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2236. For what purpose ?-It might be to get a higher price or it
might be to keep for their own future use in case supplies did run short.
2337. Was there any panic among the smokers ?-Yes, there was something
like a panic and a good deal of agitation in town.
2338. How long did this rationing last?-For about 4 months;. then
the attitude of the Chinese got so menacing that we felt we had to give It up.
There was a good deal of rowdyism.
2339. Chairman.-Did you get any support from the Anti-opium
Society ?-None whatever. I am quite certain that if any attempt at registration
is introduced we will have still worse trouble than we had on that
occasion.
2340.-Dr. Galloway.-What i, your real fear if a licensing .or a registration
system is brought in ?-I am sure there will be riots.
2341. Chairman.-Unless you get not only the moral but the' active
support of the vast majority of the Chinese population?-Yes.
2342. Dr. Galloway.-You do not expect to get it, do you ?-I do not
expect to gf.t it.
2343. Are there any rumours apropw of the sitting of this Committee?-Yes,
the rumours that have come to my ears are that the smokers
arE' determined not to have registration.
2344. Chairman.-Do you think it will be active resistance or passive
resistance, 'from the rumours that you hear ?-It is difficult to say; I should
be prepared for active resistance.
2345. But, then, we are told the opium-smokers are such physical
worms that they would not be able to do anything in the way of active
opposition ?-I do not know about that. I should not like to be pitted
against a mob of opium-smokers.
2346. Dr. Galloway.-Passive resistance will take, chiefly, the form of
smuggling in as much chandu as they can possibly get?-Yes, they will
smuggle in chandu. But, besides that, I should be very much afraid of riots
in the town.
2347. Mr. Lim Nee Soon.-Do you think if Government sent someone
to Formosa or to the Dutch East Indies to study the system of registration
of smokers there, it would be a good thing ?-I do not think so; so far as
theory. goes I think we could arrange a system of registration as well as they.
2348. Mr. Chan.-Were there riots in those places when registration
was introduced ?-That I do not know. I understand that the proportion of
smokers in the Dutch East Indies is very much smaller than here.
2349. From whom did you hear those rumours of active resistance to
registration ?-I heard them in my-office.
2350 Are you sure they did not come from those people who deal in
opiUin ?-That is more than likely.
2351. Would it surprise you if I were to tell you that practically every
Chinese who discussed this matter with me was in favour of registration?­
That may be so; of course, the information I would get would come from
those who were chandu smokers or from the shops.
2352. M1'. Lim Nee Soon.-Do you know that there are some unlicensed
shops, Pang kengs, which exist only for the purpose of smoking
chandu or dross ?-I know there are many such places.
2353· Have the Government taken any steps to suppress these ?-We
prosecute whenever we can, but it is very difficult to get a conviction.
2354· D1'. Galloway.-Is your preventive force big enough, or do you
rely on the Police for the detection of those shops ?-The Police and ourselves
mutually assist each other. The main difficulty is to prove that the
people smoking in these places are not inmates of these houses.
This concluded Mr. G. G. WILSON'S evidence.
The Committee adjourned.