I have alluded several times to the Magwè district. It was in a very bad state and was a blot on the administration, which gave me much thought. This district was called Taungdwingyi at first, and took the name of Magwè when the subdivision of that name lying along the left of the river was added to it. It was not until the end of 1888 that it began to be very troublesome. The leader of most influence at first was Min Yaung, who was killed by a party of troops in May, 1887. Another leader, Tokgyi, rose afterwards and gave much trouble, but he was captured in April, 1888. It seemed that no formidable leaders remained. Small raids and dacoities occurred here, as in most parts of the province, at that time. The revenue collections had increased largely, which was a good sign.

In August, 1888, however, a pretender with the title of the Shwèkinyo Prince raised his standard, and was joined by a noted dacoit Bo Lè and others. They hatched their plots in a place on the border of the Magwè township, and began work in November, 1888. Unfortunately, everything in this district was unfortunate, at the very commencement the gang under Bo Lè encountered a party of thirty mounted men of the Magwè battalion, under a British Inspector of Police. The police were badly handled, and lost seven killed and two wounded, while six rifles and three ponies were taken by the dacoits. This gave the gang encouragement, while the police, who had not much cohesion, were for a time somewhat shaken. [See p. 96.]

After this event the gangs separated, probably because the country could not feed them, and took up points at a distance from each other. In January, 1889, some of the[116] leaders joining hands again, surprised a party of the Myingyan police, and inflicted some loss on them, but were soon afterwards punished by Mounted Infantry from Magwè.

Throughout March and April, the pursuit was kept up with varying success. At last in May, the Mounted Infantry got on to their tracks, killed Bo Lè, and dispersed the gang.

Hitherto the brigands had confined themselves to the west and north-west of the district, open dry country with a good deal of waste land offering a good field for the action of mounted troops.

After a time the Taungdwingyi subdivision also became disturbed, and dacoities became frequent. The conditions on the eastern side of the district were different. The hills known as the Pegu Yomas run along the eastern boundary dividing Magwè from Pyinmana for about sixty or seventy miles; from the Thayetmyo boundary on the south, to some distance beyond Natmauk on the north. From Natmauk the hills gradually diminish and slope away to the plains. The slopes of the Yomas are densely wooded, and between the Magwè boundary and the low country to the east there was much teak forest worked by the Bombay Burma Company. At that time there was also a good growth of the Acacia Catechu, and many of the Burmans employed in extracting cutch lived in the forests, and cultivated small cleared plots here and there. The richest villages and best rice-producing land in the district lay along the low lands at the foot of the Yomas, within raiding distance. No dacoit could have wished for better conditions, especially when an inefficient district officer and a poorly commanded police battalion were added.

At this period of the campaign I had lost by sickness and death some of the best and most experienced men. The strength of the Commission all told was not enough for the necessities of the province in its then state. I was compelled to place districts in charge of men who were unfit owing to inexperience and want of training.

It is a fact of which we may all be proud that the average young English gentleman when thrown into conditions which demand from him courage, energy, and[117] judgment, and the power of governing, answers to the call. Whether he comes from a good school or university, or from his regiment, from the sea or the ranch, whether he has come through the competitive system or has obtained his appointment by other means, he will in the majority of cases be found capable, and sometimes conspicuously able. It is necessary, however, that he should be taught and trained in his work. The Magwè district was in itself not specially hard to manage, not nearly so difficult as many others in Upper Burma. It was in charge of a junior man of the Indian Civil Service, clever but not very wise.

As it was necessary to take special measures against the Yoma gangs, an officer, who had been ten years in the police in Lower Burma and had done excellently in the adjacent district of Thayetmyo, was appointed to work on similar lines in Taungdwingyi.

He was in this matter independent of the Deputy Commissioner, who, although senior to him in the Commission, was much his junior in years and experience. One of the chief duties assigned to him was the removal of villages from which dacoits received their supplies. He removed those lying nearest the hills which harboured the brigands. No doubt the gangs were inconvenienced and exasperated by this measure. In April, 1889, the village of Myothit was attacked and the police post burnt. In May a large body of dacoits under the standard of Buddha Yaza, a pretended prince, who in preceding years had a large following in the Eastern Division, gathered in the Pin township in the north of the district east of Yénangyaung. A party of military police led by two Indian officers attacked them successfully, but they collected again in a stronger position and a second attack by one hundred rifles (military police), led by the Assistant Commissioner and the Assistant Superintendent of Police, neither of them trained soldiers, failed; but soon afterwards the gangs were again met and dispersed.

On the 1st of June, 1889, a small body of dacoits was encountered by Mr. Dyson, Assistant Commissioner, who had with him a party of police. A fight ensued, in which Mr. Dyson was killed. The man who led this gang[118] was killed afterwards and his followers surrendered. But this was no compensation for the loss of a promising young officer who could be ill spared.[30]

There was a force of police in the district quite able to hold it, if they had been properly handled, and they were supported by Mounted Infantry. There was evidently a want of some controlling authority which was not to be found in any of the local officers. Just at this time Colonel W. Penn Symons, who had been working in Sagaing, succeeded to the command of the Myingyan district, and at my earnest invitation he went to Magwè and assumed control over the operations for reducing the district to order. All civil and police officers were placed under General Symons absolutely so far as the operations were concerned.

