“Burmans of all classes, monks and laity, very strongly wish that drinking shops and the habit of drinking should be discouraged in Upper Burma. In the time of the late king traffic in liquor was altogether forbidden. No doubt there is some making and drinking of toddy, of rice beer, and even of spirits in Burman villages. But the sense of the better classes is against the practice. No revenue was ever raised by the late king from liquor, lest he should seem to be encouraging evil. And under the circumstances, it seems expedient to meet the wishes of the people by declining for the present to license drinking shops.”
It certainly did seem expedient, with the nation on its knees begging us not to inflict drinking shops upon them, to license no shops whatever; and that not only “for the present,” but to resolve never to allow any. If ever there was a case in this world for local option, which was overwhelmingly in favour of entire prohibition, surely it was there; and under such circumstances the introduction of licensed liquor shops, on any plea whatever, was entirely unjustifiable and uncalled for. But the document proceeds:—
“Where a real demand exists for liquor to be consumed by Europeans, Indians or Chinese, shops for the sale of spirits and of fermented liquors may be licensed.”
So it unfortunately comes to this, that because there are certain foreigners in the country with “a real demand” for liquor, the whole policy of the country is to be changed for their sakes, and an excitable, volatile people such as the Burmans, peculiarly liable to fall away through drink, are to be exposed to temptations in their streets, in the shape of licensed liquor shops, such as they never had before, and such as it is well known multitudes of them will be quite unable to resist. It is true there is a clause in the law making it a punishable offence for the holder of the licence to sell liquor to Burmans. But what avails such a clause? The shops are there with the liquor for sale; that is the one all-important and damaging fact; and as for that clause, it is in theory a glaring anomaly, and in practice simply a farce. Any Burman can get as much liquor as he wishes.
A recent Government report fully admits this, and shows the futility of such a lame attempt to shield the Burmans from the effects of the temptations furnished by the drinking taverns established in their midst.
“The licences for the sale of liquor and opium are intended for the convenience of the non-Burman population of Upper Burma, and the sale of either liquor (except tari) or opium to Burmans is prohibited by law. But there can be no doubt that the prohibition is in practice inoperative.”
Now observe how we have progressed with this business during the first few years of our rule. In Upper Burma, where, before we assumed the government, there never had been such a thing as a licensed liquor shop, and where drunkenness, when it did occur, was severely punished, there are now 175 licensed liquor shops, and Burmans are constantly under temptation to indulge. In Upper Burma, where there had always been every discouragement to the manufacture of liquor, there are now central distilleries established, under Government patronage and licence, for the wholesale manufacture of spirits, and one of these turns out, as the proprietor informed a friend of mine, 500 gallons a day.
Bad as Burmese rule was, corrupt, weak and worn out, and badly in want of funds, it never sunk so low as to derive any revenue by the sale of licences, but now the excise revenue from liquor and opium licences is advancing by leaps and bounds.
| For the year | 1887-88 | it was | 210,480 | rupees |
| ” | 1888-89 | ” | 433,430 | ” |
| ” | 1889-90 | ” | 541,700 | ” |