‘File 16/37A-I Anti-Locust Measures’ [232r] (463/900)
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.
Method 3(a).—Soit soap—Kerosene emulsion
Mix the kerosene with soft soap by a wooden paddle, stirring vigorously
until no more kerosene will go into the mixture. A jellylike mass will result
which can then be mixed with water in the proportion of four gallons of
water to one gallon of the kerosene oil used.
• Method 3(b)—Hard soap—Kerosene emulsion
Cut a bar of hard soap into thin shoes and dissolve in the minimum
quantity of boiling water. Add the kerosene oil and mix, stirring vigorously
and warming if necessary and use as in (a).
Pesterine, which is a mixture of oils is more effective than kerosene and is slightly
cheaper than kerosene if obtained in bulk. It is not, however, available without mak
ing special arrangements for supply. If used, it should be employed in the same way
as kerosene oil.
Syringes or other apparatus for distributing kerosene and pesterine
or emulsion of these should not have rubber washers or other parts as the
oil rots the rubber.
Method 4.—Insecticidal bait—Preparation
The bait consists of four component parts
(а) The insecticide.
(б) The carrier : which is the material into which the insecticide is
mixed.
(e) Water.
(d) An attractant : which makes the bait more attractive to the locusts.
(а) The insecticide.—The substance to be used is sodium fluosilicate.
This is a white powder. It is fatal to locusts even in very small quantities.
It is not poisonous to animals in small quantities but must be considered
^larmful in quantities of a tola or above. It should, therefore, be treated with
the same care as if it were a poison.
(б) The carrier.—The most suitable material to use as a carrier is WHEAT
BRAN or RICE BRAN. Other substances which may be used are cotton-
seed meal, sawdust, horse dung, flour mill sweepings. The purpose of
the carrier is to provide a material into which the insecticide can be icadily
mixed so that it can easily be scattered very thinly over the ground.
Experiments with other locally available material should be made where
possible. Oil mill residues may prove suitable.
(c) The baits must be used moist.
(d) The attractant.— Molasses, rab or gur, Amyl acetate, salt.
n
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’ [232r] (463/900), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/1544, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100034852387.0x000040> [accessed 22 June 2026]
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- Reference
- IOR/R/15/2/1544
- Title
- ‘File 16/37A-I Anti-Locust Measures’
- Pages
- 226r:236v
- Author
- Indian Council of Agricultural Research
- Copyright
- ©Indian Council of Agricultural Research
- Usage terms
- Creative Commons Non-Commercial Licence
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