| Description | William has been receiving many letters and in return begins to describe Kishanagar for his sister. When he first came there the residents included a judge, [Arthur] Littledale and his wife an daughter; Dr Hills, a dyspeptic poet; Armstrong, a half-civilised engineer; and Smith, the principal of Kishnagar College, whose family he describes. He notes a Miss Masters, and a missionary Mr Blumenhardt, with a zealous junior, Mr Dyson, who hates Indians and thinks the Government ought to 'send to heaven by an order for their immediate salvation by the police'. Dyson thinks it a hardship that his Christian flock should be visited by the tax collector on a Sunday, serving a notice for them to pay the next day; Dyson has sent them to William with a protest against the summons. [From 22 November] William cannot recall how far he got in his descriptions, having lost a sheet. He cannot remember if he described the judge Littledale, whom they all think a fine English gentleman-farmer, while Mrs Littledale is 'frenchified'. There is an additional judge, Hobhouse, on the station now, as a consequence of the breakdown of relations between planters and ryotts. Mr Neale has been ordered off to a subdivison, but Mr E E Lowes, a joint magistrate has come in exchange and William gives an account of him. They are to picnic in the park, an old teak plantation on high ground, which is kept in fair order. William notes the types of trees growing there, and describes his favourite moonlight drive through the park. Picnics include tents being set up for cards or chess, with archery and other pastimes, and the inevitable tiffin. William thinks picnics are 'stupid things'. He complains about late mail, but thanks Amelia for an extract. [William] Waterfield thinks that William's last appointment was a mark of favour. If the parcel he missed was a kaleidoscope, he asks for another, to be charged to Smith & Elder. In a postcript headed 'Politics' William says that the planters' association have called on Grant to apologise for stating that the forged bonds against the ryotts. William has two forgeries in his possession together with the genuine bonds and there are many others. He notes that over 3,000 stamped bond papers were drawn from the Treasury and most appeared after the Act was passed, with altered dates. William encloses a present from his friend J J [John James] Gray, the best specimen [of photography] he has seen. Gray has survived the year well, while other planters have broken down. |