8 SEPTEMBER 1979, Page 6

A hundred years ago

The Times' correspondent at Simla draws a depressing picture of AngloIndian morality. He declares that it is much more lax than that of England, and intimates that at Simla the cavaliere servente is a recognised as well as an existing institution, the gentleman who fills the office being called the 'bow-wow,' because 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 viciousness of Anglo-Indian life, such as it is, has always been concentrated.