A proclamation was then issued offering a pardon to all who were out, excepting only those who had committed murder and certain named leaders, on condition that they submitted and returned to a peaceful life. This proclamation had some effect, and more than 150 dacoits surrendered with their arms. Most of the men who came in belonged to the Pin and Yénangyaung townships.

In July (1889) I was able to devote a fortnight to this troublesome district and to meet General Symons at Magwè. With him and some of the local officials I marched round the district, going from Magwè to Taungdwingyi, and then up the east to the north, ending at Yénangyaung on the north-west.

I found the country in a better condition than the reports of crime had led me to expect. Going north from Taungdwingyi a good deal of land was lying untilled. But elsewhere every possible field was ploughed and sown, and cattle were plentiful and in good case. This part of the district was a fine open country divided into big fields with thorn hedges. There were, however, here and there tracts of very difficult scrub jungle broken by ravines from which it would be difficult to drive dacoit gangs.

[119]

I had the principal men collected to meet me at all the halting-places and had much consultation with them. The people came readily with their petitions and spoke with perfect frankness of their grievances.

As a problem in administration the conditions differed much from those hitherto dealt with. In Sagaing, Minbu, and elsewhere, the lawlessness was universal and chronic. In Magwè the gangs were small and consisted mainly of professional criminals, not of peasants who had joined well-known leaders either to save their own lives and property or to resist the establishment of a foreign Government. Some of the leaders even were well-known outlaws from Lower Burma, and it was asserted that there were natives of India with the gangs. But only in one case was this substantiated. A native of India, a man of the sweeper caste, had been captured and he was in the Magwè jail. A note written a few days after I had left Magwè will give the impressions I brought away from my tour.

"The two main difficulties are the bad state of the Police Battalion and the nature of the country on the north and on the east of the district. These were aggravated by the injudicious action on the part of the subdivisional officer, for which I must take my share of the blame as I selected him and trusted him fully in consequence of his great success elsewhere. In his desire to force the dacoits to leave the slopes of the mountains, he moved villages too far from their fields and did not show a proper care and judgment in selecting the temporary sites for them to occupy. It was said that men joined the dacoit gangs in consequence. It may have been so in a few instances. The people spoke to me frankly and freely, and they did not allege this. Still, it may be true. I debated much with myself whether I should say, \'Go back at once to your old sites.\' This would have pleased all.... All the headmen I saw admitted that the villages moved were those which added and fed the dacoits, and they admitted unreservedly that if they returned they must continue to aid and feed them. General Symons was of opinion that the removal of these villages would prove of the greatest assistance in capturing the gangs. The mischief for that season had been caused and some of the more distant lands[120] must lie empty. To let the people return now (July) was useless, while it would prolong our work.

"Their argument was, \'There are fewer dacoits now than there used to be even in the King\'s time. We prefer dacoits to inconvenience and hardship.\'"

That was their attitude everywhere, and if peace was to be established we could not accept it. I removed the incompetent officers and sent the best officer I had at my disposal (the late Mr. Todd Naylor) to take charge of the district. At the same time a competent Commandant was posted to the military police battalion.

General Symons undertook to remain in the district for another month. Minbu had been cleared of the gangs which had harassed it so long, and I was able to transfer Mr. G. G. Collins to Magwè to help Mr. Todd Naylor.

Having put matters in train, my duties took me to Mandalay and then up the Chindwin to arrange matters connected with the coming expedition against the Chins. General Symons was appointed to command the Chin-Lushai expedition, and Magwè had to be left to the local officers. Progress was slow. The dacoits lay up in the forests of the Yomas, and until they were driven out and destroyed there would be no peace.

For the last three months of the year my health compelled me to take leave to the Nilgiri Hills. There was no hill station in Burma at that time. The climate varying between a stokehole and a fern-house was not invigorating, and labour, physical and mental, such as we were all sustaining was somewhat exhausting.

During my absence Mr. A. P. MacDonnell,[31] Home Secretary to the Government of India, was appointed to act for me. He took up the Magwè business vigorously, and under his direction several columns were organized to operate simultaneously in the unsettled tract from Yamèthin, Pyinmana, Magwè, and Thayetmyo. They commenced work in December, 1889. The party from Magwè encountered one of the gangs in the Yomas, but inflicted no punishment on them. One leader was driven out and captured or killed in the Yamèthin district. But there was no marked success. The dacoits were able to get food anywhere in the forests from the cutch boilers, and it was suspected ammunition from the Burman foresters in the Bombay Burma Company\'s service.

[121]

On my return, from leave in December 1889, I had the great honour of receiving His Royal Highness Prince Albert Victor of Wales, accompanying him to Mandalay by rail and returning by river. This duty necessarily delayed the ordinary work of administration.

On examining the situation in Magwè, I came to the conclusion that the operations in the Yomas must be placed under the control of one man. I selected Mr. Porter, Deputy Commissioner of Pyinmana, and made the whole business over to him with definite instructions as to the powers he was to exercise and the course of action he was to follow. Tracks had already been cleared through the Yomas. The different parties engaged in the work were well combined and held together by Mr. Porter. The gangs were dispersed and either captured or forced to surrender, and by the end of May the work was complete.

Meanwhile in the north of the district Mr. Todd Naylor and Mr. Collins had succeeded in breaking up the small gang that still held out under two noted leaders, and the district was finally cleared. All t............