390
I believe the smugglers were people like the
ship's crew. They brought the stuff for native
traders or shopkeepers, who sold to consumers.
The object, therefore, was profit to be realised by
surreptitious sale. This profit was large, because
the price in India was low and it was high here.
This was true of that time as well as this, though
the profit is higher now.
The importation of ganja was not, I think, mate-
rially stopped. by prohibition, because smuggling
sltil went on. I think it went on just the same as
before. I do not t hink the prohibition made any
material difference. I cannot say accurately with-
out statistics whether the importation of ganja
was as great as ever, but my impression is that it
was : that is, that the illicit ganja imported after
the prohibition was not materially less than the
licit and illicit ganja formerly imported.
I think that since 1873 the importation of ganja
has been going on regularly without diminishing.
I think that of late years it has increased very
much. There are many more natives of India.
That would explain increase.
In regard to seizures, a sudden drop in the
number may be due to a change in the practices
of smugglers. Then we would not know how to
search for and. detect consignments until we learned
their new ways. This would in turn lead. to a rise
in the number of seizures till their plans were
changed. This is the only explanation I can give
of the great drop in 1889-90 and the increase in
1893. I cannot recall any other explanation of the
latter, except some information some of our officers
got which enabled us to make important seizures.
The last two or three months show seizures slack
again.
Magistrates give rewards. Sometimes half the
fine, sometimes the whole of it, is given to the
Customs officers who seize the stuff. They pay
the informer by private arrangement. It depends
on the generosity of the officer. I have had com-
plaints made by informers and have used my in-
fluence to get the informers due amount ; for we
cannot
w o r k s u c c e s s f u l l y w i t h o u t t h e m . A l l t h e s e i z u r e s m e n t i o n e d i n m y m e m o r a n d u m a r e q u i t e
apart from the police. Officers making large
seizures have sometimes complained to me of cases
in which smugglers were heavily fined and went
to jail without paying. In these cases no fine is
realised and no reward given. This is discourag-
ing to officers making seizures. I think some
measures should be taken to avoid this. Again, if
a conviction is not obtained, no special rewards are
given to us.
I cannot say whether every one who wants
ganja can get it in Rangoon. I know that people
can get it clandestinely ; but I cannot say by
whom it is sold and whether everybody can get it.
I hear that it costs one rupee a tola, and can be
obtained in a quiet way. I hear and believe that
there is a great deal of ganja in the country. I
have been told by informers that the drug costs a
rupee a tola. I heard that only a short while
ago.
The preventive establishment working under me
consists of four Inspectors and two Additional In-
spectors during the busy season (February to May),
about twenty-seven preventive officers, and twenty-
five "temporary" officers who are kept on all the
year round. They get from Rs. 80 to Rs. 150,
and the Inspectors from Rs. 150 to Rs. 300. There
are also six patrol peons from Rs. 12 to Rs. 14 per
mensem directly under me. I do not think that
there is any extortion practised by this establish-
ment. There has been no case of this kind.
The average number of vessels that arrived at
the port of Rangoon during the last five years is
1203 for each year. Native boats moving about
on the river are not looked at, unless they come up
to the wharfs and there is inspection of contraband
goods. Sea-going craft are systematically over-
hauled. The trade by native craft from Chitta-
gong, Calcutta and Madras has been almost
entirely cut out by the steamer transport. I be-
lieve they still trade considerably to Akyab and
Moulmein, though not so much as formerly. There
is the same preventive system as we have. We
used to search such native craft carefully and often
found ganja. I do not think that the native craft
put in on the coast avoiding the ports. I do not
think that contraband traffic is thus carried on.
We have never heard of any traders resorting to
such places. We would soon come to know if such
craft were to visit such places. We have no pre-
ventive staff along the coast line. There would
not be much difficulty, so far as I see, in native
craft running in this way. They also like to do
as much coasting as possible.
The smuggled ganja comes principally from
Madras, Cocanada, Bimlipatam, and other ports
on the Madras Coast. It has not come to my
notice that it comes from Pondicherry. We have
had no cases. There is not so much smuggling of
ganja as of opium from Calcutta. We have had
no cases of late. Formerly we had some isolated
cases.
We have no dealings with the police in this
matter. It is principally Chittagonians and Mala-
bar people who pick up tins of contraband ganja
thrown off from ships ; but I know nothing of the
police being in sympathy with them.
19. Evidence of MR. E. LEWIS, Excise Officer, Rangoon.
Oral evidence.
I am senior Excise Officer in the town of Ran-
goon and the district of Hanthawaddy. I have
been thirty-two years in Burma and. for eighteen
years in Rangoon. Before that I was in charge of
excise in Thayetmyo for a private contractor when
the ganja was prohibited. I left him and joined
the police in 1874. From there I joined the Ran-
goon excise work.
I remember the issue of the prohibition of ganja.
The drug was largely used by natives of India in
Thayetmyo, by men employed in the Commissariat,
etc. It was used by natives of Burma, but these
consumers were very few. The source of supply
was Upper Burma. After the prohibition I made
extensive seizures from Upper Burma in my police
capacity. There was no other source of supply
then, for there was no railway, and the journey
was fifteen or twenty days. There was much
ganja over the border. I was stationed in Alimyo,
near Minla, and it was easily obtainable. The con-
sumers prefer Madras ganja to local ganja, and
elephant-drivers may have brought some up with
them when they came up-country. But I made
no seizures, and have no facts to show that. The
ganja was extensively grown across our old border.
I have seen it within ten miles of our old border.