376
and only license consumption there, except in the
case of respectable Chinamen, who might be
allowed to take out licenses at the discretion of
the Deputy Commissioner. That would have
checked consumption by Burmans. I would not
recommend such a system in regard to ganja,
because there is no established use of ganja.
Opium is lawfully sold in the country. Besides
that, opium is used by Burmans already ; ganja
is not. I would stop ganja by punishing posses-
sion with rigorous imprisonment, and also by
fining ships in which it is found without owner.
I would leave as little as possible to the discretion
of administering officers. Punishment should fall
with absolute certainty and in fixed degree. Fine
is useless, because if you fine lightly you do not
punish the man, While a heavy fine is so difficult to
realize that the higher judicial officers object to
them, and imprisonment is better in every way.
I should regard the matter purely from the Bur-
man point of view, without regarding in the least
the discomfort, or hardship, or suffering of natives
of India. If they choose to come to this country
they must accept tike conditions there.
The improvement alluded to in my written
answer No. 58 is that indicated in answer No. 59,
viz., this increased rigour.
In
regard to opium we have found that some
Burmans would not register at all and that others
registered eagerly to enable them really to sell to
other non-registered consumers. I regard the
registering as utterly untrustworthy. The Bur-
mans use alcohol. The use is extending, both the
moderate and excessive use. The best Burmans
take no intoxicant of any kind.
Siamese. The Shans in Mergui district are almost
invariably Siamese. I know nothing of cultiva-
tion by them in that district.
Letter from COLONEL SPEARMAN appended
to his evidence.
I have the honour to invite the attention of the
Hemp Drugs Commission to my evidence given on.
The 6th instant,a n d t o r e q u e s t t h a t s o m u c h o f t h i s
evidence as relates to ganja being " marketable "
may be considered and dealt with in the light of
the following remarks.
2. I accepted the word " marketable," which
was not mine, without claiming, as perhaps I ought
to have claimed, a definition of the meaning the
Commission put on the word. I accepted it, not
in the last sense given in "Webster's Dictionary,
but in one of the others, viz., " saleable." Those
who want to buy Can buy it if il is to be got. I
meant it to be understood that in my opinion, as
founded in what I believe to be legitimate inferences
from such facts as have come under my own observ-
ation and as I have, as a matter of duty or other-
wise, succeeded in verifying, persons not known or
suspected to be in the public service or employed as
spies or informers can, with risk to themselves,
greater or less, according to surrounding facts and
circumstances, at a cost which can be measured on
each occasion only, and with a delay which could
only be similarly measured, obtain ganja.
3. Briefly, but fully and accurately stated, my
belief is that in my Division, and I. decline to
speak for any other, ganja is " marketable " as
smuggled tobacco is in England.
I have never heard of the use of ganja by the
2. Evidence of LIEUTENANT-COLONEL C. B. COOKE, Commissioner of Pegu.
4
1. The people of Burma not being addicted to
the use of hemp drugs, my opportunities of obtain-
ing information have bee n f e w.
2. " S è c h a u k " o r " d r i e d m e d i c i n e " i s t h e
ordinary name applied to ganja (flat or round) by
the Burmese. It is also known as "bhin."
3. It is said to grow spontaneously in parts of
Upper Burma.
7. Its cultivation is forbidden b y law.
35. The use of the drug is prohibited in this
province. The prohibition is intended to protect
the indigenous population from. acquiring a habit
which is by some persons held to be a cause of
insanity.
The alien population of Burma at the time that
the prohibition was ordered was insignificant
in numbers; in the twenty years since the prohibition
was ordered that. population has probably increased
500 fold, and the difficulties of enforcing the prohibi-
tion have also increased ; but still, I think, the
prohibition should not be annulled.
36. No.
5S. Yes; I think it should be left unchanged.
6S. None are licensed.
69. The wishes of the people are consulted
usually before any new excise shop is licensed.
Oral Evidence.
Question 1 .—It is more than 25 years since
I first came to Burma, but I passed seven years
out of this period in Central India. I was Assist-
ant Secretary to Sir Ashley Eden when the
report was made, in which the prohibition of the
hemp drug was initiated. I have passed the
greater part of my Burma service in Upper
Burma, either as Political Officer at Bhamo before
the annexation, or as Deputy Commissioner and
Commissioner. Since that time I have never
served in the Arakan Division, the circumstances
of which are very different from those of the rest
of Burma, the natives of the country being regard-
ed by the true Burmese as foreigners.
Question 3—Ihave never known the drug to
be used as a narcotic by the Burmans. I am
aware that the plant is said to be grown in
Burma, and I have heard that the leaves are
occasionally used in flavouring curries, but I have
not heard that the plant is cultivated in Burma,
so as to make the resin accumulate in the flower
head. I have had no experience of the Shans in
their own States, so I cannot confirm or contradict
the statements made by the ex-Sawbwa of Nyan-
gywe, who probably knew what went on in his
own State.
I have seen the plant growing spontaneously
outside some three villages in Upper Burma
among the rubbish heaps, but it was a mere weed
not grown for any purpose. The plant was point-
ed out to me, or I should not have known it.
This experience and what I have heard forms the
foundation of my written answer that the plant
grows spontaneously in Upper Burma. I heard
about the existence of this spontaneous growth
soon after the war. I have also heard of the
cultivation for the leaves, but none for the