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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 23, p. 351.

ADMINISTRATION 351 siderable boat traffic. During the rains boats go beyond Mindon, which during the dry season obtains its supplies by the Public Works road running westwards from Thayetmyo and metalled for half its length Of 45 miles. The other main roads are those from Ywataung to Tindaw (38-91 miles), on the way to Toungoo, with a branch from Kyaukpadaung to Thanbulla (io miles). Thirty miles of the Prome- Myede road lie within the District. In addition to these, 165 miles of track are maintained, following the line of what were first designed as military roads in the interior. All the roads are kept up from Provincial funds. There is no record of any famine in the District. In 1896-7 there was a bad season in the Minhla subdivision, but the people refused to accept work offered to them at famine-work rates. Cattle-breeding in this portion of the District is carried on extensively, and it is pro- bable that the people could tide over one year in any circumstances short of complete failure of both the main crops. The labour market in the delta is open to all, and the high wages (paid generally in kind) attract many agriculturists from the southern half of the Dis- trict even in a good year, while in a bad year nearly all the men move southwards. The District is divided into three subdivisions- Thayetmyo, Minhla, and Myede-each in charge of a subdivisional officer; and six town- . ships-THAYETMYO, MINDON, KAMA, MINHLA, SIN- BAUNCwE, and ALLANMYO-Of which the first three Administration. belong to the Thayetmyo, the fourth and the fifth to the Minhla, and the sixth to the Myede subdivision. Thayetmyo forms (with Minbu and Magwe Districts) a Public Works division with two subdivisional officers in the District, and is the head-quarters of the Thayetmyo Forest division. The number of village headmen at the commence- ment Of 1904 was 705, but a few circle thugyis are left in the District. Thayetmyo is in the jurisdiction of the Divisional and Sessions Judge, Bassein Division. The Deputy-Commissioner is District Judge. There are no whole-time township judges, as in the adjoining Districts of Lower Burma; and no additional township judges except in the township court, Thayetmyo, where the treasury officer sits as additional judge, and exercises Small Cause Court powers in the town. The subdivisional officer, Myede, has Small Cause Court jurisdiction in Allanmyo. Habitual cattle-thieves form a large portion of the popula- tion on the east of the river. Murders are very rife, especially during the hot season. Dacoity and robbery are not common, but gambling in the southern part of the District is almost universal, and is the subject of frequent prosecutions. Civil litigation is mainly concerned with petty money or land suits. Before the annexation of Pegu there was no real system of ,land