AN APPEAL TO ANGLO-INDIANS

To The Editor Of The Statesman

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SIR, – The grand total of our success is dependent upon the efficiency of our organisation as a whole. This though always accepted as a fundamental fact, is, unfortunately, very often lost sight of by individuals who are consumed by the exaggerated value of their own importance, and who fear that some one else may perhaps get the kudos that might come to them. Many of us are apt to forget that our duty lies not only in being a perfect cog, performing all things expected from a single cog, but also in remembering our respective relations with all the other cogs in the wheel. We must each do our part in making things run smoothly without undue friction or lost motion. Let us Anglo-Indians and Domiciled Europeans turn the contemptible word kudos into sincere and loyal co-operation. There is a lesson in this for all of us Anglo-Indians and Domiciled Europeans. We cannot win on what our forefathers did. LIONEL INGELS.

President,

Anglo-Indian Association of Bengal.

THE MIDDLE CLASSES UNION

To The Editor Of The Statesman

SIR, – I have read with great interest the leading article in The Statesman of August 1, concerning the difficulties of the middle classes in India. In discussing the possibility of an organisation on Trade Union lines you say, it is announced that a union movement is on foot in Canada. You are possibly not aware – or at least your readers in India may not be aware – that a strong and flourishing Middle Classes Union has been established for six months past in this Country. There are already nearly a hundred branches in various parts of the United Kingdom, and I think I can claim that there is no single district in which we have no members. An organisation of this sort, with its wonderful possibilities, is of course not the work of a day or so, but the success we have already experienced allows us to view the future with the utmost confidence.

STANLEY ABBOTT.

London.

TASMANIA

To The Editor Of The Statesman

SIR, – Orcharding is an undertaking for a young man. It is quite impossible for the average man of 55 to work a 10 acre orchard by himself. Unless an Anglo-Indian settles out here with a large sum of money, to employ labour, he must prepare himself for hard work. Lord Bacon in his 30th essay says, “Discern of the coming on of years, and think not to do the same things still; for age will not be defied.” I think this statement is an excellent warning to elderly Anglo-Indians, who might very easily overrate their energy, when on the wrong side of forty. In my opinion, an intending settler absolutely cannot do better than take a trip to Tasmania, and thereby study for himself, the existing conditions of the place. Readers please note, I do not mean to be pessimistic about orcharding in Tasmania, but bitter experience entices me to warn my countrymen to be careful.

FIVE CROWN PIPPIN.

Tasmania.