392
few. Burmans use ganja for their cattle, not for
themselves. The few consumers abandoned the
habit on the prohibition. I do not think that the
Burmans would ever take to ganja. During my
thirty years' experience I have found that they do
not take to it. They take it for their cattle only.
20. Evidence of MAJOR PEILE, Inspector-General of Police.
Oral evidence.
I am Inspector-General of Police in Burma.
The military police are mainly Northern Indians
and Gurkhas and also a few Karens. The civil
police are almost entirely Burmans, excluding the
European officers. In municipal towns we have a
few Indians also.
I joined the police in 1887 in the supply depart-
ment or commissariat of the military police. Before
that I had been in service in the army. For about
a year I was Deputy Inspector-General of Military
Police, and for three years I have been Inspector-
General of the whole force. I think there are
about 16,500 military police and about 13,000 civil.
The military police have been employed in Lower
as well as Upper Burma for about four years.
They work over the same area as the civil ; but in
Lower Burma and the lower parts of Upper Burma
they are used for treasury and other guards and
escorts. In Upper Burma, as they are required
for sending out columns, they are more numerous
than in Lower Burma.
I have not much knowledge of the use of ganja
by men in the force. I had a case about two years
ago of a Gurkha who was reprimanded by his
officer for quarrelling in the lines and tried to shoot
his officer. He was supposed to be a smoker of
ganja. It was reported so by the officers and
men ; but there was no direct evidence of his having
taken the drug. I think the natives would more
readily attribute such an act to ganja than to
drink. They distrust a ganja smoker. I cannot
say certainly what this Gurkha's character was.
I did not take note of that. I do not know
whether he drank alcohol. Being a Gurkha, he
probably did. He went off to the Kachin hills and
was not seen again. So far, however, as I know,
the discipline of the force has not been affected by
the use of ganja. I do not find the use of the
drug alleged as a cause of defects in working or
breaches of discipline. If I found a man who
smoked I should turn him out, because he would be
breaking the law and also because he would be
dangerous. I have turned out such men at the
end of their three-years' engagement. I think
also that there have been cases of dismissal for
ganja smoking.
I do not think that smuggling of ganja by the
military police is common ; and I do not think
that the use of the drug is very common in the
force. I do not think people not using the drug
in India would use it here. Burma has not
proved unhealthy to them. The force has been
wonderfully healthy. On the contrary, men using
it in India might give it up here owing to the
difficulty of getting it. We recruit throughout
India, and get, I believe, the same kind of men as
join regiments. I do not think there is much
smuggling of ganja into Burma. We catch cases
sometimes. But I cannot give figures. I should
have nothing to do with Customs seizures ; but the
police sometimes search on information received.
From what I hear I understand that smuggling is
constantly going on at the ports and also a little
up-country across the border, but not so much of
ganja there as of opium.
Last year we had orders to go and establish a
post at Sima, north-east of Bhamo. We left a
garrison of three hundred men there. I heard
that they were getting some kind of ganja and
making it into a drink and using it. The Kachins
found it in the jungles and sold it to the men.
We took measures to stop it. The men were
Gurkhas I think, and there may have been some
Sikhs among them. I think they made a drink
of it. That was my impression. We could, no
doubt, easily obtain a specimen of the drug.
Sima is in the middle of the Kachin country.
This is not the only case I know of the cultivation
or growth of the plant. I understand the Sima
stuff was wild. There was a seizure at Kyaukse,
and another at Pakokko (I think) —seizure of stuff
cultivated. In the Kyaukse case I think they
were growing it round the police station itself.
Cases of illicit cultivation would be dealt with by
the civil police. It would be one part of their
duty to report any plant found growing. But the
policeman might not know his duty. We have
not established police schools all over Burma ; but
there are orders to take up such cases. I cannot
say from what date these orders have been in force.
If there was special Excise establishment the police
would probably leave it to them. I think that an
Excise officer is bound to take a police officer with
him for a search or seizure ; but I am not sure
whether the police would initiate such action. I
do not think that the checking of ganja illicit cul-
tivation or smuggling is a matter that has been
much pressed. There has been no such evidence of
injury by the drugs as to call for much activity
in this direction. Our civil police are generally
recruited locally and belong to the same classes as
the people among whom they serve. I have heard
that ganja is cultivated among the Danus. The
Danu civil police would be Danus.
21. Evidence of MR. J. D. MERCER, District Superintendent of Police, Moulmein.
51. No ; these drugs are not generally used by
bad characters in Burma. They are ordinarily
consumed by natives of India (especially of the
Madras Presidency) of the poorer classes who some-
times commit petty thefts as a means of indulging
in them.
52. The same answer applies to the excessive use
of the drug.
53. No ; on the contrary the excessive indul-
gence in any of these drugs produces lethargy and
eventually leads to dementia or insanity. I have
not known of any case in which it has led to
t e m - p o r a r y h o m i c i d a l f r e n z y .
54. No; on the contrary those under their in-
fluence are physically unable to do anything.
55 (a ). No ; no cases of this kind have come
under my notice, dhatura being the narcotic usually
resorted to for this purpose.