THE BRITISH IN BURMAH.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 201, 30 April 1887, Page 10

THE BRITISH IN BURMAH.

Desimtk the trials that Mandalay has goue through since the annexation' of tipper Burmah, a correspondent (writing to the ' Rangoon Times' of a recent date) observes that a walk thiough the city now atfords ample evidence of how it has profited by its change of rulers: The changes which have taken place in Mandalay dm ing the year in which it lias Ix-en in our po?t>cs-*iou are veiy great. When, on the 2Sth of November, ISSf), our troops disembarked and marched in three columns upon Hie walled city, not altogether sure of the reception which awaited them, they parsed along wide streets certainly, bub fetieetb full of deep ruts andi pitfalls which mu=t have been veritable quagmires but a few weeks before Hundreds of pigs and pariah dogs were doing their til thy office of sca-\engeu> in the streets and by-ways, for the people then thiew out their litter and refuse upon tho public thoroughfares. The bazaars and shops were closed, and, although thore were crowds here and there along the route, it was clear that tho population was not nearly up to its normal strength. The main thoroughfares are now clean and well kept— ll miles of metalled road have been made ; they are well lighted, lamps beingplaced at every 30 or 40 yards ; the streets are thronged with people, and wheeled traffic is astonishingly great ; the ravages of the flood have nearly disappeared, and to some extent those of the tire also, as far as the outer town is concerned ; tho people are building new pukka houses in place of the old ones of wood or mat ; the value of ground for building purposes has advanced in the most amazing way, more than cent per cent. ; trade is flouiishing, the King's Bazaar being as busy a mart as can be seen in any town ; the people seem to have settled down completely under their new rulers ; police posts have taken the place of military picquets (a detachment of Infantry at the shore and another at the Arrakan Pagoda, on the southern road, are alono kept up), and the Civil Administration is firmly established. The city is a square of which a each face is about 2,200 yards, and its area is thus 1 ,000 acres ; the palace enclosure is exactly 100 acres. The whole the north-west quarter will be devoted to Civil lines, the new gaol now being built to accommodate 2500 piisoners being in the angle formed by the junction of the north and west walls. Under the Burman Kings the people living within the walls were free from taxation, but had no residential rights : all the land was royal .property, and houses were only built by special permission. The Ministers' houses are solid structures, but the mass of the buildings are merely mat huts. Thus, out of the 5759 houses which wo found existing, only 134 were of brick, and 191 of timber. During the fires 500 or 800 houses were destroyed.

There are 1,000 Y.M.C.A.'s in the United States. The average age of European girls when they marry, aor>ording to a German statist! cian, is 26 years, while that of men is 28 years. Germany rigidly enforces a law prohibiting the use of tobacco by any one under eighteen. The new Lake Rotomakariri, in Rotorua district, is growing in sisso, and the water is., turning greenish in hue.