A Civil Servant in Burma

A Civil Servant in Burma is dedicated to a wife who shared the writer's life in Burma for more than thirty-two years. The preface says that this is not a guide-book, or a history, or a study of manners and customs, but a plain story of official life for more than thirty years.

The book says that after its occupation in 1852 Rangoon was carefully laid out on a systematic plan, with straight streets of varying width, and that in 1878, though there were many strangers within its borders, Rangoon was still a Burmese town. A pagoda in the centre of a fort, with an arsenal in close proximity, is in military custody, and the presence of the arsenal is called a menace to the safety of this famous shrine. The text says that in 1889, less than three years after the proclamation of annexation, the line was opened to traffic throughout its whole length, and that the opening of the railway was hailed with joy by the Burmans, who greeted passing trains with shouts of delight.