6 SEPTEMBER 1879, Page 3

The Times' correspondent at Simla draws a depressing picture of

Anglo-Indian morality. He declares that it is much more lax than that of England, and intimates that at Sheila the cavaliers servente is a recognised as well as an existing institu- tion, the gentleman who fills the office being called the "bow'- wow," bemuse he barks at anybody unacceptable to his mistress. The correspondent even intimates that, as under the old regime in France, the possession of a handsome wife is often a quick passport to promotion. These statements will be bitterly and justly resented in India, and are, no doubt, made by a man familiar only with the hill stations, where the vicious, mess of Anglo-Indian life, such as it is, has always been concentrated. Those stations are full of officers on leave, and young married women seeking health ; there is nothing to do, and scarcely more to read, and society gets into a condition which is bad enough, though exaggerated by the gossip which is the only morning amusement. The hill sta- tions, however, and especially Simla., are wholly unlike the working stations, where society is at least as reputable as in any capital of Europe. The men are worked to death, and the women perish of ennui, not dissipation.