9. LaTouche 1900-19003 the Directorship crisis

Page 9 of 11. Electronic Supplement to Bilham, R.,Tom LaTouche and the Great Assam Earthquake of 12 June 1897: letters from the epicenter. Seism. Res. Lett. 79(3), 426-437, 2008. doi: 10.1785/gssrl.79.3.426.

Synopsis 1900-1903 Burma & Calcutta with letters from Oldham in England, 1901 Burma, death of William King and speculations on the Directorship, his exasperation with Datta, Oldham and the secret Oman expedition, Insults and apologies from Griesbach, the Directorship resolved by Curzon.

Burma Oct 1899-Mar 1900 Mss Eur C258/66

Letters from Burma including 3 hi resolution photos of railway bridge under construction at Goktuk gorge, the rest house at Zebingyi, and the camp at Sringanh with Pagoda in the back ground. The tent is a ridge tent with a small overhanging prismatic flap over the entrance. There is mention of Middlemiss. Death of Queen Victoria.

United Service Club Calcutta 20 July 1900 Mss Eur C258/67

I have not seen Mr. Reader yet. Holland says he doesn't think I shall care for chumming with him. Mr. G. and the Hollands' are going up to Darjiling tomorrow to investigate the big landslip there, so I shall be in charge of the office for a week. I had a long talk with Mr. G. today. He is not looking very well and seems to be much worried about various small matters. He says he is quite sick of the whole thing and anxiously looking forward to the time he can go. He had a row it appears at the Bengal Club about his pro-Boer opinions and tried to get into this club, but they wouldn't have him! I asked him what he intended me to do next season and suggested Baluchistan but he seems to have altered his ideas about that and merely said that he hadn't made up his mind, but that we should probably all go to the same places as last year. I dare say he will change his mind two or three times before he makes up his program. Mr. Oldham has got an extension of leave and is going to the oil wells at Baku on the Caspian, & then to S. America. He has got a grant from the Royal Soc. for the latter. He seems quite uncertain still as to whether he will come out again or not. The only men here are Vredenberg and the two natives, Mr. Noetling has made a fool of himself over those fossils I brought from Burma. They turn out to be what I originally thought I said they were, viz. Jurassic, and Mr. G. is very much disgusted with him.

Calcutta 26 July1900 Mss Eur C258/67

Mr. G is in great trouble about Bose and Datta who are memoranding Govt. for promotion. He doesn't want them to have it but can give no really good reason why they shouldn't. I tell him he had better give his reasons and let govt. promote them or not as they like, and not trouble himself any more. He says it will get into the native papers but I don't see why that should worry him. He needn't read them.

Calcutta 9th August 1900 Mss Eur C258/67

on the fossils from his last season's work ….. I am more and more disgusted with Mr. Griesbach's meddling with them while I was away and I think the result will be that I shall not be able to make anything of them, that is, the fossils from one particular band. The Silurian ones are all right. He did not touch them. I have just been pouring out my woes to Mr. Holland who is very sympathetic. He says Mr. G. is not content with taking away our characters, but does his best to deprive of us of our results as well.

Calcutta 27th August 1900 Mss Eur C258/67

I had letters from Mary and Willie this morning. Both of them were very glad to learn that the children were well. Mr. Oldham had paid them a visit. He rode over from Tenbury beyond Ludlow and spent the afternoon with them and seems to have made himself very pleasant, Mary rode into Ludlow with him in the evening. She says he has grown very stout, and that he said he was coming back to India for which I am not sorry.

Calcutta 29th August 1900 Mss Eur C258/67

I have just been writing to Mr. Oldham, & telling him that I was glad to hear he was coming back.

Calcutta 20 and 24 Sept 1 Mss Eur C258/67 description of the floods in Calcutta

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C258/68

Pyaunggaung (Burma) 30 Jan 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

….here I am at the end of a telegraph line again , dear, and I hope you will get my message tomorrow.

I hear from Holland today that Mr. Oldham' s extension of leave has been refused on the grounds that Mr. Griesbach is going on leave in April, so I suppose he is really going and I cannot make any arrangements until Mr. O comes out.

