colonial office correspondence relating to brunei 'destroyed under

(Continued)DOCUMENTNUMBERDATERECEIVEDIN CODETAILS OF DOCUMENTANNOTATIONThe ethics of governmental reliance such a productas opium for revenue became a matter of internationalconcern. At the first International Opium Conferenceheld at The Hague in 1912, it was agreed that, infuture, the manufacture and sale of opium would bemonopolised by the State, Hence, after 1 January1913, the Brunei administration received all canduimported into the country from the governmentfactory in Singapore, and a Monopolies Department,headed between 1913 and 1919 by Mr EG Goldfinch,was created. It was feared, however, that the ease ofsmuggling would complicate the enforcement of theinternational opium policy. Finally, the Brunei CanduEnactment of 1912 confined the sale of candu in thesultanate to adult male Chinese. Shops andcustomers had to be registered.The Geneva Conference of 1925 envisaged thecomplete suppression of opium smoking within fifteenyears of the date when smuggling should have beencompletely suppressed. The date of the latter, whichwas to be announced, was to be not later than 1935:hence total abolition was scheduled for 1950 at thelatest. The British government remained sceptical ofsuch rapid progress.Opium was a major source of government revenuein Brunei. In 1925 the Resident of Brunei proposed toearmark twenty per cent of opium revenue to anOpium Revenue Replace Fund every year until 1927,(Continued on next page)