+
>
į
6
of opium available for export to China, while the general result will be that we shall be pushing further eastward the boundary line between effective and non-effective control of opium manufacture and consumption. The further that line advances to the east the more difficult will it be for smugglers to carry on their operations, and the more possible it will be to make an effective reply to any complaints on the part of the Chinese Government. This seems as far as it is possible to go at present. We can do little for years to come in respect of the trans-Salween States and the check of smuggling from there into China. Moreover, although article 15 of the Convention lave down that the contracting Powers shall take all necessary measures to prevent the smuggling of opium into Chinese territory, compliance with this article appears to be dependent on the co-operation of the Chinese Government; and as far as can be judged from a perusal of the correspondence on the subject,China is prepared to do very little to suppress the smuggling of opium from China into Burina. We are. therefore, certainly not called upon to adopt in the interests of China a rash policy of intervention in the trans-Salween States, or to take costly and almost impracticable measures to control smuggling operations along a frontier many hundreds of miles long.
11. The same difficulties which prevent any effectual check of the smuggling of opium from the trans-Salween States into China also operate to prevent any effective check on the smuggling of opium from the trans-Salween States into Siam, and though, in the case of Siam, as appears from the correspondence forwarded with Mr. Lewisohn's letter, dated the 17th December, 1919, the Siamese authorities have expressed themselves willing to co-operate in any measures which may be practical for the suppression of the traffic, the control exercised by them over the Shan States on their side of the frontier is probably even less effective than our control over our own trans-Salween States. The measures proposed above should operate to reduce the amount of opium available for smuggling from the trans-Salween States into Siam, and beyond this nothing more seems possible at present. Letter dated the 12th June, 1920, from the Commissioner, Tenâsserim Division, to the Excise Commissioner, which forms an enclosure to Mr. Brander's letter, dated the 24th June, 1920, indicates that little or no smuggling takes place from the districts of the Tenasserim Division into Siam.
I have, &c.
E. H. JONES, Secretary to the Financial Commissioner, Burma.
ANNEX 1.
Lieutenant-Colonel Aplin (Commissioner, Mandalay Division) to the Assistant Secretary to the Financial Commissioner (Burma).
(Confidential.)
February 17, 1919.
I HAVE the honour to forward a copy of letter dated the 7th February, 1919, from the Deputy Commissioner, Bhamo, on the subject of poppy cultivation in the Kachin Hill Tracts.
2. The latest orders of Government are that no action should be taken regarding the prevention or restriction of poppy cultivation in these tracts during the war. As the war is over, Mr. Booth-Gravely is in order in raising the question afresh, though I think it is probable Government may not consider that the time has yet arrived for action to be taken. As this, however, is a matter for Government to decide I am submitting Mr. Booth-Gravely's letter for orders.
3. I do not propose to comment on Mr. Booth-Gravely's letter beyond remarking that I agree with him that repressive action should be taken as soon as is practicable. 1 think so because of the large increase in poppy cultivation that is taking place. This I consider should be stopped as soon as possible, for every year that the cultivation continues will make its suppression more difficult eventually. But I am not in favour of any sudden measures of a drastic nature, nor does the present time appear to be a convenient one for any measures to be taken which might lead to trouble or unrest, I would prefer to wait until the operations on the Assam frontier are over and the Bhamo Military Police Battalion is at full strength.
4. There is, however, no objection to a reconsideration of the measures that should be taken when a suitable time for their introduction arrives. Suggestions have already been made, but this was four or five years ago. It appears to me,
7
therefore, that the first step that should be taken now is to review these suggestions in the light of the further experience we have gained during the years of the war. I would therefore recommend that the Deputy Commissioners be invited to take this step now as Mr. Booth-Gravely suggests so that there may be no avoidable delay when the time arrives in the introduction of the scheme or schemes that Government may approve.
5. Any wholesale destruction of the poppy crops should certainly not be attempted by the Assistant Superintendent, Sinlumkaba, this season. As a matter of fact it is too late, as the crop, I understand, will be gathered in March. But in any case it would be impolitic to attempt it at the present juncture. I am therefore informing Mr. Booth-Gravely that the instructions given by him (paragraph 16 of his letter) are approved.
Mr. Booth-Gravely, Deputy Commissioner, Bhumo, to the Commissioner, Mandalay Division, (Confidential.)
Bhamo, February 7, 1919. I HAVE the honour to address you on the subject of poppy cultivation in the Kachin Hill Tracts in the Bhamo District.
2. This is a question which has seriously exercised the minds of former Deputy Commissioners, and in recent years it has on several occasions been urged upon the consideration of the Local Government at their instance. I propose in the first instance, therefore, to summarise briefly the course of the previous correspondence on the subject.
3. A convenient starting point is to be found in the Revenue Secretary's letter to the Financial Commissioner, dated the 25th April, 1913, of which a copy was forwarded to this office with your Revenue Department endorsement, dated the 16th May, 1913. The main point of this letter was that the situation in respect of the production and distribution of raw opium in Burma had been completely altered by the accession of the British Government to the International Opium Convention of the 23rd January, 1912. In the words of the letter, this Government is now bound to control the production of opium in the tracts adjoining the Burma-China The letter also drew frontier and to prevent the smuggling of opium into China." attention to a remonstrance which the Chinese Government had addressed in January 1913 to His Majesty's Minister at Peking, and although the allegations on which the remonstrance was based were not wholly ingenuous it was admitted that there was some basis for complaint in respect of opium cultivation in the Shan States. A full report on the subject was called for, to be supplemented by "detailed recommendations regarding the steps which should be taken to (a) control the production of raw opium, (b) prevent its export, and (c) check the smuggling of it across the frontier into China." It was clearly intimated that a non possumus attitude could not be assumed, though the difficulties were not to be underrated.
4. Mr. Lewisohn's views were submitted in his letter dated the 3rd June, 1913, and amounted to a cordial acceptance of the policy laid down in the Revenue Secretary's
's letter above quoted. He stated that poppy cultivation was increasing in the Kachin Hills, largely by Chinese immigrants from over the border, and recom- mended that the Kachin Hill Tribes Regulation should be amended so as to make the cultivation of the poppy and the possession of opium illegal in the Kachin Hills of the district. He reported and concurred in the opinion of Mr. Scott, Assistant Superintendent, Sinlum, that the use of opium meant moral and physical ruin to the hill Kachins and that total prohibition could be enforced without difficulty. He also pointed out that the prohibition of the cultivation and possession of opium in the hills would greatly facilitate the suppression of opium smuggling both to the plains and to China, and suggested that no special measures were called for to check illicit export across the frontier. In conclusion, Mr. Lewisohn very earnestly urged that, whatever decision should be reached on the general question, the Government should authorise the enforcement of total prohibition in the Bhamo Hill Tracts.
5. In due course the Local Government's orders were communicated in letter from the Assistant Secretary to the Financial Commissioner, dated the 8th January, 1914, a copy of which was forwarded with your Revenue Department endorsement. dated the 10th January, 1914. It was intimated that the Local Government had decided with regard to the Bhamo and Myitkyina Districts that the only feasible way of restricting the production of opium was by prohibiting entirely the cultivation of the poppy, and that possession should also be prohibited as soon as the Chinese
114
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.