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Even after the
move of the capital to New Delhi, office work remained dominant activity for
many people in the city. With its
colonial and municipal civil service, with its many imperial business concerns,
and with the war bringing with it mind boggling military bureaucracies of
several nations, it was not surprising that the days of a great many
Calcuttans, established or newly arrived
were spent in offices. With the
extra loads or work due to that war and many office workers being called up to
the forces those that remained in fact seemed to never be able to leave the
desk at all.
Office life
with its messengers and tea boys, sweepers and durwans, middle-ranking babus,
young newcomers on the make and old (-fashioned) India hands, with all its
ranks privileges and traditions, was often a microcosm of the colonial world in
general. Yet as the forties went on political change on the outside was bound
to seep through the shutters and change attitudes in the offices of Calcutta as
well.
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I made my first trip to Calcutta from Cochin in
a third-class compartment of Howrah Mail. The ticket cost Rs 13. Clad in a
dhoti and shirt and clutching my belongings — a tin box and a bedroll — I got
off at a neat and clean Howrah station. A job broker approached me at the
station itself and gave me the address of an office and Rs 10 as advance
salary.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with N.S. Mani )
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(source: Glenn S. Hensley: Government House, C011, Government House (today's Raj Bhavan.) Gate on side toward Dalhousie Square. seen at University of Chicago Hensley Photo Library at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/images/hensley as well as a series of E-Mail interviews with Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August 2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of Glenn Hensley and under a Creative Commons license)
(source: personal
scrapbook kept by Malcolm Moncrieff Stuart
O.B.E., I.C.S. seen on
20-Dec-2005 / Reproduced by courtesy of
Mrs. Malcolm Moncrieff Stuart)
Trams :—A1I trams except Park Circus to High Court
via Harris Road, and Kidderpore and Alipore lines.
Buses :—2, 3A, 4A, 5, 8, 8A, 13,14.
This
imposing edifice of Gothic architecture, occupying the northern side of
Dalhousie Square, is still known by its old name of "Writers'
Building." The portico above the central entrance is supported by a row of
hanssome Ionic pillars, surmounted by the Royal Coat of Arms and a statue of Britannia
resplendent in yellow.
The roof
displays symbolic figures and four allegorical groups representing Science,
Agriculture, Commerce and Justice. The western wing of the structure covers the
site of St. Anne's Church, which was erected in 1709 and totally destroyed
during the siege of Calcutta in 1756.
Writers'
Building, originally consisting of nineteen apartments, was constructed in 1776
for the purpose of providing quarters for the writers of the Hon'ble East India
Company ; later it was rented out as offices and private rooms. During the
Lieutenant-Governor-ship of Sir Ashley Eden (1877-1882) it was greatly enlarged
and improved upon, new blocks were constructed, addtional floors added, the
appearance enhanced by the present decorative facade and fantastic roof, and
the building, under the name of Bengal Secretariat, became the permanent home
for the various departments of the
Bengal Government.
Impatient
suitors will find the Marriage Registrater Office conveniently located on the
ground floor.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
We now enter Charnock Place. Immediately on our
right is a red brick building known as the Collectorate, accommodating the
offices of the Collector of Stamps, Excise and Land Revenue, Calcutta, the
Commissioner of Revenue and Circuit, Presidency Division, and the Public Health
Department, Engineering Branch.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair
dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The
copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
Unfortunately, I then discovered that, not only the fever, but most of
my money, was spent. Believing, however, that it would not be difficult for a
member of one of the Secretary of State's Services to recoup his finances, I
set forth confidently in search of the
Secretariat, the seat of the Bengal Government.
In this I was proved to be wrong. I had not realised that, while I was tossing
on my sick bed, something called the Durga Puja had begun — an annual Hindu
festival, during which the Government of India goes into retreat and takes a
three week's holiday. When I arrived at the Secretariat, the doors were shut and barred and not a soul was in sight.
Fortunately, money was not an important means of
exchange within the hotel where,
until the final day of reckoning, a signature on a chit caused the iced drinks to flow freely. But,
once having left its doors, I found myself in a hard, unsympathetic world.
Chevrolet taxis sped by driven by bearded Sikhs, whom I could not afford to
employ. Even the strings of overworked tram cars were beyond my
slender means. I tramped for miles along dusty streets, visited bazaars full of
choice wares I could not buy and was barred from enjoying the air-conditioned comfort of the 'bioscope'.
Calcutta was, I had been told, fun. A good place for a European to be stationed, with lots to do,
delightful clubs and a good golf course. To the poor it had less to offer …
[…]
Every so often, I would return to the
Secretariat in the faint hope
that I might find somebody at work and, after a week, I did. He was a kindly
Bengali, a middle-grade civil servant who seemed to have taken on his shoulders the responsibilities of
an entire nation. He listened to
my tale of woe, regretted that
he could not give me an official 'sub' until the office reopened, but made me a small personal loan. That
night I boarded the train for
Assam.
(source
pages 9-10 of John Rowntree: “A Chota
Sahib. Memoirs of a Forest Officer.” Padstow: Tabb House, 1981.)
(COPYRIGHT
NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with the Estate of John
Rowntree)
Facilis Descensus Averno
I met a chap one day in Hell
and asked him how he liked it: 'Well,'
he answered candidly, 'you see,
Mughs Burmese cooks, much sought after
there's
nothing strange in this to me.
I lived
among them all—the heat
the
stink, the racket, the deceit,
corruption,
avarice and fear;
and
nearly all my friends are here.
It suits
me well, I must confess;
for I was
in the ICS.'
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Oxford University Press 1995)
More years passed and life was seized by
turbulence. I lost my government job in the Bihar secretariat by writing Daak
Diye Jayee, a seditious novel in Bengali based on the 1942 movement. The novel
also earned me a position among the important writers, and when I saw no hope
of getting another job under the British government, I migrated to Calcutta to
be a full fledged writer. There, in 1946, unexpectedly and dramatically, I got
connected with films and came in contact with the topmost director of Bengal at
the time, Bimal Roy.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Nabendu Ghosh 1995)
The administrative headquarters of the
Corporation, generally known as the Central Municipal Offices, are situated at
No. 5 Surendra Nath Banerjee Road. The building, of Gothic architecture, was
erected in 1905 from the design of Mr. Banks Gwyther, and formally opened in
June of the same year by Mr. R. T. Grier, then Chairman of the Corporation. The
eastern and western wings are connected with the central block by covered
passages. The Council Chamber and rooms in the central block have verandahs on
the north and south sides, the corridors formed by the verandahs and passages
affording easy communication between the several departments,
The main feature of the building is the central
tower on the south, raised to a height of 105 feet. Directly under the tower is
the official entrance, reached from Chowringhee Place: this is only opened on
Committee days for the use of the members.
Passing
through the heavy grilled doors, we are in the well of the staircase, where is
conspicuously exhibited a 75 M. M. Krupp gun captured in the Boer War, and
presented to the Corporation of Calcutta in 1905 by the Government of India in
recognition of services rendered by India during the War.
Ascending the wide steps we find ourselves in
the spacious lobby, adorned with the busts of Sir Henry Leland Harrison, Kt,,
Chairman of the Corporation, William Mearns Souttar, Chairman, and Sir Surendra
Nath Banerjea, Kt., (1848-1925). Tablets to and portraits of, Sir Charles
Alien, Kt., Chairman of the Corporation, and Dr. Herbert Milverton Crake,
Health Officer of the Corporation ; and portraits of, John Blessington Roberts,
Chairman of the Justice of the Peace, Gopal Lal Mitter, Vice-Chairman, Sir
Kailash Chandra Bose, Kt., Commissioner, Nilambara Mukerji, Vice-Chairman,
Robert Turnbull, Secretary, Rai Bahadur Nalini Nath Sett, Councillor, Raj
Bahadur Debendra Chunder Ghose, Commissioner, and others, are also displayed in
this lobby.
In the lobby on the south, is the Lady
Councillors' Room, and on the east, the Council Chamber, a beautiful and lofty
hall, well worthy of its site and functions. On the north, upon a raised dais
and under an artistically designed canopy, is the Mayor's chair, elaborately
carved and surmounted with the arms of the Corporation embossed in gold : on
the right of the Mayor sits the Deputy Mayor, on the left the Chief Executive
Officer: the Secretaries sit at the table immediately before the mayorial desk.
The Councillors' chairs and desks, arranged in horse-shoe fashion facing the
Mayor's chair, are upholstered in green moroccan leather, with the arms of the
Corporation emblazoned in gold on each. The Committee Rooms, the offices of the
Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, the Chief Executive Officer and Secretaries, are
located in the western wing of the building; the Councillors' Room and the lift
is in the eastern wing.
The first Corporation of Calcutta was formed in 1727. The present one, constituted
under the Calcutta Municipal Act of 1923, consists of a Mayor, a Deputy Mayor,
a Chief Executive Officer, five Aldermen, and eighty-seven Councillors. There
are nine standing committees, appointed annually to deal with buildings,
estates and general purposes; finance, public health, public utilities and
markets; roads and bustees; and services, water supply and works.
The last census figures taken of Calcutta in
1931, show a total population of 11,96,734 against 10,77,264 in 1921. The gross
valuation of the city on 31st March 1938 was Rs. 10,33,52,543 as compared with
Rs. 1,31,77,293 in 1880, and Rs. 2,19,49,992 in 1900. The income of the
Corporation in 1937-38 was Rs. 2,47,47,094 and the expenditure Rs. 2,45,03,625;
the corresponding figures in 1900-01 were Rs. 54,34,000 and Rs. 62,13,000.
The Health Committee of the Corporation has a
special organization for the destruction of mosquitoes, known as the Mosquito
Control Department. This was inaugurated with the object of carrying out
anti-mosquito measures, and a malaria survey of Calcutta, and in order to
pursue the project effectively the city has been divided into 228 sections,
each section coming under the attention of the Mosquito Brigade Staff on a
fixed day every week.
The Corporation maintains :
A number of vaccination stations in various
parts of the city, and employs female vaccinators to vaccinate purdah ladies.
Four Maternity Homes with a lady doctor in
charge of each.
Eight Maternity Units adequately staffed by
midwives, under the supervision of Lady Health Visitors, whose services are
available free of charge to persons of small means.
Eighteen Milk Kitchen Centres, where milk and
barley are given free morning and evening to babies up to two and a half years
old.
Nineteen Charitable Dispensaries, equipped with
the most modern facilities and staffed with competent doctors. Open daily from
8-30 a.m. to 11-30 a.m. and from 4. p.m. to 5-30 p.m.
Thirty-one Ward Health Association Treatment
Centres, with a Medical Officer attached to each who looks after the health of
his particular ward.
The Corporation controls seventy-two public
parks, squares and gardens, excluding the Eden Gardens, the Victoria Memorial
Gardens, and the Botanical and Zoological Gardens. The parks are well laid out,
some of them being provided with swings and see-saws for juveniles, swimming
pools, football grounds and tennis courts for schools and clubs, and pavilions,
benches and other attractions for the general public.
