e that "a few slaps would not be of much
consequence, but that anything of the nature of cruelty must not be
allowed." It was only in response to my assertion that nothing
whatever of the nature of punishment must be used in order to obtain
evidence, that he said, "Of course not. It must be stopped
altogether."

The labouring man who was said to have been beaten was called to give
evidence. But unfortunately the policeman who was supposed to have
done this was sitting outside, and beckoning to him, got a word with
him before I realised what was taking place, and the man denied that
he had been beaten. I was glad to see that the inspectors showed real
indignation at this attempt to tamper with a witness. They were both
very polite, and in examining the village boys tried to copy our
paternal way of speaking to them, with rather comical results. When it
transpired that one of the boys was an orphan, the Mohammedan
Inspector said in English, "Oh dear! sad, sad," as if it was the first
case of the kind he had ever met with, and he recommended the boy to
seek refuge in the Mission orphanage.

Although they professed to be indignant with the police, and said that
they would be severely punished, I was not altogether surprised at the
nature of the report which they ultimately sent to the District
Superintendent, a copy of which was forwarded to me. It was
accompanied by a memorandum, saying that the charges appeared to have
been considerably exaggerated, but that the constable who was reported
to have "slapped" the boys had been "transferred to headquarters,"
whatever that might mean.

That irregular proceedings on the part of the police were only stayed
with difficulty by the force of English interference and emphatic
words and letters, suggests how hopeless may be the position of any
unhappy mortal in out-of-the-way places on whom the police choose to
father a charge. Many tales are told of the ingenious barbarities
still practised in the endeavour to extort confessions from suspected
persons, or unwilling witnesses, and it is to be feared that these
tales are not without foundation. The apparent tendency of some
English officials to make light of complaints, does not give much room
for hope that the evil system will be quickly eradicated.

Even supposing that torture was justifiable on the ground that it
leads to the detection of crime, the actual result is probably quite
the reverse. It certainly leads to false confes