IN’ SINGAPORE, i 
77 
wishing the facilities for obtaining it. But I would not stop here ; bnt 
try if possible to prevent the young from treading on the footsteps of 
the old. I would endeavour, if I could not improve the present gene¬ 
ration, to attempt that of the rising one, i would call upon all to join 
me in this laudable task, public and private men, Europeans and natives. 
I would call upon government aid in the formation of a society for the 
suppression of Opium smoking, by the aid of which society, tracts in 
Chinese and Malay, describing the misery and evils attending the 
use of Opium may be circulated far and wide. I would call upon all 
to discountenance the vice, and to set their laces against all who are 
addicted to it; and lastly I would call upon the influential Chinese, as 
Tock Sing, Kim Sing, Eu Chin and Whampoa, if they have a spark of 
fellow feeling, if they have any pride in the welfare of their country 
men or feel any shame in their debasement, to upite themselves into 
a society for the suppression of opium smoking, to enlist all who will, 
on oath truly and solemnly taken, swear to renounce the evil or never 
commence it, to whatever temptations they may be exposed, and 
who will further swear that they will use their utmost endeavours to 
induce others to join them in their laudable design. I would entreat 
the besotted father by the misery he himself endures to register his 
son. I would beg of a mother to exert her maternal power over her 
child when young, to keep it by this means out of this evil, rather than 
that it should grow old in vice and repay her with a curse. I would 
beg of a master not to employ a servant who is not enrolled, nor a 
merchant a cooly, in fact, I would not rest, until in this small island, 
throughout its length and breadth, every living soul who claimed a 
Chinese name was a member, and then with God’s blessing a stop 
would he put to this awful depravity. 
To those who have drunk deep of the evil, but who would wish 
to renounce it, I would beg of them to try the means I would now 
suggest that Government adopt, to rescue those who are not yet en¬ 
tirely lost, who have fallen, and would rise, but cannot of themselves. 
For some years past Government has received from opium smokers 
nearly ^100,000 per annum. God knows what sins have been com¬ 
mitted, what crimes have been perpetrated to furnish that amount; 
