OPIUM IN JAVA.
[To rim EDITOR OF TER “Srscriros."] S111,—I can now give you a few more facts upon this subject. The Dutch Government of Java, having prepared its opium at the Government opium manufactory in Batavia, proceeds to distribute it throughout the country. It is sealed in small leaden tubes of various sizes, stamped with the Government stamp, and sent to the Government agencies in the towns and villages for retail sale. I visited the "Opium verkoop pleats," as it is called, in Garoet, and saw the opium sold, through a little wicket opening on the street, to different purchasers. The prices of the tubes were from 20. to 10s. 6d. each. (I have translated the prices into English money.) I followed one of the purchasers to an opium den, and found a number of Chinese lying on wooden bunks smoking opium. It is but fair to state that, if I am correctly informed, only Chinese are allowed to purchase. opium at the "Opium verkoop plaats," but there are three- hundred thousand Chinese in Java, and they control prac- tically all of the native retail trade, so that it is easy for then, to sell opium to the natives. When the population of Java was only sixteen million, the yearly profits of the Government from the sale of opium were 21,000,000 (one million pounds), The population is now over thirty million, so the increase in revenue from this source may be estimated. It is not probable that so large a profit is derived from the opium consumed by the Chinese alone, and, even if it were so, why should the Dutch Government grow rich by the corruption of the Chinese ? We have here the singular spectacle of a Govern- ment making a profit by fostering a destructive vice in its. ownterritory. The sin of our own country (tardily repented of), in forcing opium upon the Chinese people for a long period, cannot avail by the breadth of a hair towards changing this wrong into right.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Djokjakarta, Java. BERTRAND SHADWELL. September 25th, 1913.
P.S.—I passed the "Opium verkoop plaats " in this town. twice to-day, quite casually, and on the first occasion I saw a native woman, and on the second occasion a native man (not a Chinaman), buying opium. I myself saw the money paid, and the opium delivered.
Djokjakarta, Java : Sept. 27th, 1913.
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