Simla''s Centenary

The  Globe recalls the fact that Simla has just entered on its hundredth year of existence. After the Gurkha War of 1815-16, it says, a tract of land including. Simla Hill was retained by the Government. “The first wood and thatch cottage,” it goes on to say,  “was built there in 1819 by Lieutenant Ross, an Assistant Political Agent in Hill States, and in 1822 Kennedy, his successor, built the first house. Simla periodically became a station, and Lord Amherst was the first Governor-General to pay it a visit. Since 1864 when Sir John Lawrence was in office, it has been the summer capital.” The facts are substantially as stated by the Globe, but it requires correction in respect of one important matter. Simla did not, as suggested above, belong to Nepal; and the Gurkha War only resulted in the restoration of the hill tracts to the several chieftains who aided the British in that war.