WHERE PRESENTS ARE FORBIDDEN.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2662, 2 June 1908, Page 2

WHERE PRESENTS ARE FORBIDDEN.

There is a curious custom at the Courts qf the Indian princes. When a British official or a physician calls upon a rajah he is shown into the reception or throne room, where siis the rajah surrounded by the great State officers. After the exchange of the usual salutations one of the officials brings in a tray on which arc displayed jewels and golden ornaments studded with valuable stones, perhaps worth £50,000 or more. The trayful of valuables is supposed to be a present from the rajah to his visitor, and it is offered first to the gentlemen, who, inclining his head, touches the edge of the tray with the tips of his fingers, and it is then passed over to the lady, who invariably accompanies the British officer, if he is married, on such occasions. She follows the example of her husband, and the tray and its contents are then returned to the jewel-room. In lieu of the unaccepted jewels a lon<r necklace of tinsel, of little value, is placed round the neck of each, where it remains during their stay within the palace. There is a very strict law against any British official accepting a gift from a native prince. Even when a doctor may have performed some serious operation upon a rajah, who, being grateful, wishes to give—exclusive of a money f»»e. varying from £2OO to £I.OOO -according to the operation performed—a present of a shawl, golden cup, or some similar valuable, the doctor must obtain special permission from the Viceroy before he dare accept the present. If any official accepts a gift of any value without such n«rmission he may have to resign. This rule is made because, in the old days when the East Indian Company governed India, an officer's pickings and the presents, often extorted from the rajahs, were worth much more to him than his salary.