The City Fathers are awake to the necessity for
education, and maintain at great expense 230 free primary Schools, as well as
model schools, night schools for carters and sweepers, and a training school
for teachers.
The Corporation publishes a weekly magazine
under the name of "The Calcutta Municipal Gazette". It is the
official organ of the Corporation, records all important municipal happenings,
and conducts propaganda relative to publicity work.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
India is governed by England as a part of the
British Empire. The supreme authority id the British Parliament, which
exercises control through one of its members, a Minister with Cabinet rank,
known as the Secretary of State for India.
The executive head in India is the
Governor-General, who is also the Viceroy, representing the British Crown. The
Governor-General is assisted by an Executive Council whose members are
appointed by the Crown on the recommendation of the Viceroy through the
Secretary of State.
The laws of India are made by two houses of
legislature - the Council of State and the Legislative Assembly, the Upper and
Lower Houses respectively. The Upper House has 60 members, and the Lower House
has 140. The Governor-General has the power to veto any measure passed by the
Legislature. He has also the power to pass Ordinances and Acts without recourse
to the Legislature. There are a large number of members in both the Houses
nominated by the Government, and nearly three-fourths of the items of Indian
expenditure are non-votable, i.e. the Legislature has no power to vote on them
or reject them. The powers of the Viceroy are extraordinary and unlimited.
The provinces are ruled by British Governors
with the help of Indian Ministers who represent the majority party in the
provincial legislatures.
The day-to-day administration is carried on by
the Indian Civil Service recruited in England and India, assisted by Indian
subordinates.
(source: “A Guide Book to Calcutta, Agra, Delhi,
Karachi and Bombay” The American Red Cross and the China-Burma-India-Command.
[1943]: at:
http://cbi-theater-2.home.comcast.net/redcross/red-cross-india.html#INDIA)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with the original
submitter/author)
I did not want to go back to school in Simla and
I eventually managed to persuade my father to agree to my attending a
commercial college in Calcutta. After qualifying, I got a job with the military
organisations. While I was working there, there was an air raid. A few of the
civilian staff, including me, went up on the roof and actually watched the
Japanese bombers flying overhead on their way to bomb the docks. We had many
air raids and, on one particular night when the docks and tram depot were
bombed, our whole house shook. That was very frightening.
(source: A2640601 A Schoolgirl’s War in the Far
East at BBC WW2 People's War'
on http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/ Oct 2006)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with the original
submitter/author)
The durbar was an entirely formal occasion;
there were no social exchanges, no conversation, no fiesta. It was a glorified prize-giving day conducted according
to strict rules. It was a dignified 'showing the flag' ceremony, a public (as
far as the invitees were concerned) display of loyalty to the Raj—and the
bestowal of honours and awards in return for that loyalty. All the arrangements
for and the smooth running of a ceremonial durbar fell upon the shoulders of
myself and H.E.'s Military Secretary. We started a month or so in anticipation.
The Honours and Titles to be awarded had been gazetted by the King Emperor.
Fortunately, I had a small staff of Indian clerks who knew exactly where the
wife of the managing director of Jardine and Skinners should be seated in
relation to the sister of a Police Inspector, or the daughter of the Chief
Secretary (Finance) and the wife of an Indian grandee. We seldom made mistakes
and enjoyed ourselves immensely imagining the consequences of a
mistake-on-purpose... Having sent out beautifully printed invitations in heavy
gold lettering, and everyone having
dusted down his dress uniform, creased his morning trousers, and the
women aired their finery after months of monsoon dampness— the great day
arrives. No troublesome fears about bad weather, for Calcutta's cold weather
months are perfect, day by day ... The durbar hall was a large and ornate
auditorium, shaped somewhat like that of a theatre, but level except for the
raised platform (two or three feet) at the far end. Up the centre, towards the
platform, was a gangway about ten or twelve feet wide. On the platform, on an
ornate throne, sat His Excellency [The Governor of Bengal], flanked on either
side by his military ADCs, and behind them two or three rows of senior officials
with wives, sisters, daughters and what-have-you in strict order of precedence.
Those destined to receive honours, which included OBEs, Raj Bahadurs, and Khan
Bahadurs, as well as more modest decorations, were seated in the main body of
the hall, along with less important guests ... My job was to lead the nervous
recipient in a sort of dignified goose-step up the red carpet to within a few
feet of the throne, bow to H.E. in unison, and then, after the ribbon was
safely around the neck, to about-turn and retire with the same slow dignity. At
least, that was the theory of it. In practice, the march was almost a tottering
and hesitant shamble with swords getting tangled between legs and head-gear
slipping askew. After all, these honoured recipients, white or brown, were
mostly men of some age, weighed down with fat and unable to see the ground
immediately in front of them because of their paunches ... So we weaved from
side to side in our progress, like elderly passengers taking their exercise on
board a rolling ship. We made our way forward, making some pretence of a slow
march, my partner pottering along with small nervous steps and a clanking
sword. Inevitably, the long foreseen crisis came with the perilous mounting of
the two steps onto the regal platform. I held onto the old man's arm firmly,
muttering words of encouragement out of the comer of my mouth, but I knew this
time we were for it. "With a final effort and a final gasp he tripped on
the top step and plunged madly forward. Two ADCs quietly and efficiently took
the impact without need to draw their swords. But to H.E. goes first prize for
presence of mind— as the head came towards him he adroitly slipped the ribbon
and medal over the butting head and used his hands to pat the shoulders of the
good man. In a more relaxed gathering of civilised people, the hall would have
resounded with laughter and applause, perhaps with shouts of 'encore!' But no!,
The British and their loyalists with stern composure and stiff upper lips
looked straight ahead. Only a young woman somewhere tittered for an embarrassed
moment. Meanwhile we, the two star performers, shambled our way back in sweat
and misery.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with
Micheal Carritt )
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Street scene outside the Calcutta stock
exchange. The noise is similar to the
bedlam in all word exchange and many transactions (unofficial) take place in
the street as shown here.
(source:
webpage http://oldsite.library.upenn.edu/etext/sasia/calcutta1947/? Monday, 16-Jun-2003 / Reproduced by courtesy of David N. Nelson,
South Asia Bibliographer, Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania)
(source: personal
scrapbook kept by Malcolm Moncrieff Stuart
O.B.E., I.C.S. seen on
20-Dec-2005 / Reproduced by courtesy of
Mrs. Malcolm Moncrieff Stuart)
Passing Hare Street and then Hastings Street, we
come to the Imperial Bank of India, a handsome three storeyed building
occupying the corner uf Strand Road and Esplanade Row (West). Founded in 1806
as the Government Bank of Calcutta, it received its Charter in 1809 under the
name of the Bank of Bengal. The idea of a central banking establishment for
British India was mooted as early as 1836, but the scheme did not come to
fruition until January 1921, when the Provincial Banks of Bengal, Bombay and
Madras were amalgamated to form the Imperial Bank of India, with a capital of
11½ crores of rupees divided inro fully paid up shares of Rs. 500/'- each. The
Imperial Bank of India is the sole agent for the Reserve
Bank of India.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair
dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The
copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
Retracing our steps and passing through Clive
Ghat Street, we find ourselves in Clive Street, which runs from Charnock Place
(Dalhousie Square) across Canning Street and Harrison Road to Darmaharta
Street. The northern half of Clive Street is occupied mostly by dealers in hardware and medical stores ; the
southern half. lined with imposing modern buildings is the centre of the
commercial and financial activities of the city and can readily be designated
as the "Wall Street of the East".
At the
corner of Clive Ghat Street and Clive Street is the stately building of the
Central Bank of India. Ltd., on the upper floors of which are the offices of
the Tata Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., Mitsui Bussan Kaisha Ltd., and other
commercial firms. Directly opposite the Central Bank at No. 11 Clive Street, is
the building of The Planters' Stores & Agency Co. Ltd., housing Landale and
Clark Ltd., and other firms. Next, at No. 10, is the building of Worthington
Simpson Ltd. Engineers, accommodating William Jacks &. Co., A. & J.
Main & Co. Ltd., the office of the American Trade Corn mils; oner and many
other mercantile firms. Adjoining it and facing south, is Graham Building,
giving accommodation to the Eastern Bank Ltd., the Bank of India Ltd., the
Federal Union Insurance Co. Ltd. and the Bank Line Ltd., (formerly Andrew Weir
& Co.)
By the
side of Graham Building is Clive Row, running across Canning Street and
rejoining Clive Street at No. 14. At No. 2 Clive Row is the Oriental Government
Security Life Assurance Building, where are the offices of Nippon Yusen Kaisha
(Japan Mail Steamship Co. Ltd.), the Bengal Bank Ltd., the Angus Co. Ltd.,
Thomas Duff & Co. Ltd., and several other firms. Jardine Skinner & Co.
Merchants and Shipping Agents, are at No. 4; John Dickinson &. Co. Ltd. at
No. 6, and Andrew Yule & Co. Ltd. at No. 8.
Back to
the point where we entered Clive Street, we have on the right, Duncan Brothers'
building. No. 101, accommodating E. D. Sassoon & Co. Ltd., and Roberts,
McLean &. Co. Ltd. Adjoining it is the North British Building, on the upper
floor or which are the offices of George Henderson & Co. Ltd., and
the North British and Mercantile Insurance Co. Ltd.. the ground floor being
occupied by Lloyds Bank Ltd. Then comes in succession, the East Bengal Bank,
the Yokohama Specie Bank, the Continental Bank of Asia, the Calcutta Safe
Deposit Co. Ltd., and immediately after, the Bengal Bonded Warehouse, alongside
which is a gate giving access to the Commercial Building blocks. Next is Balmer
Lawrie & Co. Ltd.
On the
other side, across the thorough fare at No. 8, is Gillanders Arbuthnot &
Cos Clive Buildings, the largest in Clive Street, housing the Imperial Bank of
India (Clive Street Branch), the Mercantile Bank of India. Lionel Edwards &
Co., the Prudential Assurance Co. Ltd., and several other business firms. A few
stops lower down is the South British Insurance Co's buildings, accommodating
the National City Bank of New York and the Board of Trustees for the
improvement of Calcutta.
We now come to the Royal Exchange, built on the site of the New Oriental Bank
Corporation, which was purchased by the Chamber
of Commerce in 1893.
[…]
To the
east of the Royal Exchange Building, in Royal Exchange Place, is Law Building,
the ground floor of which is occupied by the Netherlands Trading Society, and
the upper floor by Biria Brothers. Ltd. Next is the Allahabad Bank
Building, housing Sinclair Murray &. Co, the European Association, and the
European Group Corporation. The Jute Balers' Association (1909) is at No. 5, by
the side of which runs Swallow Lane leading to Old China Bazar Street. The East
India Jute Association Ltd. is at No. 2, on the upper floor of which are housed
a large number of offices, including those of the National Chamber of Commerce
and Calcutta Brokers Limited. At No. 1, is the Netherlands India Commercial
Bank, the Great Eastern Life Assurance Co. Ltd., Francis Klein &. Co. Ltd.,
and others.
