‘File 16/37A-I Anti-Locust Measures’ [206r] (411/900)
The record is made up of 1 file (448 folios). It was created in 31 Aug 1942-18 May 1943. It was written in English and Arabic. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
i 7
' f
No.230-16/37A•
Political
Agency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
,
Bahrain,
The 31st January 1943
Dear Maxwell-Darling,
Firstly your letter of the ICth about drinks*
I am sorry not to have answered it before but I have had
some difficulty in getting in touch with Phillips. You
asked in your letter for a permit for 8 bottles of whisky
and 8 bottles of gin for the first quarter of this year,but
did not say how many of these you wanted to be sent down to
you now* However, I have consulted Phillips and imagine tha^
you want them all now, so the R.A.F. are arranging for them
to be sent to you by plane. I have sent the bill to
Phillips. A plane went down on the 25th and I was hoping to
get them sent down by that, but some delay occurred over the
making of a box for them.
2. Your letter of the 16th and wire No.9 of yesterday.
You must have been mystified over the first sentence of my
telegram No.29 of January 24th, which I find was misprinted.
It should have run "Hope arrange" instead of "Please
arrange". Unfortunately your reply arrived just after two
ships had come and gone to the
Trucial Coast
A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates.
and Muscat.
Th^y took with them 100 sacks of poison bait to the Trucial
Coast and 100 to Muscat. I have asked Gray Mackenzie to
send another 100 to Dubai or Sharjah on the next down
steamer.
3. The trucks were shipped yesterday to Dubai on the
"Hunan" and I have wired you. The 50 new tyres arrived a
couple of days ago: I*m told that at last they are the
right type. Will you please letjus know as soon as possible
what you want done with them? Spares have not yet arrived.
4. Fitzgerald came over here on the 21st to collect a
driver-mechanic and returned on the 22nd to Dhahran. His
plan was to go straight to Sharjah with three trucks — two
of the original three and one which was sent over from here
by Hewitt. (He could not take a rotor arm from one of the
trucks here and put it into the broken one, as it would not
fit). I have heard no more of him since• If you want any
more drivers from her^ will you send me a wire and I will
see what can be done; ^though they are difficult to come by.
Yours sincerely,
R.C.Maxwell-Darling, Esquire,
Chief Locust Officer,Camp Sharjah
About this item
- Content
Correspondence, reports and other papers relating to efforts, undertaken by representatives of the Middle East Anti-Locust Unit (MEALU), to control desert locusts (first reported in western India in August 1942 (f 3)) along the Arab coast between Bahrain and Oman. The principal correspondents include: the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Bahrain (Edward Birkbeck Wakefield); the Chief Locust Officer (Reginald Charles Maxwell-Darling) and Locust Officer (Leslie Desmond Edward Foster Vesey-Fitzgerald) of MEALU, who arrived in Bahrain to carry out their work in October 1942; the Defence Officer for the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Lieutenant-Colonel H T Hewitt); representatives of the California-Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC); and representatives of the Bahrain shipping agent Gray, Mackenzie & Company.
The file includes:
- reports from Maxwell-Darling and Vesey-Fitzgerald, as well as from numerous other British officials from across the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. region, including the British Minister at Tehran, Sir Reader William Bullard, on locust observations. The observations include estimations of the size of swarms, movement and direction of insects, age and colour of animals;
- correspondence relating to arrangements for the shipment of locust poison bait from the Sudan Government in Khartoum, to Bahrain;
- correspondence relating to the arrangements of facilities for the MEALU team on the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , chiefly arrangements for suitable vehicles (arranged with the assistance of CASOC and the Defence Officer for the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ), experienced drivers and motor mechanics, finances, and rations;
- papers issued by MEALU, including instructions on reporting locust swarms (ff 136-137), and notes on locust campaigns in sparsely inhabited countries (ff 194-195, ff 385-386);
- a copy of a booklet entitled Methods of Locust Control , produced by the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research and published by the Government of India Press, Calcutta [Kolkota], 1941 (ff 226-236);
- a reprint of an academic journal article entitled Some results of studies of the Desert Locust (Schistocerca Gregaria, Forsk.) in India , by Rao Bahadur Y Ramchandra Rao (ff 266-278). The article is a reprint from the Bulletin of Entomological Research , volume 33, part 3, published December 1942;
- some papers relating to anti-locust activities in southern Iran.
The file contains a single letter in Arabic, a letter to the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. from the Ruler of Qatar, Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Jāsim Āl Thānī (f 334).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (448 folios)
- Arrangement
The file’s contents are arranged in approximate chronological order, from the earliest item at the front to the latest at the end. The file notes at the end of the file (ff 424-449) mirror the chronological arrangement.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 450; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 2-423; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
- Written in
- English and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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‘File 16/37A-I Anti-Locust Measures’ [206r] (411/900), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/1544, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100034852387.0x00000c> [accessed 14 June 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/R/15/2/1544
- Title
- ‘File 16/37A-I Anti-Locust Measures’
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:5v, 7r:8v, 10r:12v, 16r:16v, 18r:20v, 22r:33v, 35r:36v, 38r:46v, 48r:60v, 63r:81v, 83r:88v, 91r:103v, 106r:118v, 120r:124v, 127r:131v, 134r:134v, 137r:147v, 149r:151v, 153r:156v, 158r:159v, 161r:167v, 169r:174v, 177r:177v, 184r:185v, 187r:187v, 189r:189v, 191r:193v, 195r:197v, 200r:201v, 203r:208v, 210r:211v, 213r:215v, 220r:225v, 238r:241v, 243r:246v, 255r:263v, 279r:280v, 286r:288v, 291r:291v, 293r:298v, 303r:303v, 308r:312v, 316r:318v, 320r:323v, 325r:332v, 336r:336v, 338r:339v, 342r:343v, 347r:349v, 351r:351v, 358r:359v, 363r:363v, 365r:369v, 372r:372v, 376r:384v, 388r:388v, 390r:392v, 397r:397v, 399r:402v, 405r:405v, 409r:412v, 415r:415v, 418r:449v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence
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