forbid absolutely the export of opium from the Kachin Hill Tracts and from the cis-Salween Shan States, and, even although the prevention of smuggling from the trans-Salween States is impracticable, such measures as are possible will be taken to check extensive smuggling by large caravans, in the hope that the people may gradually be brought to see that opium smuggling is discountenanced by Government and is regarded as a serious offence.
6. The course of action advocated is thus a middle one between two extremes, one of wholesale suppression with complete disregard of consequences, and the other of ultra-caution regarding the possible dislike by the people of the tracts concerned of action taken for the reduction of poppy cultivation and the consumption of opium. This policy would also appear to be in harmony with the views of the Right Honourable the Secretary of State as expressed in a recent answer to a question on this subject in the House of Commons on the 29th April, 1920. It is necessary to proceed cautiously and by degrees. but his Honour intends that at least in the matter of production of opium there shall be no doubt as to the enforcement of what it is decided to prohibit, while he does not propose to prohibit what he cannot enforce.
I have, &c.
P. E. JAMIESON,
Revenue Secretary to the Government of Burma,
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Enclosure 3 in No. 1.
Mr. Jones to the Revenue Secretary to the Government of Burma. (Confidential.)
Sir,
Rangoon, August 12, 1920. WITH reference to Mr. Keith's letter dated the 9th June, 1919, calling for pro- posals for restricting the cultivation of poppy in the Shan States and the frontier districts, and for preventing the introduction of opium from Burma into China, I am now directed to submit for the orders of Government a copy of the papers of which a list is given in the annexed schedule, and to communicate the following remarks and recommendations of the Financial Commissioner thereon.
2. A perusal of the reports received from the Chinese consular officers on the subject of the measures taken by the Chinese authorities in Yunnan for the suppres sion of poppy cultivation and traffic in opium indicates that between the years 1911 and 1917 spasmodic efforts were made from time to time to suppress the cultivation of the poppy in the plains of Yunnan and in the Chinese Shan valleys. These measures had, however, little effect on the consumption of opium by those habituated to the drug, and during this period large supplies of opium were obtained from Burma mainly from the Northern Shan States. As a result of these restrictive measures the price of opium in Yunnan rose to 325 rupees a viss in 1918. From 1918 onwards the province of Yunnan appears to have followed the lead of the majority of opium-growing provinces of China by throwing off all restraint in the matter of poppy cultivation and adopting instead a policy of open encouragement of planting as a means of replenishing the exhausted provincial exchequer. Concurrently with the recrudescence of unchecked cultivation all restrictions in regard to traffic in opium appear to have been removed. Opium cultivation is so ingrained among the natives of Yunnan, both Chinese and hill tribesmen, that any relaxation of vigorous measures of suppression is inevitably attended by a fresh outbreak of cultivation. Moreover, the financial prosperity of the province of Yunnan and the stability of the provincial finances are so closely connected with the opium trade that whole- hearted suppression of poppy cultivation and opium traffic can hardly be expected otherwise than under pressure from a strong central Government at Peking or under the influence of a strong prohibition movement in the province itself, of neither of which there seems any likelihood at the present time. The result of the present attitude of the Yunnan Government is that the price of opium has now fallen to about 20 rupees a viss, and that opium is now being once more smuggled from China into Burma.
3. Nevertheless, the fact that the Chinese are failing on their side to suppress poppy cultivation and opium traffic does not absolve us from the obligation to do what is possible on our side to restrict cultivation and prevent the export of the drug to China. Our adherence to the International Opium Convention has rendered it impossible for us to maintain the laissez-faire policy enunciated in Mr. Rice's letter dated the 27th October, 1910. We have definitely informed the Yunnan Govern- ment in 1918 that the Burma Government had under consideration a scheme, which would be put into force at the earliest possible moment, for the control of poppy cultivation in the frontier regions of Burma: while the Secretary of State, as intimated in Mr. Lewisohn's letter, dated the 19th November, 1919, has expressed the view that it is essential that all practical measures should be taken as soon as possible to suppress cultivation in Burma and to prevent the introduction of opium from Burma into China, subject, however, to the proviso that care must be taken to see that restric- tive measures are not pressed to the point where danger of serious unrest or disturb- ances may be anticipated.
4. Apart moreover from our obligations under the International Opium Conven- tion, there are other reasons which, from an administrative point of view, render it advisable to restrict as far as possible the cultivation of poppy in the frontier hills and in the Shan States. The enormously enhanced prices realised for opium in the last few years have naturally resulted in a very large increase in the area under poppy cultivation in these regions. The Financial Commissioner is informed that in certain parts of the Kachin Hills this increase has been accompanied by an increase in the opium habit among the Kachins, especially among the younger men. The majority of officers of experience in the Kachin Hills appear to be agreed as to the deleterious effect of opium on the Kachin, and as to the advisability of preventing as far as possible any extension of the opium habit among them. The reports received from
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