The imposing building at No. 2, Clive Street is
that of the Chartered Bank, erected in 1908 by Martin & Co. at a cost of
Rs. 9,62,000/-. The upper floors of this building are occupied by Bird &
Co. and F. W. Heilgers & Co (entrances from Royal Exchange Place). Passing
James Finlay & Co. we turn left into Lyons Range which leads to Dalhousie
Square.
In Lyons Range, on the right, are the rear
entrances of the Bengal Secretariat; on the left. at the corner of Royal
Exchange Place and Lyons Range, stands the stately building of the Calcutta
Stock Exchange.
[…]
Higher up, at No- 6, Lyons Range, is
Turner Morrison's building, where Graham's Trading Co. (India) Ltd., Place,
Siddons &. Gough, and the Norwich Union Life Assurance Society (1803) have
their offices. Adjoining Turner Morrison's is Sassoon House, which ranks among
the loftiest buildings in Calcutta and accommodates a large number of business
firms. A little further on is Old Court House Lane leading to Radha Bazar
Street.
Finding ourselves once more in Clive Street, in
front of the Chartered Bank, we have Fairlie Place across the road. At the
corner of Fairlie Place and Clive Street is the imposing building of the
National Bank of India, crowned with a lofty tower of Gothic architecture, and
accommodating on its upper floors Hoare Miller & Co. Ltd. and the Calcutta
Football Club (entrances from Fairlie Place). Alongside, at No. 4, is Fairlie
House, Kilburn & Co's building. housing Gladstone Wyllie & Co., Lyall
Marshall & Co.. the Senior British Trade Commissioner, John Thompson Ltd.,
Lloyds Agency and The Aluminium Manufacturing Co. Ltd. Adjoining Fairlie House
is Mackinnon Mackenzie & Co's building.
The whole of the southern side of Fairlie Place
is occupied by the Head Offices of the East Indian Railway Company (main
entrance at 105. Clive Street). By the side of East Indian Railway House is the
Custom House, a large building extending in depth from Clive Street to Strand
Road. Immediately to the west of the main
entrance, formerly extended a range of buildings where the East India Company's
Writers were housed.
This was
known as 'Long Row' and divided the Old Fore into two sections.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair
dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The
copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
We now come to the Royal Exchange, built on the site of the New Oriental Bank
Corporation, which was purchased by the Chamber
of Commerce in 1893. Designed by T. S. Gregson of Messrs Gregson, Batley
&. King (Architects), Bombay, the foundation stone was laid in 1916 by Lord
Carmichael and the structure, of Grecian architecture, erected by J. C.
Bannerjee &. Co., of Calcutta, at a cost of Rs. 5,00,000/-, completed and
formally opened in 1918 by Lord Ronaldshay. A bronze tablet at die main
entrance of the new Royal
Exchange, presented by Mr. John D. Nimmo Vice President of the Chamber of
Commerce in 1905, records that the building was erected on the site of the Town
House' of Sir Philip Francis, Member of Council, 1774-1780. Tradition says that
the site was occupied by a house in which Lord Clive once lived and from which
the street derives its name. The Upper floors of the building are occupied by
the Bengal Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1834 and registered with a declared
membership of 300. The Chamber was organised in 1853; its main activities
involve the promoting of Indian business and encouraging friendly feelings
among business men. The Chamber maintains a tribunal of arbitration for
settlement of trade disputes and a Licensed Measurers' Department under a
special Committee.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing'
terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The copyright
remains with John Barry 1940)
In Lyons Range, on the right, are the rear
entrances of the Bengal Secretariat; on the left. at the corner of Royal
Exchange Place and Lyons Range, stands the stately building of the Calcutta
Stock Exchange. constructed by Mackintosh Burn Ltd., at a cost of Rs.
4,11,000/-, and completed and formally opened in 1928 by Sir Stanley Jackson,
then Governor of Bengal.
Although business in stocks and shares in
Calcutta can he traced back as far as 1885, yet an organised Association, under
the name of the Calcutta Stock Exchange Association, was formed only in 1908.
It was registered as a limited company in 1923, with its registered offices at
No. 2, Royal Exchange Place, and was shifted to its present address at No. 7,
Lyons Range in 1927.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair
dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The
copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
The red brick structure at the corner of
Koila Ghat Street and Dalhousie Square (West) is that of the Royal Insurance
Company Ltd., accommodating Sandersons &. Morgans (Solicitors), and the
Manufacturers' Life Assurance Company of Canada (1887). Adjoining is McLeod
House,. housing the Phoenix Assurance Company Ltd., and the Empire of India
Assurance Company Ltd.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair
dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The
copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
Lower down is Old Post Office Street, almost
wholly occupied by lawyers' offices; facing Old Post Office Street is Church
Lane and at No, 11, Hastings Street the Government Commercial Institute.
This Institute is controlled by a Board
of Management on which the influential section of the mercantile community is
fairly represented. It conducts Day and
Evening classes and there are special arrangements for classes in connection
with the training of students for the examinations of the London Institute of
Bankers, and those held for the recruitment to the Railway Accounts
Service. The institute follows courses
of study carefully prepared under the guidance of the Board, affiliates other
commercial institutions in the province, holds its own examinations and grants
its own Diplomas.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair
dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The
copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
Business
Hours :—10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays—to 1 p.m. Closed on Sundays
and Holidays.
Allahabad Bank, Ltd.—6 Royal Exchange
Place. Phone, Cal 5827.
American Express Co., Inc.—14 Government
Place East, Phone, Cal. 5005.
Ballygunge Bank, Ltd.—6 Tilak Road.
Phone, South 1529.
Bank of Commerce, Ltd.—12 Clive Street.
Phone. Cal. 3373.
Bank of India, Ltd.—9A Clive Street.
Phone, Cal. 1126.
Bengal Bank, Ltd.—7 Clive Row. Phone,
Cal. 2073.
Bengal Central Bank, Ltd.—86 Clive
Street. Phone, Cal 700.
Bengal Provincial Co-operative Bank, Ltd.—3/2
Dalhousie Square East. Phone, Cal. 1412.
Bhowanipore Banking Corporation, Ltd.—47
Ashutosh Mukerjee Road. Phone. South 28.
Calcutta Commercial Bank, Ltd.—2 Clive
Ghat Street. Phone, Cal. 1759.
Calcutta National Bank, Ltd.—14/5 Clive
Row. Phone, Cal. 6310.
Calcutta People’s Bank, Ltd.—12 Dalhousie
Square. Phe., Cal. 660.
Central Bank of India, Ltd.—100 Clive
Street. Phone. Cal. 4585.
Branches—8A Russa Road. Phone, South
791.
71 Cross Street. Phone,
B.B. 4901.
10 Lindsay Street. Phone,
Cal 3267.
133 Cornwallis Street.
Phone, B.B. 1929.
Central Calcutta Bank, Ltd.—3 Hare
Street Phone, Cal. 2125.
Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China—2
Clive Street. Phone, Cal. 6945.
Comilla Banking Corporation, Ltd.—1 Clive
Ghat Street. Phone, Cal. 3174.
Branches- 8 Pugiaputty Street. Phone, B.B. 4074.
5 Hastings Street. Phone,
Cal 1972.
139/3 Russa Road. Phone,
South 1121.
Comilla Union Bank, Ltd.—10 Clive Street.
Phone, Cal 5877.
Continental Bank of Asia, Ltd.—102/1
Clive Street. Phe., Cal. 5890
Branch— 93 Rash Behari Avenue. Phone, South 480.
East Bengal Bank, Ltd.—102/1 Clive
Street. Phone. Cal. 4989.
Eastern Bank. Ltd.—9 Clive Street. Phone,
Cal. 5355.
Federated Commercial Bank, Ltd.—9 Clive
Row. Phe., Cal. 2965.
Grindlay & Co., Ltd.—6 Church Lane-
Phone, Cal. 14.
Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation—31 Dalhousie Square. Phone.
Cal. 3205.
Imperial Bank of India—1, 2 &
3 Strand Road. Phone, Cal. 7140.
Branches -154 Russa Road. Phone,
South 1027.
195 Harrison Road. Phone,
B.B. 1027.
8 Clive Street. Phone.
Cal. 2178.
9 Grand Trunk Road.
Phone, Howrah 420.
Galstaun Mansions, Park
Street. Phone, Cal. 1977
138/2 Cornwallis Street.
Phone, B.B. 4612.
Incorporated Bank, Ltd.—3 Commercial
Buildings. Phe., Cal. 5226.
India Associated Bank, Ltd.—14 Clive
Street. Phone. Cal, 1744.
Karnani Industrial Bank, Ltd.—3 Synagogue
Street. Phe., B.B. 497.
Lloyd’s Bank, Ltd.—101/1 Clive Street.
Phone, Cal. 4520.
Branch—37
Chowringhee Road. Phone, Cal. 780.
Luxmi Industrial Bank, Ltd.—84
Chowringhee. Phe., P.K. 1168.
Mercantile Bank of India, Ltd.—8 Clive
Street. Phone. Cal. ,830.
Branch—21 Grand Trunk Road. Phone,
Howrah 100.
National Bank of India, Ltd.—104 Clive
Street, Phone, Cal. 5396.
National City Bank of New York—4 Clive
Street. Phone, Cal. 3875.
National Mercantile Bank, Ltd.—14 Hare
Street. Phone, Cal. 6264.
Nederlandsch Indische Handelsbank, N.
V. (Netherlands-India Commercial Bank)—l Royal Exchange Place. Phone. Cal.
2861.
P. & 0, Banking Corporation, Ltd.—l
Fairlie Place. Phe., Cal. 5686.
Punjab National Bank, Ltd.—135/136
Canning St. Phone, Cal. 919.
Reserve Bank of India—8 Council House
Street. Phone, Cal. 6140.
The Issue Department, Calcutta Branch, is housed
at the Currency Office, 1 Dalhousie Square East. Phone, Cal. 3942.
Tho’m. Cook & Son (Banker’s) Ltd.—4
Dalhousie Square East. Phone, Cal. 5560-
Union Bank of Bengal, Ltd.—8 Clive
Street. Phone, Cal. 916.
Branch—Lake Road Market. Phone,
South 1127.
Yokohama Specie Bank, Ltd.—102/1 Clive
Street. Phe., Cal. 5211.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
Allianz und Stuttgarter Life Insurance Bank, Ltd.— 4 Esplanade East, Phone, Cal, 3337.
AH India United Assurance Co., Ltd.—102 Clive Street.
Phone, Cal. 4552.