Pyaunggaung 31 Jan 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

Mr G says he is sending Dr. Noetling over to report on Mr Datta's work as he cannot come himself, and wants me to meet him somewhere. I shall not be sorry if it cannot be arranged. I wonder how he and Mr. D. will get on. I hope they don't come to blows. If so Mr D will have a poor chance.

C258/55.18. Geol. Survey of India Calcutta

27 Feb 1901 From Griesbach to LaTouche with black border
My Dear laTouche

You know of course that poor Dr. King died on the 6 Dec last. He has left his family very badly off and Mrs Foote writes now and gives me some particulars of the unspeakable distress the poor widow must be in with her six children, the youngest of whom is only five years old. Something will have to be done for them, and I am now trying to get up a subscription on their behalf amoungst a few men who are left in the department who have known & been fellow workers with King, or if I can stir up some of his old friends in Calcutta outside the office I will squeeze them also. Even a small sub^n. will be some help, where the distress is so great. His eldest son is studying medicine, but is a cripple on crutches, so his chances are poor. The second son has got into the Army service Corps a couple of months ago and is in S. Africa, but of course is requiring help himself. Good old Hughes has provided for him. The next child is a girl and she will come out to Mrs Oldham [King's sister, Richard Oldham's aunt]. The second daughter was to have come out with Mrs Atkinson (Mrs King's sister), but news has just come that Patty Atkinson has had to be confined at the Ooty Asylum, a raving lunatic! To crown all these misfortunes Mrs King's only brother who had recently got into the Forests, has just lately died of fever, and even the prospect of help from that side is gone!- In a case like this we must all help, so I reckon on you to do your share. I will gladly undertake the collecting if you will send me some contribⁿ. Please post-date your cheque to 24 March as I cannot rely on getting much before; I will wait for Oldham who comes about then

I shall also want your cheque for the Queen's memorial. Please make it payable to the "Queen Victoria Memorial Fund" and cross it. There is no help, we all have to contribute. If you will send in half a Lakh, your name will be engraved on a marble slab within the Memorial Hall!

Where is Datta? He does not give me a sign & sends no address so that Noetling is unable to get to him in the jungle.

Yours sincerely, C. L. Griesbach

Camp Baw 4 April 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

I had a letter from Mr G. this morning saying that Mr O is probably not coming out yet as he has had influenza and is to go before a Medical Board. So it is doubtful that Mr G will get his leave, but he wants me back before the end of the month so I must try and finish up in about a fortnight. I wish he would make up his mind about what he is going to do.

Camp Nakka 7 March 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

But I must tell you about yesterday's doings. I got up to Naukliku just as the train got in, and met Mr. Noetling, simply bristling with wrath because he could find out nothing definite about Datta's whereabouts. That young gentleman has I am afraid pretty well done for himself so far as regards his ~~probation~~ promotion. He was made an Officiating Superintendent on probabation and sent up here to see what he could do by himself, and it appears that in addition to his geology being all wrong he has been giving a great deal of trouble to the district officials, and now he is doing his best to make things as difficult as possible for Dr. N. There will be a fine row about it when he gets back to Calcutta. Dr N. and I got on well together, though we had a great argument about those fossils that I tried to work out when I came down from Kashmir last year. He made a huge mistake about them you know when I brought them back last season and is trying all he can to minimise his blunder. I wish you could hear him. His main argument now is that he is a palaeontologist, and I am not, therefore he must be right. When I go to that stage I simply dropped the question. There are the materials for a very pretty quarrel in it, but if I can possibly help it, I am not going to quarrel with him. He has absolutely no sense of humoour. However, I spent a pleasant afternoon enough, and I stayed to dinner with him, as he offered me sausages and sauerkraut and very good they were. I left him at about 8:30 and had a walk back to the camp about 5 miles, by moonlight.

I had no letter from you dear, for me yesterday, but I had one from Mr. G which I am sending you. I had not heard about Dr. King's death before. It is very sad that his family has been left in such poverty, but really I think it is a little too much to expect men like myself, who have their own families to consider to provide for his. I cannot understand how they are so badly off. He was drawing over 2000/- a month for several years, much higher than I can ever hope to get even if I became Director, and he surely must have insured his life or made some provision for his family. I suppose I must give something, but I will not bind myself to give an annual or monthly subscription, which is I believe what Mr. G. wants. I propose to send him a cheque for 100/- and tell him that is the utmost I can do. Of course I shall have to subscribe to the memorial fund , but I would have done that in any case.

