Another change was made in order to reduce the forces, namely, the amalgamation of two or more battalions under one Commandant. It was necessary at first to give a separate battalion to each district, in order that each Deputy Commissioner should have a sufficient force of military police at his hand and under his control. But when the country became peaceful and active service was rarely called for, there was no reason for maintaining an organization that was costly in money and men. Thus by doubling up the battalions, aggregating nineteen companies, in the Eastern Division, into one battalion of fifteen companies, four companies were saved and drafted into the Reserve. This process went on until, in the year 1892, seven fine regiments had been given to the army. These were treated at first and for some time as local regiments attached to the province. Of late years, however, the policy in the Indian Army has been to obliterate all local distinctions and to make service general. The strength of the military police in Upper Burma now is, I understand, fifteen thousand men in round numbers. The strength in 1889 was eighteen thousand. The reduction, therefore, has not been so very great. The fact is that no sooner had the interior of the province been reduced to order, than fresh territory began to come under administration. Vast tracts of hill country on the east, on the north, and on the west, which were left to themselves in 1890, are now held by the military police. From the frontier of French Indo-China on the east to the Bengal boundary on the west, and northwards along the Chinese boundary wherever it may be, the military police keep the marches of Burma. In the mountains inhabited by Kachin tribes on the north and east of the Myitkyina district, the whole of this troublesome borderland is held by the police. Sixteen hundred and twelve rifles, with forty-one native officers and nine British officers, more than a tenth of the whole strength, are stationed in this district, which in 1887 was outside the pale. The Shan States and the Chin country are similarly garrisoned.[32]