၈။ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေရးစနစ္ တဆင့္တုိးတက္ေျပာင္းလဲျခင္း
We must take another look at the system of government that was undergoing change from the beginning of King Mindon's reign. Under this King, the officials and their leaders were working within the law to devolve upon themselves all the powers invested in the absolute monarchy.
Foreign relationships, in which the king would have special expertise, would by law be in his personal control, under considerations of prudence. There was therefore a strong movement towards making changes by stages.
The evidence for this is that, right from the time when the King assumed the throne, changes were made removing certain of the King's powers, which were taken up by the Parliament; for example the improved methods of tax collection and the system of ruling through four separate ministries, among others.
To see how far these changes went, we have to say that, in the matter of King Mindon's appointment of the Thonzei, Methkara and Nyaungyan Princes as governor, the appointment, made without the agreement of the Parliament (council of ministers in the time of Myanmar King), were only effective until the Princes were arrested and placed in confinement.
As we have already said, by 1232 (1870) international contacts had greatly increased, and in this year the telegraph line between the Burmese capital and the British territory in Burma had almost been completed up to Mandalay.
The relationship with the British was settled and plans for changes in the government of the Burmese kingdom now moved forward by stages. In this year plans, which later met with much criticism, were made for the government that involved dividing the functions of the Parliament between four sections.
These were first the “hand work” department (what is now known as the employment department) next the department of defence, covering all musketry, artillery and cavalry units, next the agricultural department and finally the Shweidaik (now known as the Royal Treasury). These sections were placed under the four ministers. These departments were accommodated in four buildings inside the palace .
