381
4. It is called " boil ally " by the Chittago-
nians.
5. Not known.
6. It grows like a weed and is scattered.
12. I believe not. From enquiries it appears
that the wild hemp is of very little good, and only
used occasionally for medicine.
18. Ganja deteriorates after being kept two
months in the damp climate of Arakan. If well
wrapped up in cloth and put in a chatty with
paddy husks and buried near a fire-place, it will
stand for about four months at the most. Mr.
Wadman has seized ganja buried in this way.
19. Charas is not used here. Ganja is smoked
or put in curries and cakes. It is also taken with
milk. When put in curries or milk the juice is
extracted first. Smoking is the most common
way in which the drug is used.
20. The natives of India are the only people
who use it in this Division.
21. Flat ganja ; the price varies from Rs, 35 to
Rs. 45 per seer.
22. The little ganja that is used here is smuggled
from Chittagong. In the shipping season a little
is brought by native vessels from the Madras side.
23. Bhang is not used.
25. I should say that ganja is more used than
formerly. I believe the military police introduced
into Burma since the annexation indulge in this
when they can get it.
31. There is no tendency to excessive consump-
tion. After indulgence for one year the habit is
hard to break off.
42. I have never heard of any cases where the
use of the drug has been found harmful.
43. Yes.
6. Evidence of MR. J. K. MACRAE, Magistrate of Hanthawaddy.
Oral evidence.
Question 1. —I have been in the Burma Commis-
sion since 1860. I have been in charge of ten
districts in all Divisions of Lower Burma. I have
not served in Upper Burma. I have had all the
districts both in the Arakan and Tenasserim
Divisions.
Before prohibition was introduced, I noticed that
the use of ganja had begun in the Sandoway and
Kaipin districts of Arakan. The Arakanese do
differ from the Burmans, who do not acknowledge
them as the same race. I know of no cases of use
by pure Burmans before the prohibition. The
Arakanese have now quite abandoned the use of
ganja. I have been there in 1885-56, and never knew
any instances of use then by the Arakanese. I
know of no reason to believe that Burmans would
have taken to ganja apart from prohibition, except
that they are excitable and also easily led by
fashion. Their adoption of the opium habit leads to
the supposition that they would have adopted ganja.
The prohibition has succeeded in keeping them from
it. As to natives of India, it must have succeeded
in keeping much ganja out of the country. I do
not believe that ganja is a marketable commodity in
the bazars. It is smuggled in small quantities, but
no facts have come to my notice to show that it is
obtainable by any one who chooses to pay high
enough.
I am Magistrate of the Hanthawaddy district,
with my head-quarters in Rangoon. The heavy
cases of smuggling referred to in Mr. Culloden's
memorandum of 1st December last have not come
to my notice. I know nothing about them. When
in charge of Akyab a few cases of smuggling (two
or three a year) came to my notice—seizures at the
Customs House. They were one or two cases of
bundles of, say, about a cubic foot in bulk of ganja
each in a year. They were brought in by coasting
steamers. Also some cases occurred of small quan-
tities being found in people's houses. I believe
only secret smuggling in small quantities is the
rule. The police, as a rule, acted on the statements
of informers. No special measures were taken by
the Government to enforce the prohibition. These
are all the cases of smuggling I know. In Rangoon
I am not in the way of hearing of cases. For the
last four or five years there has been a special Excise
Department in every district, or at least in certain
districts, in large districts on the sea-coast. It is
employed on opium, spirits and drugs. But I
believe the establishment had its origin in the desire
to suppress opium, and also to protect the revenue
from illicit distillation and importation of spirits.
These were the two main objects, I believe.
It is possible that the action already taken might
be supplemented by further action, but I have not
thought out the matter. I should regard the tax-
ing of imports for natives of India as a licensing of
importation, and I would oppose that. I would
have prohibition, pure and simple. My object is to
keep the drug from the Burmans, and I do not
think the class of natives who use it habitually are
wanted here. My experience of natives of India is
so limited that I really do not know about that.
In the case of the army, I think that men should
be recruited who do not use the drug. I know
nothing personally of the effects of the drugs in
India. But I believe from what I have heard and
read that it would be a bad thing for Burmans to
acquire the habit, and I do not think that the
habits of immigrants should be considered. It is
possible that advocates of local option might think
the same in regard to liquor used by Europeans in
Burma. It is a matter of opinion. I cannot say.
Natives of India of the proper class are required in
Burma, and I believe they are not, as a rule, habi-
tual consumers. Perhaps, though general licenses
would be bad, personal licenses, as in the case of
opium, might be given. I believe in this experi-
ment in regard to opium, and I think it might be
tried in regard to ganja, that is, that the natives of
India who use the drug should be compelled to be
registered, and it should be prohibited to Burmans.
7. Evidence of MR. K. G. BURNE, Deputy Commissioner, Mandalay.
1. I have had little or no opportunity in Burma,
as the cultivation of hemp is prohibited, though in
1891, as mentioned further on, hemp was to a small
extent cultivated for medicinal purposes, chiefly for
cattle, I believe ; but the cultivation was put a stop
to.