Asiatic
Government Security Life Assurance Co., Ltd.—15 Clive Street. Phone, Cal.
35-10.
Assicurazioni
Generali. Branch Office for India—6 Clive Row. Phone, Cal. 3015.
Atlas Assurance Co.. Ltd. (with which is incorporated The
Manchester Assurance Co.) —4 Clive Row. Phone, Cal. 6992.
Batavia Sea & Fire Insurance Co., Ltd.—4 Lyons Range.
Phone, Cal. 4358.
Bengal Insurance and Real Property Co., Ltd.—2 Church Lane.
Phone. Cal. 5842.
Bengal Mercantile Life Insurance Co., Ltd.—1 Mission Row.
Phone, Cal. 5185.
Bharat Insurance
Co.,
Ltd.—3
Chittaranjan Avenue. Phone, Cal. 2646
Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society, Ltd.—100 Clive
Street. Phone, Cal. 4274.
British India General Insurance Co., Ltd.—2 Old Court House
Corner. Fhone, Cal. 6645.
Calcutta
Insurance. Ltd.—86 Clive Street. Phone, Cal. 700.
Caledonian Insurance
Co,.—B3 Clive Buildings, Clive Street. Phone, Cal. 2560-
Century Insurance Co.. Ltd.—B3 Clive
Buildings, Clive Street. Phone, Cal. 2560.
China Fire Insurance Co., Ltd.—8 Clive Street.
Phe., Cal. 3698.
Clive Insurance Co.. Ltd.—8 Clive Street.
Phone, Cal. 6669.
Commercial Union Assurance Co., Ltd-—32 Dalhousie
Square. Phone, Cal. 1
Cornhill Insurance
Co., Ltd.—6 Clive Row. Phone, Cal., 3015
Eagle Star & British Dominions Insurance Co., Ltd.—21
Strand Road. Phone, Cal. 3712
Eastern Federal Union Insurance Co. Ltd.—9 Clive Street.
Phone, Cal. 7060.
Empire of India
Life Assurance Co.. Ltd.—28 Dalhousie Square- Phone, Cal- 2046.
Fine Art & General Insurance Co.. Ltd.—103 Clive
Street. Phone, Cal. 4320.
General Accident, Fire & Life Insurance Corporation,
Ltd.— 7 Hare Street. Phone, Cal. 3171.
Hindusthan Co-operative Insurance Society, Ltd. —Hindusthan
Buildings, 6A Surendra Nath Baneriee Road. Phone, Cal 1173.
Indian Life Assurance Co., Ltd.—41 Stephen
House, Dalbousie Square. Phone, Cal. 936.
Indian Mercantile
Insurance Co.. Ltd.—22 Carmine Street. Phone, Cal. 2127.
"La
Concorde" Insurance Co., Ltd. of Paris; (Branch Office for India)—6 Clive Row,
Phone, Cal. 3015.
Law Union & Rock Insurance Co., Ltd.—28 Dalhousie
Square West. Phone, Cal. 4926.
Liverpool &
London & Globe Innuance Co., Ltd.—26 Dalhousie Square. Phone, Cal. 1102.
Lloyds of London : (Agents, Maitland-Heriot & Co.)—5
Clive Row. Phone, Cal. 78.
London & Lancashire Insurance Co., Ltd.—2 Fairlie Place.
Phone, Cal. 5100.
London &
Scottish Assurance Corporation, Ltd.—7 Hare Street. Phone. Cal. 2818.
Manufacturers Life Insurance Co.,—27 Dalhousie
Square. Phone, Cal. 4210.
Metropolitan Insurance Co., Ltd.—4B Council House
Street. Phone, Cal. 2995.
Motor Union Insurance Co., Ltd.—1 &. 2 Old
Court House Corner. Phone, Cal. 3320.
National Employers' Mutual General Insurance Association.
Ltd. : (Agents, Maitland-Heriot & Co.)—101C Ballygunge Place. Phone, P.K.
1885.
National Fire
& General Insurance Co., Ltd.—7 Council House Street. Phone, Cal.
5726.
National Indian
Life Insurance Co., Ltd-—12 Mission Row. Phone, Cal. 6620.
National Mutual
Life Association of Australia. Ltd.— Chartered Bank Buildings, Clive Street.
Phone, Cal. 6040.
New Zealand Insurance Co., Ltd.—26 Dalhousie
Square West. Phone, Cal. 5008.
North British
& Mercantile Insurance Co.. Ltd.—101/1 Clive Street. Phone, Cal.
4733.
Northern
Assurance Co., Ltd.—7 Hare Street. Phone, Cal. 2818.
Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society, Ltd.—2 Hare Street.
Phone, Cal. 97.
Norwich Union
Mutual Life Insurance Society—6 Lyons Range. Phone, Cal. 4700.
Ocean Accident & Guarantee Corporation, Ltd.—32 Dalhousie
Square- Phone, Cal. 1022.
Oriental
Government Security Life Assurance Co., Ltd.— 2 Clive Row. Phone,
Cal. 500.
Phoenix Assurance Co., Ltd.—28 Dalhousie
Square. Phe, Cal. 95.
Prudential Assurance Co., Ltd.—8 Clive St.
Phone, Cal. 6666.
Queensland Insurance Co., Ltd.—1 Clive Ghat
Street. Phone, Cal. 2591.
Royal Exchange
Assurance Corporation—1 & 2 Old Court House Corner. Phone, Cal. 2000.
Royal Insurance
Co., Ltd.—26 Dalhousie Square. Phone, Cal 55.
Scottish Union & National Insurance Co., Ltd.—6 Lyons Range-
Phone, Cal. 3000.
South British Insurance Co., Ltd.—3/5 Clive
Street. Phone, Cal. 5320.
South Indian General Assurance Co., Ltd.—9 Dalhousie
Square East- Phone, Cal. 2359.
Standard Lire
Assurance Coy.—32 Dalhousie Square South. Phone, Cal, 1801.
Sun Lire
Assurance Co. of Canada—12 Dalhousie Square East. Phone, Cal- 1387.
Union Insurance
Society of Canton, Ltd.—8 Clive Street. Phone, Cal. 3698.
Unique Assurance
Co., Ltd.—lA Vansittart Row.Phe., Cal. 1719
United India Life Assurance Co.. Ltd.—21 Chittaranjan
Avenue South. Phone, Cal. 6170.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
Then I went to Comilla
where they seemed to have more than their share of vultures. This was more
barren, nothing, like Cawnpore. A "Burra Sahib" ran the stores. When
you bought goods, you received cardboard money as change. He had crudely
stamped the shape and value of coins on cut up boxes that had contained packets
of "Woodbine" cigarettes. When chaps were posted, it was always early
in the morning and they always had a few annas in cardboard, which were
worthless outside the camp. We kicked up a din and a plane was flown to Calcutta to get change. So we were told anyway! The change lasted
about a week and then we were back to cardboard. I bet the Burra (big) Sahib
made a fortune. Hundreds of chaps must have passed through that camp. The work
was just the same as at the other camps.
(source: A6781584 Walthamstow Wanderer 3 at BBC WW2 People's War' on http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/
Oct 2006)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with the original
submitter/author)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anderson Wright & Co. Merchants and Agents—22 Strand Road. Phone, Cal.
4300.
Andrew Yule & Co., Ltd. Managing
Agents for Jute Mills, Tea Estates, Coal Companies, Insurance
Companies, Steamer Companies, etc.—8 Clive Row. Phone, Cal. 5280.
Balmer Lawrie & Co., Ltd. Merchants,
Engineers and. Managing Agents for Electrical and Coal Companies, Paper and
Flour Mills, Tea Estates, etc,—103 Clive Street. Phone, Cal. 4320.
Barry & Co. —Agents for Gourepore
Paint Co., Tea Estates, etc.—2 Fairlie Place. Phone, Cal. 5100.
Bess Dunlop & Co., Ltd. Merchants and
Managing Agents for Tea Estates, Sugar Companies, Jure and Textile Mills—2 Hare
Street, Phone, Cal. 4335.
Bird & Co. Merchants and Managing
Agents for Jute Mills, Collieries, Indian Patent Stone : Labour Contractors,
etc—Chartered Bank Building, Royal Exchange Place. Phone, Cal. 6040.
Birla Brotherts Ltd. Managing Agents for
Jute, Cotton, Sugar and Rice Mills, etc. —3 Royal Exchange Place. Phone. Cal.
562.
Daulatram Rawatmull. Agents for Jute and
Sugar Mills—178 Harrison Road. Phone, B.B. 4501.
Davenport & Co., Ltd. Merchants and
Managing Agents for Tea Companies—6 Church Lane. Phone, Cal. 6220.
Duncan Brothers & Co., Ltd. Managing Agents for Jure Mills, Tea Companies,
etc—101 Clive Street. Phone, Cal. 5411.
Finlay, James, & Co.. Ltd. Agents for Jute, Tea, Railway and Sugar
Companies—1 Clive Street. Phone, Cal. 4600.
Gillanders Arbuthnot & Co. Merchants,
Bankers and Importers : Managing Agents for Jute Mills, Tea Estates.
Collieries, Railways, Insurance, Timber, Building and Engineering Companies,
etc.—Clive Buildings, 8 Clive Street. Phone, Cal. 6666.
Harrisons & Crosfield, Ltd. Merchants and Agents for Steamship and
Tea Companies, etc.—6 Church Lane. Phone, Cal. 6220.
Heilgers, F. W. & Co. General
Merchants and Agents for Collieries, Jure, Oil, Paper Mills; Paint Works,
etc.—Chartered Bank Buildings, Royal Exchange Place. Phone, Cal. 6040.
Henderson, George, & Co.. Ltd. Agents
for Insurance, Jute and Tea Companies—101/1 Clive Street. Phone, Cal. 4733.
Holmes, Wilson & Co., Ltd. Managing
Agents for Britannia Building &. Iron Co., Ltd. and The Scar Iron
Works—Central Bank Building. 100 Clive Street. Phone, Cal. 3376.
Jardine, Skinner & Co. Merchants and
Agents fot Jute Mills, Tea Estates; Coal, Insurance, Steamship Companies, etc.—1
Clive Row. Phone. Cal. 6990.
Kedarnath Ramnath & Co. Merchants and
Proprietors, Shiva Jute Press -130 Mechuabazar Street. Phone, B.B. 3850.
Kettlewell Bullen & Co., Ltd.
Merchants; Agents for Tea and Insurance
Companies, Cotton and Jute Mills, etc.—21 Strand Road. Phone, Cal. 4901.
Keymer Bagshawe & Co., Ltd. Engineers; Agents for Jute and Textile Companies, Coates Bros', printing
inks, etc.—4 Lyons Range. Phone, Cal. 530.
Lyall Marshall & Co. Merchants and
Agents for Carew &. Co. (Gin Manufacturers), Tea Estates, etc.—4 Fairlie
Place. Phe., Cal. 168.
