Skip to item: of 900
Information about this record Back to top
Open in Universal viewer
Open in Mirador IIIF viewer

‘File 16/37A-I Anti-Locust Measures’ [‎280r] (559/900)

This item is part of

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.

Apply page layout

PoliV al Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. ,
Bahrain, th February 1943
To
The Resident Manager,
California Arabian Standard Oil Company
DHAHJRA N
Dear Sir
Please refer to your letter of February 14th about
the three lorries which have arrived from Jedda for the Anti-
Locust Delegation.
' • V Plu-I
2 . In addition to thfc three lorries mentioned in your*
letter, Mr. Maxwell-Darling wired sometime ago to ask that
the balance of the three ton lorries v/hich were being kept
for him at Bahrain should be sent over to Dhahran and from
there sent overland to Sharjah. I have now received a tele
gram from him to say that, as he has haw received three
lorries at Sharjah from elsewhere^ be dbes not now want the
three ton lorries (I understand that at present only one of
them is being sent over from here as the other is temporarily
out of commission) to be sent overland to ^tiarjah as previously
requested. He does however want the "smfll trucks", by which
I gather he means the trucks that have arrived from Jedda,
to be sent overland to Sharjah as arranged.
3. Will you therefore be good enough to retain at Dhahran
the three ton lorry which will shortly be arriving there from
here and send the small trucks overland to Sharjah.
4. As regards the payment to the crews, fir. Maxwell-Darling
has left funds with me for payment of sundry expenses incurred
on behalf of the Delegation, ; but he did not mention the ques
tion of payment to the crews of these trucks. I would suggest
that you pay them half thelujnonthly salary each and tell them
to ask Mr. Maxwell-Darling for the balance when they get to
Sharjah. If you kindly let me know the amount that you give
them, I will refund it to you from here.
Yours truly
for 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. , Bahrein

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

Use and share this item

Share this item
Cite this item in your research

‘File 16/37A-I Anti-Locust Measures’ [‎280r] (559/900), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/1544, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100034852387.0x0000a0> [accessed 28 June 2026]

Link to this item
Embed this item

Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.

<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100034852387.0x0000a0">‘File 16/37A-I Anti-Locust Measures’ [&lrm;280r] (559/900)</a>
<a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100034852387.0x0000a0">
	<img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000282.0x000117/IOR_R_15_2_1544_0559.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" />
</a>
IIIF details

This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000000282.0x000117/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images

Use and reuse
Download this image