OPIUM 141 



expressions of opinion are entitled to the greatest respect. When 

 practical questions of this kind arise, it may become a duty to 

 yield to the strong and general desire of the people, even when 

 their opinions may appear unreasonable.' Now although I have 

 myself, I must say, failed to discover the facts upon which this 

 belief in the injurious effects of opium on the Burmese popula- 

 tion rests, I cannot deny that it was right to yield to this general 

 consensus of opinion on the part of the Burmese themselves, and 

 of the English oflficers most competent to form an accurate judg- 

 ment, and to take measures for preventing the sale of opium to 

 Burmese, and tiieir possession of the drug, and this has been 

 actually done through the whole of Burmah. In regard to this 

 question of the consumption of opium by the Burmese, it is, as 

 Mr Batten says, remarkable that the authorities in Burmah seem 

 to have arrived at the conclusion that opium is a benefit to 

 every one in the country except the Burmese themselves. I 

 should like to add, that while there has been this unanimity of 

 opinion in regard to the mischievous results of opium on the 

 Burmese, there has been an equal unanimity in regard to the 

 harmlessness of the practice among the large foreign population, 

 Chinese and Indian, of Burmah. Sir Charles Aitchison writes : 

 ' There are large numbers of the non-Burmese community, con- 

 stituting, perhaps, the most thriving and industrious section of 

 the population, to whom the drug is a necessary of life, and by 

 whom it is rarely abused. It is impossible to say precisely what 

 the numbers of the Chinese and the natives of India are, but 

 they are probably not less than 200,000. The legitimate require- 

 ments of these peoples must necessarily be considered and 

 provided for.' Sir Alexander Mackenzie's views on the point 

 were the same. He objected to any interference with the supply 

 of opium to the non-Burmese population. 'There is,' he said, 

 ' a considerable non-Burmese population of Shans, Chinese, and 

 others who are accustomed to the moderate use of opium, and 

 who consume it without ill effects or with beneficial results.' 

 The Chief Commissioner 'is not prepared to advise the absolute 

 prohibition of the possession or sale of opium in Burmah by 



