THE WORK OF THE CIVIL AFFAIRS SERVICE (BURMA) AT MEIKTILA, SHWEBO AND MAYMYO [Allocated Title]

Film showing various activities of the Civil Affairs Service (Burma) (CAS(B)) including provision of education services and food distribution at Meiktila, Shwebo and Maymyo (Pyin U Lwin).

Reel 1: At Maymyo (Pyin U Lwin) a quantity of captured Japanese biscuits are distributed to refugees. Shots of biscuits being distributed and of children eating them. A man uses a machete to open a crate (with Japanese markings) containing more tins of biscuits. A group of refugee children receive physical training (PT) instruction from a young female instructor. The group do calisthenics. The instructor corrects the posture of a number of children.. The children attempt handstands with a comically mixed degree of success. A group of young girls run towards the camera before ducking out of shot. The class is dismissed. More attempts at handstands.

Reel 2: At a CAS(B) labour camp at Meiktila a group of young children receive a reading lesson from a young Burmese woman who had been studying education in Rangoon before the war. The teacher stands at a blackboard with letters of the Burmese alphabet chalked on it. A small boy is invited to step forward and read out the letters. Close-ups of the class show they are a mixed class of girls and boys and probably no more than 5 or 6 years old. At Shwebo a procession of bullock carts brings rice to a mill. Black smoke billows from a chimney. A man standing on the cart fills baskets with rice. Women carry the baskets on their heads into a mill. Milled rice is scooped up in a tin and women carry it away. Each carries a sack, again balanced on their heads. A view from a high vantage point shows a line of women carrying their sacks towards a small river boat on the Irrawaddy. Women going aboard; a wrecked river steamer, possibly of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, can be seen beached in the background. A close-up shows feet stepping along a gangplank onto the boat and a woman can be seen going aboard in the water's reflection. The sacks of rice are emptied into a large basket on board the boat. A sign reads 'CAS (Supplies) - Kyaukmyaung'. A number of bullock carts arrive at a large building, apparently a granary, set on stilts. Sacks are unloaded and rice poured out into a large basket.

35mm