From the Straits Settfements, a Crown colony comprising Singapore, Penang and Malacca, news came last week that the local British administration derives some £2,500,000 ($12,150,000) annually from opium revenues. Opium, called locally chandu, was reported on sale at $8 an ounce, in "smoke parlors" operated by the government, whereas the government imports tin drug from China for less than $1 an ounce. During 1925 almost $300 000 was spent by the government in building new and more luxurious "smoke parlors" which are now reported in full blast. The natives, accustomed to chandu, apparently...
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