The revenue of Upper Burma increased from ￡222,000 in 1886-7 to ￡1,120,000 in the year 1889-90. No new taxes were imposed. The revenue grew by careful administration. From the year 1888 I had the assistance of Mr. Fryer as Financial Commissioner3 in dealing4 with this branch of the work, and the subject of the land revenue of the Upper Province was examined more minutely than had been possible before. In 1889 a regulation declaring the law relating to rights of land and formulating5 a complete system of revenue law for Upper Burma was framed in Burma, and passed by the Governor-General in Council. In it provision was made for the gradual survey and assessment6 of the land; and before the end of 1890 the cadastral survey had broken ground in two districts in which the cultivated area was largest.
The Forest Department had been busy from the first, and progress had been made in ascertaining8 the condition and resources of the great teak forests of Upper Burma.
The Government of India had treated Burma with generosity9 in the matter of money for public works. The extent of our undertakings10 was limited by the difficulty of obtaining a competent staff, rather than by a deficiency[338] of funds. The expenditure11 on barracks and other accommodation for troops at stations where garrisons13 were to be permanently14 kept was necessarily large. At district headquarters in civil stations, court-houses, and (where necessary) jails had been built, and court-houses had also been provided in many subdivisions. The irrigation works in Kyauksè were not neglected, and the Mu Canal scheme in the Shwèbo district had been taken in hand. The railway to Mandalay was opened in March, 1889, and the surveys for the Mu Valley line, which was to take the rails up the right bank of the river and through all the difficult country traversed by Major Adamson's expedition in 1887-8, had been completed and construction had begun.
Great attention had been paid to the improvement of communications, including several difficult hill-roads. A good cart-road had been made from the river to the ruby15 mines. Another from Mandalay to Maymyo was being taken on to Lashio; and, from Meiktila to Kalaw on the Shan plateau, seventy-six miles, a road was well advanced. The land-locked Yaw country had been opened up, and a mule-track from Kalewa on the Chindwin to Fort White in the Chin Hills had been finished. Roads over the Yomas, which had sheltered the Magwè dacoits, had been completed.
The money, poured into the country for roads and buildings, apart from the railway expenditure, was nearly all spent on native labour and on material produced in the country. In the aggregate16 it was more than the sums received as revenue. That it, along with the railway expenditure on labour, helped largely in settling the country directly and indirectly17, is certain. If Indian and Chinese Shan coolies were employed, it was because Burman labour was not forthcoming.
Nor had some of the refinements18 of administration been neglected. In the larger towns a simple system of municipal government was introduced, care being taken not to hurry a somewhat primitive19 people accustomed to corrupt20 methods and with little sense of responsibility along the slippery paths of local self-government.
In the middle of 1890 a Judicial21 Commissioner was appointed for Upper Burma. I accepted this refinement[339] more reluctantly than I would have welcomed a reduction of the garrison12. But the character of the man appointed to the post (the late Mr. Hodgkinson) was an assurance that there would be no display of judicial pyrotechnics, such as lawyers sometimes indulge in, and that some regard would be paid to the conditions under which our officers were working.
The provision of medical aid for the people was taken in hand energetically, under the guidance of Dr. Sinclair, who administered the medical department of the whole of Burma. It was not possible to provide substantial public hospitals, and at first only temporary buildings were erected22. Excellent permanent hospitals had been built for the military police, and on their withdrawal23 it was intended that these buildings should be converted into civil hospitals.
Vaccination24 was introduced also, and every district was furnished with the means of protection against smallpox25. The people came readily to be vaccinated26, and no Burman, so far as I know, expressed an objection, conscientious27 or other, to being protected from the ravages28 of a loathsome29 disease. But they are comparatively a backward race and still have much to learn.
In the matter of education, it was not the time to do much, and I was inclined to walk very warily30 in Upper Burma. The Director of Public Instruction was sent round the province in 1889 to examine the condition of the existing schools; and on his report a beginning was made by appointing an inspector31 and some assistant inspectors32, more to ascertain7 and collate33 facts than with a view to active interference. Later on the grant-in-aid rules in force in the lower province were introduced. The author of the Burma Gazetteer34 (vol. i., p. 132) writes: "Missionary35 schools are now plentiful36, and lay schools, both public and private, abound37; but the bed-rock of vernacular38 education in Burma is still monastery39 teaching, and with it is intimately bound up the educational welfare of the people."
