Myingyan Town
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Myingyan Town
Head-quarters of the District of the same name in Upper Burma, situated in 21° 30' N. and 95° 23' E,, on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, about 80 miles below Mandalay. The town, which comprises six wards, and has an area of 3^ square miles, stretches for some distance along the bank of the river, but does not extend far inland. It is surrounded by dry, undulating country and partakes of the nature of its environs, containing comparatively little in the way of natural tree vegetation, though steps are now being taken to remedy this defect. It is laid out with several metalled roads, one of the most important of which is the Meiktila road passing through the centre of the town. The public buildings include a jail, a courthouse, a hospital, and two bazars. The population of Myingyan fell from 19,790 in 1 89 1 to 16,139 in 1901 — a diminution due to the removal of the troops as well as to other causes. Its Indian community is small for a large trading town, numbering only 833.
The chief local manufactures are cart-wheels and castings for brass images, bells, and gongs : and it contains a large cotton-ginning mill belonging to a Gujarati firm. The greater part of the inhabitants are engaged in trade. Before the opening of the Toungoo-Mandalay rail- way Myingyan was one of the largest towns on the Irrawaddy, doing a large business with Meiktila and Yamethin Districts and with the Southern Shan States : but since the extension of the main line of rail- way and the departure of troops from the station it has lost much of its importance. The Thazi-Meiktila-Myingyan branch, which now con- nects it with the main line, was commenced in 1897 as a famine relief work and completed in 1899 ; and it is hoped that its construction will benefit the town. In the rains the Irrawaddy mail-steamers running between Mandalay and Rangoon call twice weekl)- at Myingyan.
During the dry season the shifting of the channel makes it necessary for the boats to anchor some 3 miles from the town, at Sinde. . The railway should remove much of the inconvenience and dislocation of commerce caused by the stream's vagaries. Daih' steam ferries ply between Myingyan and Pakokku on the one hand, and Myingyan and Mandalay on the other. The town was constituted a municipality in 1887. During the ten years ending 1901 the municipal income and expenditure averaged between Rs. 35,000 and Rs. 38,000. In 1903-4 the receipts. amounted to Rs. 39,000, the main sources of revenue being bazar rents (Rs. 22,000) and house and land tax (Rs. 5,400).
The expenditure in the same year amounted to Rs. 41,000, made up for the most part of Rs. 9,000 spent on the hospital, Rs. 7,400 on con- servancy, and Rs. 4,600 on Hghting. The water-supply is drawn partly from the river and partly from a deep well sunk by the municipality. A scheme to cost 2\ lakhs, for damming the Sunlun chaung some 4 miles south-east of Myingyan, so as to form a reservoir for water- supply, has been sanctioned by Government, and is on the list of famine relief works. The town contains a hospital and a dispensary. The American Baptist Mission and the Buddhist community maintain Anglo-vernacular schools, with a total attendance of about 150 pupils.
