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infant representative of the family on the death of the Nawab Manierul mulk Bahadur.
The rumour charging one of the high officials in His Highness' service with receiving a bribe of from 50 to 60 thousand rupees from the Begums of the Salar Jung family which I referred to in one of my letters some time ago—has been revived. The "Deccan Times" in its issue of the 2nd instant writes of this in the strain of one assured of the truth of it—and says that it refrains from passing any comments upon it as the matter is sub-justice. A more serious charge than this has never been made against one of the highest officials in the State—and it is incumbent upon the official concerned to disprove the charge in an open manner no less than upon those that have brought it forward to prove it. The stability, if not the usefulness of an administration, depends much upon the reputation, for purity that it has. And when the purity comes to be questioned and charges of corruption are brought against individual members of it openly and no attempt is made to disprove those charges it needs no lynx-eye to see that it is in a fair way to extinction.
