The Chief Commissioner of Burmah, Colonel Fytche, has found it
necessary to issue a confidential circular to officers in the pro- vince, warning them that Government will not tolerate the con- cubinage always rife there. The connections are, in form,•tem- porary marriages, and are considered honourable by the people ; but the women either interfere in pending eases or say they do, and the people learn to believe that justice can be bought. Morality apart—for concubinage like that of Burmah is an advance on prostitution like that of London—the evil is a very serious one, but we suspect Lord Dalhousie's plan for suppressing it will work better than Colonel Fytche's. He would not have it in the Pun- jab, and made every officer employed there give his word of honour
that no native woman should live in his house or the compound round it—a plan which succeeded perfectly. Colonel Fytche only threatens to send his officers away, which, as he has no means ot replacing them with others who know the language, is, and is known to be, a mere menace.
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