I am inclined to agree with this statement. The system of monastic schools has, I think, been an immense boon40 to the people of Burma, and if only the monks41 could be roused to educate themselves more and to cast off some of their old ideas I should like to see it maintained.
[340]
The danger is that the contact with Western knowledge and ascertained43 fact may destroy the belief of the young Burmans in the monastic teaching, and this danger is increased, if it is not caused, by the superstitious44 ignorance of the monks and their inability to disentangle the moral teaching of their great founder45 from the cobwebs of fairy tales, about the form and nature of the earth and the like. With this in mind, a beginning was made towards inducing the Pongyis to employ certificated assistant teachers in the monastic schools.
Western teaching may, however, have less effect on Eastern faiths than we think. I was visiting a lay school in Burma one day, I forget where, but I was talking to one of the pupils, a very intelligent boy. I asked him about the shape of the earth, and so on. He had it all pat, the conventional proofs included. I said: "Now, you know what the Pongyis teach, which do you believe—what you have learnt here, or in the monastery?" He replied unhesitatingly, "What the Pongyis tell me, of course." "Why then," I asked, "did you say the earth was round and went round the sun?" "Oh," he said, "I must say that or I should not pass the examinations; but I believe the other." There may be more intelligent students, even at a riper age, of the same mind as this boy. Sometimes, perhaps, in the West, it is the other way about.
On the 10th of December, 1890, I surrendered my charge to Sir Alexander Mackenzie,[68] one of the ablest men of his time in India.
In his summary of the Administration Report of Burma, for the year 1890-1, dated December 21, 1891, is written: "Upper Burma being now perfectly46 tranquil47, it is not necessary to describe separately the progress made in the pacification48 of each district. The fact that there were fewer crimes in Upper than in Lower Burma during the year is sufficient proof that except in certain frontier tracts49 the work is complete."
It is pleasant to most of us to know that our work is appreciated by others. It pleased me the other day, and it may please those for whom I have put together this rough account of the pacification of Burma to read this passage from the "Shans at Home," by Mrs. Leslie Milne and the Rev2. Wilbur Willis Cochrane (p. 29):—
"At the time of the annexation50, every part of the Shan highlands west of the Salween was ravaged51 with war, Shans against Shans and Burmans against them all. To bring peace and an era of prosperity, put an end to feuds52, settle the disputes of princes, re-establish the people in their homes, and organize out of chaos53 a helpful and strong government was no easy task. That it was accomplished54 with so small a force, so quickly and with so little opposition55, was due to the energy, ability, and tact42 of the British officials upon whom the Government had placed responsibility.
"Immediately after the annexation, began the era of improvement. Twenty-four years have passed since then. The British peace officers have retired56, or are retiring, but they leave behind them a prosperous and peaceful people. The towns are growing towards their former dimensions; wealth and trade are increasing beyond all expectations. Population is rapidly increasing. A mother with her little child can travel alone from Mogaung to the border of Siam, and from Kengtung to Rangoon, with comfort and perfect safety."
The End
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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commissioner
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| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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formulating
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| v.构想出( formulate的现在分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
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assessment
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| n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额 | |
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ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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ascertaining
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的现在分词 ) | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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undertakings
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| 企业( undertaking的名词复数 )； 保证； 殡仪业； 任务 | |
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expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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garrisons
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| 守备部队，卫戍部队( garrison的名词复数 ) | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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ruby
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| n.红宝石，红宝石色 | |
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aggregate
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| adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合 | |
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indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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refinements
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| n.（生活）风雅；精炼( refinement的名词复数 )；改良品；细微的改良；优雅或高贵的动作 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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vaccination
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| n.接种疫苗，种痘 | |
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smallpox
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| n.天花 | |
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vaccinated
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| [医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的 | |
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conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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ravages
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| 劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹 | |
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loathsome
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| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
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warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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inspectors
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| n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官 | |
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collate
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| vt.(仔细)核对，对照；(书籍装订前)整理 | |
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gazetteer
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| n.地名索引 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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abound
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| vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于 | |
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vernacular
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| adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名 | |
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monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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pacification
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| n. 讲和，绥靖，平定 | |
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tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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annexation
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ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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feuds
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| n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 ) | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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