WHITE PRESTIGE

Down the Hatch, Issue 5, 5 February 1944, Page 1

WHITE PRESTIGE

Pukka * sahibs, memsahibs and British lommies in India were scandalised some months ago to see a white man between the shafts of a rickshaw. Applauded by several others he cavorted through the streets, while in the seat of honour sat the rickshaw-man himself.

The Kiwis concerned laughed and forgot about it. But it was not forgotten in India In the native areas;, there were whispers winks and grins. Another blow at white prestige ! And in the, sitting rooms of Simla it was discussed over shocked tea-cups and agitated whiskeys. The jest became a scandal the stunt an Incident. And Incidents don’t improve Indian social relations or the Indian war effort. " r ‘ ' — 7

. We will be warned about India’s peculiarities before we arrive there, and one piece of advice will be Don t fraternise with the lower classes. Now such, advice is apt to embarrass democratic Kiwis, who prefer to associate race prejudice and class snobbery with Fascism. We are apt to resent a ban on mixing with any class or colour. But there are good reasons for the ban. Some are: (1) Health : an Indian can swallow a cholera and typhus cocktail that would slay a regiment of us. (2) We don’t understand their ways, nor they ours. (3) It is more than ever desirable now to preserve good relations with the Indians. H.W.G.