McLeod & Co.. Ltd. Merchants and
Agents for Tea, Jute. Railway, Engineering and Insurance Companies—McLeod
House, 28 Dalhousie Square West, Phone, Cal- 4926-
Macneill & Co. Merchants and Agents
for ]ute Mills, Rope and Coal Companies. Tea Estates and Garden Reach
Workshops, Ltd.— 2 Fairlie Place. Phone, Cal. 6100.
Octavius Steel & Co. Ltd. Merchants and Agents for Tea Estates,
Sugar and Coal Companies—14 Old Court House St, Phe., Cal. 146.
Planters Stores & Agency Co., Ltd. Agents for Tea Gardens,
Colliery and Mill Scores -11 Clive Street.
Phone, Cal. 5808.
Shaw Wallace & Co. Merchants and
Agents for Tea and Insurance Companies, Flour and Cotton Mills, Collieries, The
Atlas Fertilizer Works and The Tinplate Co. of India, Ltd.— Wallace House, 4/5
Bankshall Street. Phone. Cal. 5300.
Turner Morrison & Co., Ltd. Merchants
and Agents for Collieries and Tar Products. Steamer Companies and Rope Works—6
Lyons Range. Phone, Cal. 5l22.
Williamson, Magor & Co. Agents for
Venesta, Ltd., Union Oil Co., Tea Companies, etc.—4 Mangoe Lane- Phone,
Cal. 5208.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
I remember Dalhousie Square well and McLeod and
Co as well as the H.Q.s of the majority of British companies operating in
India. My Dad worked at IG & RS River Steam Navigation Co at 4 Fairley
Place which is off Dalhousie Square, alongside BISN, McKinnon McKenzie, Kilburn
& Co, Jenson & Nicholson and many many more. Just across the road was
the HQ for the Railways and at the end of Fairley Place was the River and all
the Ghats. Dalhousie Square was the commercial hub of our city and probably
still is.
I think we
had to be more tactful. My husband had various government connections and when
he made a speech he had to be very careful because the Indians are sensitive
people. If he felt that they were in the wrong - as they often probably were -
he had to choose his words carefully. Before partition we were the government
and then it was much easier to say what you thought.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Trevor Royle 1989)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMERCE AND TRADE: The great jute industry of
Bengal, the tea industry of Assam, the coal and mica industries of Bengal and
Bihar, the wheat traffic of the United Provinces and generally the agricultural
areas tapped by the main lines of the East Indian and Bengal Nagpur and the
Eastern Bengal Railways and by numerous waterways connecting the Gangetic delta
with the interior of Bengal and Assam all converge on Calcutta. Through
Calcutta passes roughly one-half of the total sea-borne traffic of India.
(source: “A Guide Book to Calcutta, Agra, Delhi,
Karachi and Bombay” The American Red Cross and the China-Burma-India-Command.
[1943]: at:
http://cbi-theater-2.home.comcast.net/redcross/red-cross-india.html#INDIA)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with the original
submitter/author)
A. E. G. India Electric Co., Ltd.
Electrical Engineers and Contractors for electrical goods and appliances—Avenue
House, Chowringhee Square. Phone, Cal, 5763.
Adair Dutt & Co., Ltd. Merchants,
Agents and Dealers in chemicals and surveying instruments—5 Dalhousie Square.
Phone, Cal. 444.
Air Conditioning Corporation, Ltd. Agents
for air conditioning plant and equipment—8 Esplanade Mansions- Phone, Cal.
1076.
Allen Berry & Co., Ltd. Automobile Engineers, oxy-acetylene and
electric welders and motor car importers—Works, 62 Hazra Road. Phone, P.K.
1800. Showrooms
, 24B Park Street. Phone, P.K. 2100.
Alfred Herbert (India) Ltd. Agents for
machine tools and work-shop equipment—13/3 Strand Road, Phone. Cal. 4800.
Amritlal Ojha & Co., Ltd. Merchants,
Agents and Exporters of coal, rice, gunny, etc.—102/A Clive Street. Phone, Cal.
6476.
Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. (India) Ltd.—31
Dalhousie Square. Phone, Cal. 5150.
Antoine Bentz. Manufacturers' Representative
for pharmaceutical patent medicines, perfumery, paper, etc.—5 Dalhousie Square.
Phone, Cal. 1838.
Arathoon, A, M., Ltd.—Manufacturer and
Exporter of shellac and button lac—11 Stephen House, Dalhousie Square. Phone,
Cal. 5905.
Asbestos & Belting Co., Ltd.—Agents
for asbestos and belting—2 Clive Ghat Street. Phone, Cal. 977.
Atherton, G. & Co. (Eastern) Ltd.
General Merchants, Importers and Manufacturers' Agents—4 Mission Row. Phone,
Cal. 393.
Baltey & Kemp. Merchants, Agents and Contractors: Garage Equipment
Specialists—P6 Mission Row Extension. Phone, Cal. 4981.
Birkmyre Brothers. Manufacturers and
Agents for hair and leather belting—8 Clive Row. Phone, Cal. 4430.
Blackwood Bryson & Co., Ltd. General Merchants ;
Agents for Coleman Lamps, Underwood Typewriters, etc.—2 Mangoe Lane.
Phone, Cal. 283.
Burmah-Shell Oil Storage & Distributing Co. of India. Ltd.— Hongkong
House, Dalhousie Square. Phone, Cal. 5150.
Burn & Co., Ltd. Engineers and Agents
; potteries, ironworks and waggon builders—12 Mission Row. Phone, Cal. 6030.
Butto Kristo Paul & Co., Ltd.
Manufacturers and Agents for chemical and pharmaceutical preparations—1
&. 3 Bonfield Lane. Phone, Cal. 4510.
Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation, Ltd.—Phone,
Cal. 6200. P. 24.
Carrara Marble & Terrazzo Co., Ltd. Importers and Dealers in marble, tiles
and mosaics—P12 Mission Row Extension. Phone, Cal. 4229.
Carreras (India) Ltd. Cigarette and
Tobacco Manufacturers and Agents—Factory, Circular Garden Reach Road. Phone,
South 202. Office, 21 Old Court House Street. Phone, Cal. 2369.
Dewar, John & Sons, Ltd. Wine
Merchants—Dewar House, 12 &. 13
Hare Street. Phone, Cal. 1077.
Dickinson, John, & Co., Ltd. Paper
Merchants and Agents for machinery and printing materials—6 Clive Row. Phone,
Cal, 6940.
Elias, B. N. & Co., Ltd. Bone
Mill Proprietors and Agents for The National Tobacco Co., Ltd., etc—Norton
Buildings. Phone, Cal. 668.
Frank Ross & Co., Ltd.
Manufacturing Chemists and Dealers Inphotographic goods—15(7 Chowringhee
Road. Phone, Cal. 1199.
General Electric Co. (India) Ltd.—Electrical
Engineers and Contractors : Agents for
electrical goods and appliances—Magnet House, Central Avenue. Phone, Cal. 4613.
Hoyle. Robson, Barnett & Co, (India) Ltd.
Paint Manufacturers. Agents of Silvertown Lubricants (India) Ltd.—26 Middle
Road, Entally. Phone, Cal. 5610.
Imperial Chemical Industries (India) Ltd.
Sole Distributors in India, Burma and Ceylon for chemical fertilizers and dye
products. Kynoch's, EIcy's and Nobel Cartridges, etc—18 Strand Road. Phone,
Cal. 2165.
Imperial Tobacco Co. of India, Ltd.
Cigarette and Tobacco ManufactureTS and Agents—Virginia House, 37 Chowringhee
Road. Phone, Cal. 4815.
Ispahani, M. M., Ltd. Merchants and
Agents for tea, hides, produce and shellac —51 Ezra Street. Phone, Cal. 3561.
Japan Cotton Trading Co., Ltd. Importers
of cotton piece goods and silk yarn—15 Clive Street. Phone, Cal. 7000.
Jones,Ivan, Ltd. Merchants and
Manufacturers Agents—8 Dalhousie Square. Phone, Cal. 1029. Workshops and
Factory, 206 Lower Circular Road. Phone. P.K. 390.
Fitze, Samuel, & Co., Ltd. Wine Merchants :
Agents for Elgin Mills and Brushware, Ltd.—26 Chowringhee Road. Phone, Cal.
463.
Francis Klein & Co. Ltd. Machinery
Merchants and Agents—1 Royal Exchange Place. Phone, Cal. 4620.
Kodak, Ltd. Agents for cameras and
photographic materials— 17 Park Street. Phone, Cal. 6650.
Krupp Indian Trading Co., Ltd. Railway
equipment and locomotives—22 Canning Street. Phone, Cal. 3430.
Remfry & Son. Patent and Trade
Mark Agents—Stephen House, Dalhousie Square. Phone, Cal. 593.
Remington Rand Inc. Typewriters,
duplicators and accessories— 3 Council House Street. Phone, Cal. 6930.
Stewarts and Lloyds of India, Ltd.
Manufacturers and Stockists of wrought iron, steel tubes and fittings—Victoria
House, Chowringhee Square. Phone. Cal. 6180. Workshops, Hide Road, Kidderpore.
Phone. South 569.
Thomson, T. E., & Co., Ltd. Founders,
Hardware and Metal Merchants—9 Esplanade East. Phone, Cal. 102.
Thornycroft (India) Ltd. Agents for
Thornycroft Commercial Vehides—60 Chowringhee Road. Phone, P. K. 1796.
Wakefield, C. C., & Co., Ltd.
Manufacturers and Importers of lubricating oils and lubricators—7 Royal
Exchange Place. Phe., Cal. 986.
William Jack & Co. Engineers and
Importers of pneumatic tools caterpillar tractors, etc-—10 Clive Street.
Phone, Cal. 981.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
British Paints,(India) Limited – Chowringhee Road
It was a
new job of a quasi-diplomatic kind, to represent in Delhi a group of interests of
which the chief constituent was Assocham - short for the Associated Chambers of
Commerce and Industry in India - whose membership was predominantly, but not
entirely, British. Their headquarters were in Calcutta, the commercial capital
of India, but at an awkward distance from the seat of government. Mountbatten
and Ismay, whom I had consulted, had encouraged me to accept this offer of
employment, arguing that British business interests in India, which were
considerable, would need a representative in the capital to advise them in the
new political context.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Trevor Royle 1989)
So I left school at the end of that year and got
a job as a shorthand typist- The man had advertised for one girl but he
eventually took on all the three who applied. At the end of the month he called
us in and said "I'm very sorry girls but I cannot pay you. But I will get
you jobs." We were supposed to receive the princely sum of sixty rupees -
three pounds per month. True to his word he sent us all off with letters to
various friends of his. He sent me to a place called The Anglo Iranian Oil
Company. It was a small - one- man business. This man had two girls who
literally ran the office and he used to take on juniors and try it on with
them.
