Eastern Customs: The Customs Service in British Malaya and the Opium Trade

Generations of young Britons made their careers in Malaya. Some scaled the heights of the administrative service and are well recorded in the formal histories. The great majority served their time in less glamorous departments of government, whose activities remain largely unremarked. Derek Mackay' offers a vivid portrait of British Malaya's customs department. Skillfully tracing the history of the service and the experiences of its expatriate officers, tackling smuggling and the controversial opium trade, he provides an exciting new insight into the British imperial administration.

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Eastern Customs: The Customs Service in British Malaya and the Opium Trade

Generations of young Britons made their careers in Malaya. Some scaled the heights of the administrative service and are well recorded in the formal histories. The great majority served their time in less glamorous departments of government, whose activities remain largely unremarked. Derek Mackay' offers a vivid portrait of British Malaya's customs department. Skillfully tracing the history of the service and the experiences of its expatriate officers, tackling smuggling and the controversial opium trade, he provides an exciting new insight into the British imperial administration.

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Eastern Customs: The Customs Service in British Malaya and the Opium Trade

Eastern Customs: The Customs Service in British Malaya and the Opium Trade

by Derek Mackay
Eastern Customs: The Customs Service in British Malaya and the Opium Trade

Eastern Customs: The Customs Service in British Malaya and the Opium Trade

by Derek Mackay

Hardcover

$60.00 
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Overview

Generations of young Britons made their careers in Malaya. Some scaled the heights of the administrative service and are well recorded in the formal histories. The great majority served their time in less glamorous departments of government, whose activities remain largely unremarked. Derek Mackay' offers a vivid portrait of British Malaya's customs department. Skillfully tracing the history of the service and the experiences of its expatriate officers, tackling smuggling and the controversial opium trade, he provides an exciting new insight into the British imperial administration.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781850438441
Publisher: Radcliffe Press, The
Publication date: 07/22/2005
Pages: 272
Product dimensions: 5.62(w) x 8.76(h) x 1.22(d)

About the Author

Derek Mackay is a retired member of HM Customs and Excise service in Malaya.

Table of Contents

Illustrations
• Introduction and acknowledgements
• Part One: The Setting
• A tropical peninsula
• Part Two: The Service
• A difficult birth
• Growing up
• The expatriates arrive
• A violent interruption
• Back to work
• Merdeka
• Part Three: The Opium Problem
• Wholesale monopoly
• Retail monopoly
• Prohibition
• Part Four: The Course of Duty
• The demon drink
• Up in smoke
• Revenues and restrictions
• Part Five: Off duty
• Life and leisure
• Epilogue
• Appendices
• Glossary
• Sources
• Notes
• Index

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