Bribery Among Public Servants.

ON the 16th instant at the Madras High Court an appeal case was heard by Mr Justice Kumaraswami Shastri in which 12 police constables of Madura District were involved. They had quarrelled among themselves about the distribution of money obtained by black mail in certain cases. They seem to have entered in some sort of ogranisation in this matter and the money obtained by each of them in his own sphere of "duties" was to be distributed among the rest. One day a quarrel occurred owing to one of them failing to render a faithful account of his earnings, and the matter finally reached the Court. The Chief Court ordered a retrial of the accused, but the importance of the case lies in the ogranised manner in which blackmail was levied and the amount distributed among themselves. It was also stated that these constables had a complaint against a sub-inspector, who failed to give their share of the bribe received in hushing up a murder case.