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A 16
v.
CONSUMPTION 01' PREP AJr.ED OPWK.
Reliable statistics in regard to sales of prepared opium ill the
'various administrations in British Malaya have been supplied to
us by the various Governments for the years in which the Government
Monopoly System has been operative in their territories.
2. We have evidence from the Government Monopoly Officers
that the stocks in the hands of retailers may be taken as about constant
and that, therefore, the sales by the Government Monopolies
during a year may properly be taken to represent the consumption
of tJ}at year.
3. The statistics of sales have been compiled in a variety of
forms and weights in Appendices VII to XIII printed at pages
B 7 to B 13 as representing yearly consumption. .
4. We feel that a study of these Appendices reveals clearly a
genuine decrease in consumption of prepared opium in the various
territories in British Malaya, a fact which appears to have been
called into question in the proceedings of the 1923 Conference of
the League of Nations Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium (cf.
paper C. 418, M. 184, pages 43 and 44).
5. We proceed to an analysis of the Appendices dealing with
consumption in regard to each of the administrations.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
6. In the Straits Settlements the index numbers of yearly con­
:sumption of prepared opium with 1922 as the basic year are:-
Year. Indez Number.
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
1922
.' ..
....
." .
... 131
125
110
104
107
107
96
116
125
134
112
100
which indicate a reduction in consumption from 1911 to 1922 of
24 per cent. The reduction is most marked in the Settlement of
Malacca where the 1922 consumption was only 54 per cent of the
1911 consumption; the reduction in Penang in the same period
amounts to 40 per cent but, in the most densely populated and most
flourishing Settlement. that of Singapore, the decrease is the relatively
slight one of 12 per cent.
7. We have. in an earlier section. of this report. stated. that
it is almost impossible to make an estimate of the adult Chmese