Indian Yesterdays

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23121, 20 August 1938, Page 4 (Supplement)

Indian Yesterdays

By J.F.B.

MEMOIRS rivalling those of Lord Frederic Hamilton, both for quality arid material, unaffected style and intense interest, are those of Lieu-tenant-Colonel A. A. Irvine, an Indian administrator who, living :.n retirement in England, has an amazing fund of knowledge and experience on which to draw. 'With a thinly-veiled dislike for the travelling M.P., a dislike shared by the majority of men who have served long in" India, and a genuine affection for this vast country of many problems, Colonel Irvine gives a living picture of the tragic and humorous, the magnificent and squalid, the enjoyable and the disagreeable, that go to make up life in India. Descended from families long and intimately associated with India, Colonel Irrino liad an opportunity, in his military and judicial capacities, for .meeting all manner of people, from distinguished English noblemen and their consorts, occupying the highest positions in the land, to the poorest and most insignificant subject of the King-Emperor > There is a certain element of the imp, most unexpected in a British dignitarv, that constantly appears in Colonel Irvine's writing. One suspects that he often had the greatest difficulty in preventing himself from roaring with laughter at the wrong moment, when some famous visitor said or did the wrong tiling, or when a cheerful malefactor put forward a quaint and original plea for clemency. There can be no doubt but that the author has a highlydeveloped sense of humour. Liberally sprinkled with bright anecdotes, in which the foibles of the great 'aro as faithfully recorded as the weaknesses of lesser men, the book is a vivid record of long service faithfully per-

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formed. It is not by any means all in light vein; indeed, long chapters are devoted to India's troubles, both past and present, to errors in administration, to tno modern danger of Communism, and to the apparent efforts to stir up a bloody revolution beside which outbreaks infamous in history will be minor risings. Colonel Irvine's first meeting with a young man destined to be a famous statesman was anything but auspicious. He was 011 his way back to England on leave, and was chatting to his friend who occupied the other berth in a steamer cabin, when from the opposite cabin came the peevish remonstrance: "Stop that damned noise!" Smart and 1 decided to investigate. Scowling at us from a lower bunk was a very youthful person clad in a beautiful pair of pink silk pyjamas. Smart and L said nothing; but wo each took h"]<! of a foot. "While he voyaged up and down the cook's galley 011 his back, we realised that our victim, though his language would have done no credit to a presentday radio announcer, was a born orator. And he was: for his name was "Winston Churchill." In different vein, but no less interesting, Tire Colonel Irvine's stories of the extravagance of some of the Indian potentates of his day. "Scents from Paris for the potentate's bntli might cost as much as 75 rupees (say, five pounds), .a day," he savs. "In some States money might bo wasted 011 account of arrogance, or of superstition,, or on some whim worthy of Caligula. Before now a fortune has been expended on tho marriage of a mouse with a doll. And not so many years have passed since a certain Indian ruler used to find entertainment in chasing black buck across country in expensive motor-cars." The clue to Colonel Irvine's philosophy, at least as far as India is concerned, is faithfully given where it belongs, in the title of his book. He has called it "Land of No Regrets." "I/and ot No liessrcts," by Lieutenant.Colonel A. A. Irvine. (Collins.)