[…]
I had to leave this job because of sexual
harrassment by my boss. He would call me into his office and then start
pestering me to go out with him. When I refused he became quite nasty and
eventually he told me he did not need my services any longer. By that lime, I
had already decided that the job was not for me and was about to give in my
notice but he pre-empted that.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Location
:—Esplanade Row (West).
Trams:—Park Circus to High Court via Harrison and
Strand Roads:Sealdah to High Court via Bow Bazar Street and Dalhousie
:Dalhousie to High Court (on weekdays only), 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Buses
.—Nil.
This
splendid edifice of Gothic architecture, with a handsome tower 180 feet high,
was designed by Walter Granville, who is said to have been inspired by the Town
Hall of Ypres, Belgium. The foundation stone was laid in 1864 and the building,
erected on the site of the old Supreme Court, successor to the old Court House
in Dalhousie Square, was completed in 1872.
The
structure takes the shape of a rectangle built on the four sides of a
quadrangle, the interior having arcaded cloisters which give access to various
Courts and Legal Apartments.
Ascending
the main staircase we reach the first landing, adorned with a bust of Sir C. M.
Ghose, while right above in the southern corridor is a statue of Sir Edward
Hyde East, (Chief Justice, 1813-1822) by Chantrey.
On the
first floor, on the right, is a bust of Baron Sinha of Raipur, and farther down
the corridor, one of Sir R. C. Mitter. On the left is a bust of Sir Rash Behari
Ghose, and, let into the wall, a tablet to the memory of Syed Amir Ali. The
various Courts, the Judges' and Bar Libraries, and the offices of the Registrar
are on the first floor. The walls of the different Courts and offices are lined
with portraits of members of the legal professions; particularly noteworthy
among these is one of Sir Elijah Impey, (first Judge of the Supreme Court) by
Zoffany. In the Meeting Room of the Judges' Library are two finely executed oil
paintings of their Majesties King Edward VII and King George V. The
Administrator-General and the Legal Remembrancer have their offices on the top
floor.
From the
lofty tower over the main entrance, a splendid view of Calcutta and the river
Hooghly can be obtained.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
Location
:—Esplanade Row (West).
Trains
:—Park Circus to High Court
via Harrison and Strand Roads:Sealdah to High Court via Bow Bazar Street and
Dalhousie:Dalhousie to High Court (on week days only), 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Buses
:—Nil.
The
Bengal Legislative Council House, facing the Eden Gardens on the south, with
the Town Hall overlooking it on the north, stands in well-laid out grounds,
adorned with the statues of the Earl of Ronaldshay, Governor of Bengal
(1917-1922) and now Secretary of State for India ; Edwin Samuel Montagu,
Secretary of State for India (1917-1922) and Lord William Bentinck, the first
Governor-General of India, whose administration from 1828 to 1835 was marked by
a number of outstanding events, particularly noteworthy among which were the
drawing up of the Indian Penal Code, the suppression of Thuggee, and, in 1829,
the abolition of Suttee. A bas-relief on the pedestal of the statue, depicting
the performance of Suttee (widow-burning) commemorates the event. The
inscription is from the pen of Lord Macaulay, Law Member of the Supreme Council
(1834-1838).
The
building, of modern architecture, was designed by J. Greaves, London, and
constructed by Messrs. Martin & Co., Calcutta, at a cost of Rs. 21,34,000.
The foundation stone was laid by Sir Stanley Jackson, then Governor of Bengal,
on the 9th July 1928, and the building formally opened by him on the 9th
February 1931.
Both
externally and internally the Council building is a magnificent structure,
worthy of its name and high office: it is fitted throughout with an
air-conditioning plant, and the electric installation within is entirely
concealed. Access to the Chamber is gained from the south, east and north, the
entrance to the Gallery being on the west. There are 38 electric clocks in the
building, controlled by the one in the Enquiry Office. When the house is
sitting a Union Jack flies from the southern porch by day, and a blue light
burns from the top of the flagstaff by night.
The
usual entrance for members is by the south-east gate at Auckland Road. Entering
and crossing the grounds we arrive at the southern porch, and, ascending a
short flight of steps, find ourselves in the Entrance Hall, the flooring of
which, as that of the vestibule adjoining, is of beautifully-designed coloured
marble.
On the
left of the Entrance Hall is the Enquiry Office;
on the
right, the lift. Wide marble staircases on either side lead to the upper
floors. Eight marble pillars support the roof of the vestibule and from the
dome above hangs a sea-green electrolier with concealed lighting. Oil paintings
of King Edward VII and King George V adorn the walls.
The
Bengal Legislature consists of an Upper House of 63 members with the President
in the Chair, and a Lower House of 250 members with the Speaker in the Chair.
The
Council Chamber, a beautiful circular hall, is 64 feet in height and 304 feet
in circumference, and is illuminated by concealed lighting from the dome
overhead. The benches, of solid teakwood, polished to a light-oak shade, are
covered with striped material of rich texture and pleasing design. On the
north, under a handsomely carved canopy, is the Presidential Chair of mahogany,
bearing the Royal Coat of Arms. In front of the Presidential Chair is the
Secretary's table, on which, upon a cushion, lies the Silver Mace, the symbol
of the House's dignity and privileges; next is a table for the clerks of the
Administrative and Council staff and, in the well of the Chamber, one for the
Council reporters.
On the
right of the Presidential Chair sit the Premier and his Cabinet Ministers; next
are the Moslems who, with the Scheduled Cast Hindus, other Hindu supporters of
the Government and the Nationalists, form the Coalition; then come the
Europeans, occupying the benches directly opposite the Presidential Chair, with
the Anglo-Indians and the Indian Christians in the rear.
On the
left of the Chair are the Opposition groups, consisting of the Congress,
Krishak Proja, Independent, Independent Proja, the Scheduled Castes, etc. The benches behind the Cabinet Ministers are
occupied by the Government officials; those behind the Coalition by the Press
reporters.
On State
occasions, the Governor takes the chair under the canopy, with the President on
his right and the Speaker on his left; but on informal visits, the Governor
occupies his box in the Gallery overlooking the Presidential Chair. On these occasions the Governor's suite sits
on his right and the President's and Speaker's guests on his left. To the left
is the Ladies' Gallery, and on
the right the Public Gallery. The distinguished visitor occupy the Gallery above the Presidential
Chair.
Along
the south corridor, on the left, are the Part Leaders' retiring rooms, and
elaborate up-to-date service rooms; on the right is the Library, the walls of
which are of a pale-green colour with buff facings. Over the mantle piece hangs
an oil painting of Sir E. N. Baker, Lieutenant Governor of Bengal (1908-1911).
In the north corridor are retiring rooms for the President, the Speaker, the
Premier and Cabinet Ministers.
Returning
to the Entrance Hall and ascending the staircase on the left, lined with a
marble bust of Sir I. C. Mitter, and oil paintings of Nawab Sir Shamsul Huds,
Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Choudhury of Santosh, S. William Prentice and the
Maharajah of Nadia, we gain the Members' Writing Room, comfortably fitted with
upholstered easy chairs and adorned with the portraits of Lord Carmichael, the
Earl of Ronaldshay, Lord Lytton and Sir Stanley Jackson, former Governors of
Bengal.
To the
right along the corridor is the Refreshment Room, a spacious and pleasant
apartment, on the walls of which hang twelve photographs of former Lieutenant
Governors of Bengal. In the northern corridor are the Committee Room, the
Secretaries' Rooms, the Record Rooms and retiring rooms for Cabinet Ministers.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corner bookstalls, specializing in lurid novels,
sex treatises, are fascinating spots for British and American soldiers
alike. Typical titles, "The
Escapades of Erotic Edna", "Kama Sutra, The Hindu Art of Love".
(source:
webpage http://oldsite.library.upenn.edu/etext/sasia/calcutta1947/? Monday, 16-Jun-2003 / Reproduced by courtesy of David N. Nelson,
South Asia Bibliographer, Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania)
The Calcutta counterpart of the American
railroad magazine stand. Available are
canes, suitcases, soda water, shopping bags, cigarettes and a hundred other items
peculiar to the Indian taste.
(source: webpage
http://oldsite.library.upenn.edu/etext/sasia/calcutta1947/? Monday, 16-Jun-2003 / Reproduced by courtesy of David N. Nelson,
South Asia Bibliographer, Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania)
Bourne & Shepherd. Artists and
Photographer—141 Corporation Street. Phone, Cal. 658.
Oxford Book & Stationery Co. Booksellers and
Lending Librarians —17 Park Street. Phone, Cal. 1613.
Thacker Spink & Co. (1933) Ltd.
Booksellers, Publishers, Stationers and Printers—3 Esplanade East- Phone, Cal.
176.
Butlerworth & Co. (India) Ltd. Law
and Medical Book Publishers- Avenue House, Chowringhee Square- Phone. Cal.
2900.
Reuters, Ltd. News Agency : General,
Commercial, Financial and News Services—7 Hare Street. Phone, Cal. 100.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non commercial
educational research project. The copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
To the east of Victoria House and separated from
it by a roadway, marking the entrance to Central Avenue, is Statesman House, a
stately building of modern architecture, designed by Sudlow, Bailardie and
Thompson. The foundation stone was laid by Lord Willingdon, Viceroy and
Governor-General of India, on the 9th December, 1931, and the
building formally opened by Sir John Anderson, then Governor of Bengal,
on the 18th January, 1933.
The shape of the site settled the main lines of
the Statesman House, and its designers were able to obtain considerable dignity
for the main front by setting it back from the roadway in a broad sweep. The
colonnades, which run through two storeys of the structure, emphasise the
importance and dignity of the main entrance.
"The
Statesman" had a foster parent in "The Friend of India," a
paper which was starred in 1817 at Serampore by the famous missionaries, Carey,
Marshman and Ward. This paper was bought in 1875 by the journalist Mr. Robert Knight, who was then running a
paper under the name of "The Indian Statesman." For some years after the
purchase both papers were printed independently, and when Mr. Knight decided to
merge the one with the other, reluctant chat " The Friend of India "
should disappear altogether, he incorporated its ride with "The Indian
Statesman," and a paper "The Statesman and Friend of India" was
published for some time, Later the name was changed to "The Statesman
(with which The Friend of India is incorporated)".
With the passage of years The Statesman has
gradually grown in popularity, size and importance and today holds the record
for the largest circulation in the East. It publishes the latest news from the
world over and carries a wide variety of advertisement. The Statesman also
publishes a "Weekly Overseas Edition".
