BURMA: Festering Chaos

Burma this week had its third Royal Governor in two months. He was Major General Sir Hubert Elvin Ranee, tall, gaunt graduate of Sandhurst and an old Burma hand. But the new Governor would have to work miracles to bring order into the festering chaos.

Burma was probably worse off than any country in southeast Asia. Rice, the main staple of Burmese diet, was scarce, chiefly owing to a shortage of draft animals and agricultural implements (in the rice paddies, many a Burmese farmer pulled his own makeshift plow). Nevertheless, the Government insisted on sending large amounts of Burmese rice to...

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