Page:Provincial geographies of India (Volume 4).djvu/127

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CH. XII]
ADMINISTRATION
III

introduced. An Executive Council and responsible Ministers will be appointed ; some branches will be administered by the Governor in Council, the rest by the Governor on the advice of his Ministers.

Upper Burma, exclusive of the Shan States, is a Scheduled District, that is, a territory for which the Governor-General has power to make Regulations without the aid or intervention of a legislative body. In the early years after the annexation, this power was freely exercised; but since the establishment of a local Legislative Council it is seldom needed. The law administered in other parts of India prevails, generally, in Lower Burma. As in other Provinces, there are local systems of land and revenue administration and there is a special Village Law. Upper Burma, less sophisticated, enjoys many modifications and simplifications of the general law applicable to British India. This privilege is unlikely to endure.

The Province is parcelled into eight Divisions, each under a Commissioner; Pegu, Irrawaddy, Arakan, and Tenasserim with headquarters at Rangoon, Bassein, Akyab and Moulmein, respectively; and in Upper Burma, Mandalay, Sagaing, Meiktila and Magwe, each named after its headquarter station[1]. The Commissioner controls all branches of the administration under the Local Government; in Upper Burma and in Arakan, he is also Sessions Judge.

There are 38 districts grouped as shown below:

Division District
Pegu Rangoon
Hanthawaddy.
(Rangoon)[2]
Insein
Tharrawaddy
Pegu
Division District
Irrawaddy Bassein
Ma-u-bin
Pyapôn
Henzada
Myaung-mya
  1. Rearrangement of Divisions is in contemplation. See Appendix II.
  2. Except where indicated in brackets, each district takes its name from its headquarter station.