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair
dealing' terms as part of a non commercial educational research project. The
copyright remains with John Barry 1940)
DURING the week-end died Mr P. N. Guha, who was
for many years a member of The Statesman's staff, and as its Indian Contributor
had an important place of his own in Indian Journalism. This he had won by a
long career in the service of newspapers in the mofussil and in Calcutta and by
a long participation in public life. While connected with this journal he was a
member of the Bengal Council and the Calcutta Corporation, to both of which he
was nominated by Government. His knowledge of men and forces, and a style of
his own in commenting on them, gave all he wrote an attractive individuality.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with The Statesman)
SOME little while ago we drew attention to a
Bill intended to be introduced in the Central Assembly with the object of
ensuring minimum standards of literacy for editors of newspapers.
That Bill has since come up for consideration,
and has failed to receive the respect so worthy a cause doubtless merits. One
of the main complaints against it appears to have been that it was a
"highbrow" measure, that it proposed to introduce minimum
qualifications for Journalists far in excess of those required for legislators,
if a man could become an M.L.A. (Central) without passing the Matriculation, or
indeed any examination, was it not in a manner insulting to the Legislature to
expect it to impose superior qualifications for Journalism ? This however is an
argument which cuts both ways.
Nevertheless it seems probable that the Bill
fell between two stools. While the standard to be imposed was high enough to
rouse the ire of self-made popular representatives, it might well be argued
that it was too low effectively to secure the objects intended. The possession
of a Matriculation Certificate does not inevitably guarantee the ability to
write legibly, punctuate intelligently or avoid the more common popular errors
(such, for example, as the belief that Frankenstein was a mechanical monster or
that it is possible to have more than two alternatives). Nor is mere literacy
the sole, or indeed the chief, qualification for running a newspaper. The mover
appeared in a dim way to recognize this, for he further stipulated that
aspirants should be debarred from becoming editors if guilty of "offences
involving moral turpitude." He was promptly if perhaps rather in a spirit
of levity, reminded that moral turpitude is no bar to any other profession,
including that of governing the country; indeed for some fields of endeavour it
is probably a qualification. Why then should journalists alone be forced by
governmental action into the path of virtue?
Whether editors are particularly in heed of
education is a debatable
point.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with The Statesman)
MR Robert Knight, second son of the founder of
The Statesman, has died at Eastbourne, after some years of illness.
With his elder brother Paul he served this
.paper finely for many years, and,
trained as an engineer, he carried great responsibilities in the years when
modern machinery was being introduced into newspaper offices in India. He left
India some twenty years ago, after 10 years of hard work in Calcutta as
engineer and business manager, and his health gave way a few years later.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with The Statesman)
For one day last week, India was practically
without news. More than 100 of India's newspapers suspended publication in a
one-day hartal (Indian sitdown strike). Only nine major papers appeared.
India's press is a hodgepodge. There are the British-owned
English-language papers: the Calcutta Statesman, the Bombay Times of India,
etc. There are few Moslem papers (some English-language, some native), like the
newly started Delhi Dawn of Obstructionist Mohamed Ali Jinnah. And there are
the liberal, Hindu-owned English-language and Hindu-language papers, like the
Calcutta Amrita Bazar Patrika and the Bombay Chronicle, that support Mohandas
Gandhi. These latter, in the majority, are always whole-hog for Indian
independence.
Before the war all Indian papers were fairly
free; there were restrictions, but the British seldom applied them. When war
came, Indian editors and British leaders agreed: 1) the press would not hamper
Britain's war effort; 2) the Government would permit the papers to go on demanding
Indian independence; 3) as a control, the Government retained the right to
close any obstreperous publication after giving the offending editor full
warning, a second chance. Things worked well until last August, when the
suppression of Gandhi's civil-disobedience campaign culminated in disorders.
Heavy Hand. India's press at once felt Britain's
heavy hand. Papers in Delhi were ordered to limit political trouble stories to
three columns, use headlines not higher than a fifth of an inch over them.
Elsewhere in India news offices were searched, some papers suppressed, some
editors arrested.
India's editors stood it as long as they could,
in late December decided to stage last week's hartal. They also decided to
refuse to print, thenceforth, any unnewsworthy British handouts or the speeches
of any British statesmen. On New Year's Day they failed to publish such routine
news as Britain's annual "honors list." Although the British-owned
Indian papers did not participate, they sympathized; the Calcutta Statesman
offered Indian-owned papers "our good will and . . . mediation. . .
."
Boomerang. Because Britain long encouraged the
teaching of English in Indian schools and colleges, Indians learned to like
their news in English, which explains why so many Indian papers are printed in
English. By watching the British press, Indians long ago learned that an
unfettered press is a steppingstone to freedom. Because they had good British
newsmen as models (Rudyard Kipling joined the Lahore Civil and Military Gazette
in 1882), Indians grew up to be Grade A journalists, dialectically skillful,
intensely nationalistic.
The British, faced with a rebellious Indian
press, this week had only to look to the past to see who was to blame. From
Britain herself, Indian editors had learned to value press freedom and to fight
for it.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Time Magazine)
If you want to talk to our correspondent in
Batavia, Java, his telephone number is (or was, recently) satuh duaw sambulan
toojoo. Ask for Robert Sherrod—but don't expect him to be there.
During the last six months Sherrod has traveled
25,000 miles trying to keep up with the news in Southeast Asia and the western
Pacific. The Pacific—from Attu to Iwo Jima —was his stamping ground in World
War II, and we sent him back there after the war on a roving commission to go
anywhere his news judgment dictated. His work to date is fairly typical of the
postwar trials, tribulations and rewards of a TIME correspondent.
He chose Java, and the Indonesian independence
movement, for his first major assignment and, in the process of reporting that
story, made two trips through territory forbidden to white men with Sjahrir,
Indonesian premier. He also spent some time with rebel leader Soetomo, a fiery
five-footer regarded by the Dutch as a most dangerous enemy. Soetomo's chief
lieutenant was a pint-sized woman, about 50 years old, who said she was born on
the Isle of Man, claimed U.S. citizenship through one of her marriages, and was
variously known as Miss Tantri, Miss Daventry, Miss Merdeka (freedom), and
Surabaya Sue (for her "freedom" broadcasts over the secret Indonesian
radio).
In the process of meeting and sizing up most of
the newsworthy people in his territory, Sherrod interviewed Mahatma Gandhi, who
told him with a twinkle in his eye: "I had assumed that Americans were to
be the new citizens of the world, but I find them all homesick lads."
Gandhi's opponent, Mohamed Ali Jinnah, leader of the Moslems, was not so easy
to get to. In fact, he wanted a year's subscription to TIME as the price of an
interview.
Like almost everything else in the postwar Far
East, transportation—like communications, a correspondent's lifeline—is a
shambles. Says Sherrod: "Covering a war was fairly simple, provided, of
course, you lived through it. There were public relations officers to make your
reservations, and nobody worried about priorities because the admirals and
generals wanted their war covered. Nowadays, it is every man for himself, and
it is a fight from beginning to end."
For instance, Sherrod tried for three days to
buy a plane ticket for a quick trip from New Delhi, India, to Shanghai (via
Calcutta and Manila). When he finally located the Air Transport Command officer
and gave him money for the passage, the ATCman promptly lost it. So Sherrod
bought another ticket and got to the airport just in time to watch his plane
taking off (they had given him the wrong departure time). In Calcutta, nobody
had even heard of his reservation for Manila. There, he found that his China
visa had not arrived and, to make things more difficult, a brand new
inoculation for plague had been ordered. That meant a seven-day wait.
Meanwhile, the ATCman in New Delhi had found the original passage money he
claimed Sherrod had not given him . . . etc. Eventually, Sherrod got to China.
Sherrod's recipe for riding out such exasperating
delays and frustrations is: a degree of patience, a sense of humor,
adaptability to changing conditions and an iron stomach.
"Furthermore," he says, speaking of his stomach as well as the scores
of tongues the Far East talks in, "thank God for the English language and
Chinese restaurants. They are familiar everywhere. And most of the people in
Asia who know English know TIME."
One of them is the leading dentist of New Delhi,
whose air-conditioned, neon-lighted office is a repository for TIME, LIFE, FORTUNE
and THE ARCHITECTURAL FORUM—all of which arrive there ahead of the TIME India
office's own airmailed copies. Sherrod, and others who tried unsuccessfully to
solve this mystery, are inclined to lay it to 1) a special "in" with
the customs officials, 2) the inscrutable East.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Time Magazine)
Edgar Baker of TIME-LIFE International, publishers and
distributors of our overseas editions,
returned last week from a six months' business trip to the South Pacific, Malaya and India, where he experienced the
usual quota of unexpected surprises and
contradictions.
In India, for instance, he found that sending telegrams
was a fruitless occupation because the operators were likely to mail the
message to its city of delivery, where
another operator retyped it on a telegraph form—both operators then
pocketing the difference. On the other hand many of India's top Hindu and
Moslem leaders went out of their way to
tell Baker that, in or out of jail, they would not be without their weekly copy of TIME.
[…]
In India, where Baker spent three months and traveled
15,000 miles by air, dockside strikes
and irregular mail delivery from TIME's branch printing plant in Cairo had accumulated quantities of unsold newsstand
copies of TIME. They were stacked in a
warehouse in the Moslem section of Calcutta and TLI's distributor, a
Hindu like most Indian businessmen, did
not dare try to recover them. Baker located a bearer who was a Christian and helped load the back copies of
TIME into a truck himself. Later, the
bearer, "a likeable, inoffensive little chap," was kidnapped
by a band of Moslems who mistook him
for a Hindu and wanted to kill him. He finally convinced them that he was
a Roman Catholic by showing his
crucifix and answering some questions about the Bible put by a mission-bred Moslem.
Incidents like this, combined with the economic
uncertainty that India's impending
partition has produced, made it almost impossible to do business there.
Nevertheless, Baker eventually managed
to straighten out TLI's Indian affairs. In the future, readers in Indonesia and India, like TIME's growing
audience of readers elsewhere overseas, will
be receiving their copies of TIME within a few days of our distribution
date in the U.S.
Cordially,
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Time Magazine)
Most of the
50,000 U.S. newsmen drudge along in their 40-hour-a-week (usually) jobs,
pushing pencils, punching typewriters, interviewing small fry, reporting the
drab doings of civic characters. Tom Treanor was one such unglamorous
unfortunate. But last week Tom Treanor was in Chungking.
Tom Treanor
is a columnist-correspondent, of the same general school as Ernie Pyle (TIME,
May 31). His cozy, comfortable, popular column, paradoxically called The Home
Front, appears daily in the Los Angeles Times.
His airmailed
articles (to save cable tolls) are angled for publication six weeks after
writing. They are bright vignettes—a picture of the five Italian bootleggers
who supply the U.S. Army in Ethiopia; American soldiers borrowing the
instruments of a Calcutta dance band and giving Calcuttans a taste of
boogie-woogie.
Tall,
handsome Thomas Stanly Treanor is 35 years old, with a mop of jet-black hair
and a shy face. He started out in routine fashion, reporting for Hearst papers
in Los Angeles (his home). Later he joined the Los Angeles Times as
woman's-page editor, in 1940 got his Home Front column to write.
