The Imperial Gazetteer of India
Meyer, William Stevenson, Sir, 1860-1922.
Burn, Richard, Sir, 1871-1947.
Cotton, James Sutherland, 1847-1918.
Risley, Sir Herbert Hope, 1851-1911.
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New edition, published under the authority of His Majesty's secretary of state for India in council.
Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1908-1931 [v. 1, 1909]

265 SOUTHRN SHAN STATES
remarkably little crime; cattle-theft is the most common offence, especially in the northern States of the eastern division and in Western Karenni. The civil courts of the chiefs are freely applied to, succession cases being numerous, and litigation between timber traders is com
mon. Appeals from decisions in the civil courts of the chiefs lie to the Superintendent, and to Assistant Superintendents when so empowered specially by notification.
Budgets for the different States are submitted annually for the sanction of the Superintendent. These budgets show only purely State revenue, and do not include the income from forests in cases where chiefs are the lessees under Government. The principal source of revenue is thathameda. Land tax is collected in many States in kind, the rate varying from State to State, and is a cess on the number of baskets of seed sown. All near relatives of the chiefs are exempted from taxation, as are the majority of the officials, both ministers and circle officers, and the headmen of villages. Many families, mostly resident near the chief towns, hold land free for services performed for the chief, such as tilling the chief's private lands, acting as servants in various capacities, liability to be called on to swell the chief's retinue as occasion requires, and to serve as local police or as body-guards.
Many such tenures are hereditary.
The chiefs control the excise and opium arrangements in their charges in accordance with the terms of their sanads ; but they are prohibited from permitting opium, spirits, fermented liquor, and other articles liable to customs duties or excise to be sent into Burma from
their States, except in accordance with the rules made by the Government and on payment of the duties prescribed by those rules. Generally the chiefs administer revenue matters according to local rules and customs, which have been modified only to the extent of
limiting their power to alienate communal lands and to grant land to persons who are not natives of the Shan States.
In 1903-4 the total revenue raised in the various States, apart from forest revenue credited to the British Government, amounted to 7-9 lakhs, made up as follows: from the Myelat division, 1.1 lakhs; from the central division (including Yawnghwe), 3.3 lakhs ; from the
eastern division, 2-4 lakhs 3 and from Kengtung, 1-1 lakhs. The tribute to the British Government is fixed for periods of five years. The actual collections in 1903-4 were: from the Myelat division, Rs. 60,500 ; from the central division (including Yawnghwe), 1.2 lakhs; from the eastern division, 1 lakh ; and from Kengtung, Rs. 30,000.
The chiefs are responsible for the maintenance of law and order in their States, and the village and circle headmen form the real police of the country, assisted by a few retainers. The civil police force consists of only 70 men, under an Assistant District Superintendent
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