PROLONGS LIFE

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 433, 14 May 1937, Page 5

PROLONGS LIFE

COOLIES SMOKE OPIUM Some 100 Years Old. Sydney, May 3. Opium is ’the only known drug which prolongs life, according to Mr A. J. King, Australian mine manager of Siam, and ex-“ Tiger King” of Malaya. “Eighty per cent of the coolies smoke opium, as much as they can get, and some of them live up to 100 years,” he said in an interview. “I’ve got three coolies who’ve been with me for over 20 years. They’re over 50, and have been, smoking opium all their lives. They work in the open, rain or shine, by day and night, and hold their own with men 30 years yonnger, They look a bit thin, but they’re very wiry. The coolie smokes opium just the same as? we have a drink. “No, I’ve never taken it myself. White men never touch it in (the East, outside fancy books by people who’ve never been there. One sees more depravity in Australian cities from drink than in Eastern cities from opium.” Mr King, now a mine manager at Ronpibon, Siam, has spent 23 years in the East.