In April
1942, he was on a tour of defense plants, when he decided to be a war
correspondent. He wired the Times, asked if it would pay his daily living
expenses if he could get a free bomber ride to the Middle East. The Times wired
him $1,500 and its blessing. Treanor invested $1,250 in a Pan American Airways
ticket, arrived in Cairo as Nazi Marshal Rommel approached Alexandria.
No Insignia.
The British refused to accredit him. His claim that he was the only
correspondent from a paper west of the Mississippi failed to impress them. Why,
they said, we've got plenty of correspondents from west of the Mississippi —
five from Chicago, for instance. Tom Treanor was not permitted to go near the
front.
He went
anyway. For 70¢ he bought a pair of correspondents' shoulder insignia. He
borrowed a British military truck, got to the lines, got back to Cairo before
the British Public Relations Officers knew he was gone. He sent letters to the
Times telling all. The British stripped him of his illegal insignia.
Then he
nosed around a rear R.A.F. base, finally wangled a free bomber ride to Malta,
then to Gibraltar. On the way back to Egypt, he saw the bombing of Navarino
Bay. The British P.R.O.s were furious, forbade him to ride in combat planes.
No Trouble.
Undaunted, Correspond ent Treanor sidled up to some New Zealanders, was taken
along into the Battle of El Alamein. Treanor went with them into enemy gunfire,
saw five days of the battle before the British discovered him. This time they
complained to the U.S. Army. Treanor was ordered by his paper to leave the Near
East, fast. The first plane out was one bound for India. Treanor hopped it.
In India, he
was finally accredited. He saw jungle fighting, in his spare time interviewed
maharajas. He went along when U.S. bombers plastered Rangoon, finally went
across the Himalayas into China.
As far as
the Times is concerned, he can go on being a foreign correspondent forever.
Probably no paper ever got war coverage as cheaply. Paid an estimated $125 a
week, Treanor gets along on $10 a day expense money, even in expensive Cairo,
where it costs most correspondents three times as much.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Time Magazine)
THE
Statesman regrets to announce the death at Eastbourne, England, last Saturday,
of Mr Paul Knight, son of Robert Knight, founder of The Statesman, and himself
its second editor and owner. Death came less than a year before the 75th
anniversary of The Statesman's birth—by conjunction with the older Friend of
India—which falls due in January next year.
The
senior of two remarkable brothers, Paul Knight was born in 1858 and succeeded
to ownership of the paper on his father's death in'1890. He was originally
destined for a mercantile career, and after leaving school entered a business
office in Manchester. There he remained until the early 'eighties, when he came
out to Calcutta to assist his father on The Statesman. He was taught the
technicalities of printing, circulation and management, and it was this
practical knowledge of all branches of newspaper work which eventually made The
Statesman under his editorship pre-eminent among its contemporaries.
The
paper had been fighting an uphill struggle to maintain itself. When Robert
Knight died, the property was mortgaged. With no capita! behind them Paul and
his brother Robert the younger had to maintain their mother and a large family
of brothers and sisters and at the same time make enough revenue out of The
Statesman to develop it and pay off the mortgage.
They
threw themselves into the task with ferocious energy, and for nearly 40 years
The Statesman's development became their sole interest in life. One who knew
them intimately has left it on record that "when they were not toiling at
it they were talking o£ it, dreaming about it, planning for it". Their
subsequent success shows what is possible when two able men, working in
harmony, devote all their physical, mental and spiritual resources to
attainment of one object.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with The Statesman)
MR lan Stephens has relinquished his editorship
of The Statesman. He is succeeded by Mr G. A. Johnson. Stephens has been Editor for nine years.
During this period there have been changes of unprecedented magnitude in this
sub-continent's affairs.
The first three years from August 1942 to August
1945, were dominated by World War II, and by the very abnormal conditions
created thereby throughout India and especially in Bengal.
They included also the great tragedy of the
Bengal Famine. Then came two years of political uncertainty and civil disorder,
culminating in the attainment of national independence and the subcontinent's
partition. The last four years have been a time of vigorous nation-building and
readjustment, and unfortunately also, in large part, of strained relations
between India and Pakistan.
Mr Stephen's editorship has, therefore, covered
a period of historic importance and exceptional stress, and The Statesman Ltd
extends to him its thanks and good wishes.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with The Statesman)
Both my grandfather and father were journalists,
my grandfather having started 'The Modern Review' which U Thant, first
Secretary-General of the United Nations, years later said "truly
represents the voice of freedom".
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Nandita Sen)
With his friends Ajit Sen, and few others Baba
started the Luce studio on Calcutta's busy Landsdowne Road.
Luce's portrait portfolio boasted of leading
cinema stars amongst other luminaries. This reputed photography studio shut
down sometime in the late seventies.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Rinki Bhattacharya 1994)
When N.T. engaged Baba as the chief
cinematographer for Devdas, his monthly salary was raised to a princely Rs.
400. At the time Benoy Chatterjee, the screen play writer of numerous N.T. box
office hits was receiving Rs. 125.
It was true however, that one could survive, if
not thrive, well even on Rs 30 in the early 30s. Arvind Sen [late film maker,
cousin of Monobina, onetime baba's assistant at New Theatre], recalls:
"Bimalda deserved the princely sum of Rs
400. It was after all in recognition of his exceptional talent."
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Rinki Bhattacharya 1994)
Q. You joined as a …?
A. As a laboratory assistant.
Q. How much was your salary then?
A. First six months I got nothing. Then my
monthly salary was fixed at Rs.10/-.
Q. How longs you worked for Rs.10/-?
A.There is a story behind it. I found interest
in editing. At that time, Biren Guha was the editor of Aurora. Though I learned
nothing from him. Very soon he resigned and Santosh Gangooly took the charge.
He taught me editing, aesthetically, practically. In 1942 Aurora was producing
a film 'Patibrata'. During its post production, suddenly the editor left the job
and the studio manager could not find out any other editor to complete the
film. Some of my colleagues proposed my name to Anadi babu. Though the manager
did not want to give me the chance, but anyway, I got the opportunity to edit
the film. I did it well. Several people praised my edit-work and I became the
permanent editor of Aurora. My salary jumped into Rs.150/- per month.
Q. Wow! It was a great jump!
A. Yah! After 'Patibrata', I edited all films,
produced by Aurora.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Sougata
Bhattacharya)
Q. What was an average cost for feature film at
that time?
A. As far I know, it needed Rs.30000/- to
produce Aurora's first full length talkie film, 'Patibrata'. It was in 1942. In
the 1950s, the average cost was around Rs.50000/-. Though our biographical
films like, 'Raja Rammohan' and 'Bhagini Nibedita' were more expensive due to
the sets, props and costumes. Moreover, few locations of 'Bhagini Nibedita'
were shot in London.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Sougata
Bhattacharya)
A. Several people took loan from Anadi babu by
pawning their equipment but could not pay off. Most of those equipment were
very old and ultimately useless. In this way Aurora got several cameras but
could not use those for shooting purpose.
Q. Your studio was also built in the same
process…
A. Once P.C.Barua took loan by mortgaging his
studio and could not pay back. Then Aurora claimed it at court and finally we
won the case. But according to the order we got very short time, only one
night, to occupy those things. At that time Aurora had a huge manpower. Within
a night, we could be able to take those all even every brick from Barua studio.
Later we built our own studio at Narkeldanga.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Sougata
Bhattacharya)
A. From 1938 Aurora started production of
'Aurora Screen News'. In fact, the touring party never stopped. Only shifted
from the exhibition of films to the production of documentaries. The team moved
entire Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Asam or United provinces and captured almost
every item they found interesting like from rituals to festivals or from
lifestyles to memorable events. Indeed,
we produced a lot. Aurora recorded speeches of several eminent personalities
like, Subhash Chandra Bose, Jwaharlal Nehru, Shyamaprasad Mukhopadhyay,
Rabindranath Tagore and so on. To capture a news regarding earthquake at
Muzaffarpur, Aurora hired an aeroplane to reach there.
Q. Was there a very good market of those
documentaries?
A. Not at all. Those were for free screening
purposes only. It was a passion of Anadibabu. Or perhaps, he could understand
the potentiality of Documentaries. But unfortunately, In 1946, all those were
damaged by fire.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Sougata
Bhattacharya)
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I was
taken to meet a left-wing editor functioning somewhere in one of the bustees,
up flight after flight of wobbly darkish wooden stairs—and certainly no fire
safety provision. It felt like being in the middle of the set for some really
nasty propaganda film.
(COPYRIGHT
NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Naomi
Mitchinson)
You asked about the images related to the
Calcutta Statesman newspaper. Yes, I did spend quite a bit of time in its
offices, visiting with its news gathering department and its mechanical
printing personnel. You see, I am a graduate of the University of Missouri
School of Journalism, so I was highly interested in newspapers and newspaper
publishing.
One day, while wandering around the Esplanade, I
looked up at the "Statesman" building, worked up enough nerve to just
walk up to the door and go in. In introduced myself and explained my interest
in newspapering -- and was literally received with open arms. A young man asked
me what I'd like to see. I was taken up to the news department -- and sadly,
now, I kept no record of names -- introduced to the Editor-in-chief. He called
several of the news staff and we had an interesting conversation about
newspapering in the US and in India. Many of the news people were interested in
the Missouri School of Journalism, wanted to know all about it. I had gone in
to the Statesman's office to learn about Indian newspapering and found I was
the one being questioned.
They took me up to the type composing room,
showed me the equipment they had, which was exactly like the machines we had on
my hometown newspaper where I had worked as a youngster. I said I could run a
"Linotype" typesetting machine, so they sat me down before one,
handed me a piece of copy and said, "OK, Yank, go to work!"
When I had soon batted out half-a-column of type
in a few minutes, I think they were ready to hire me on the spot if I could
have even considered such a thing. But, I had to tell them, "No, fellows,
I've got a job,"
I went back to the "Statesman" offices
frequently when in the center of Calcutta. I always felt welcome among other
newspaper people.
Even yet, when I call up their website, I feel a
thrill, for having been there among the staff so long ago.
(source: a series of E-Mail interviews with
Glenn Hensley between 12th June 2001 and 28th August
2001)
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced by permission of
Glenn Hensley)
We often walked down Chowringhee of an evening
passing all the newspaper vendors with their publications all neatly laid out
on the pavement and of course their American ciggies.
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The Indian Statistical Institute was in a great
garden centring on the house where Professor Mahalanobis and Ranee lived and
reigned and where I stayed that first time. There were marble floors cool to
the feet and soft rugs; there were pictures and books and objects of beauty of
historic interest. If you leant over the parapet of the roof, the scent of the
flowering mangoes came drifting up and someone would quote Tagore.
(COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Reproduced under 'fair dealing' terms as part of a non
commercial educational research project. The copyright remains with Naomi Mitchinson)
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