Dr Noetling is to go to Kashmir next year….

Mr. Holland is to go to Dharmsala for two years, but what he is to do there I don't know.

Mrs Noetling has gone to Germany to see how she likes Dr. N.'s people. It appears that she hates this country and will not live out here.

Dr N. told me that the Govt want to send a man to Arabia. of all places, and has asked him to go. He is not at all keen on it and no wonder. What they want him to do there and what part of Arabia it is, Dr, N. did not know.

11 March 1901: Dr N said that he shouldn't be surprised if Mr G doesn't go at all, in order to prevent Mr. O. from officiating. Mr O. had been rather seriously ill at home it appears and there was some doubt as to whether the doctors would allow him to come back or not, but apparently he is on his way now.

Camp Kyaukkyan 21 March 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

I have also heard from Mr Holland who has been sent to Dharmsala , he says because Mr G. wanted to get him out of the way before Mr. O came back. There has been a row about some story that G. has started to the effect that O. said that some of the men on the survey were quite unfit for promotion, with special reference to Middlemiss. O. denies ever having said this & H. has been waiting for his return to get the facts from him and hand the matter to Govt. Hence G. wants to get him (H) out of the way before O's return. This is H's account of it . The whole thing happened when I was away in Kumaun the year before last, and I have only a vague idea of what it is all about. We do want a strong man at the head of the department . I see that Mr. Holderness is going to the India Office and is going to be succeeded by Mr Fuller from the C. P. I wonder what he is like. I hope anyway he will take some interest in us, and not be a King Los (?log)

Camp Lungung 8 April 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

I think I have cleared up a point that has been puzzling me since last season. There are some rocks down here that Datta found but I saw very little of, and I took his word for their coming in in a certain position. Now I find that they are something quite different. They puzzled me because I could never find them where they ought to have been, if they were what Datta thought them to be. The more I see of that young man's work the less respect I have for him as a geologist. Mr. G. says at one time there seemed to be a prospect of a serious row between Dr Noetling and Datta but it seems to have blown over for the present. I have heard no particulars abourt their meeting.

Camp Pyintha 13 April 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

In Mr. G's last letter he says that the Kings are not quite as badly off as was thought at first and that the relations are doing something for them, but I glad to think we should help them if possible

Calcutta Wednesday 1 May 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

Mr G came in before Tiffin and talked for an hour mostly about nothing. I saw him yesterday evening and had a long talk but it was not very satisfactory. He was perfectly friendly but will not acknowledge that I have made any new discoveries up there in the Shan states, in fact he says that Dr. Noetling had already made out the whole sequence of rocks, which is quite a mistake oin his part - I told him so, but made no impression I'm afraid. It appears also that Datta has discovered a bed of rocks that he (Mr. G) is most interested in - Triassic. So Mr. Datta is now credited with having discovered all the fossils that I found last year! It would be amusing if there were not a serious side to it, for of course Datta will now be confirmed as a Superintendent and it is not at all unlikely that this whole thing will have a bad effect on my prospects, I mean as regards the Directorship. I wish Mr. Oldham would come out and Mr G go.

He has been very bitter against Mr. Holland who has been intriguing he says with Mr Holderness to get himself made Vice Director or something of the kind in charge of a new mining department which was to be affiliated with the Geological Survey. If that had come off he says Mr H would have been the next director, after Mr. O. goes. I don't believe a word of it, though there has been some talk of starting a separate department under the director of the Geol. Survey.

United Service Club 2 May 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

I have seen nothing of Mr G all day exept the back of his head through the door of his room. I felt very much better after I had sent off my growl to you yesterday.

Dr Noetling started yesterday on 6 months leave home. He is greatly disgusted with Mr G for his ignoring his report on Datta's work. He says it is very bad.

Calcutta 8 May 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

Just as I was sitting down to write Mr G came. He had sent me a summary of our seasons work (Datta and mine) for his annual report , so I had a chance of explaining my views on the subject of the differences between Datta, Noetling and myself, but one might as well talk to a brick wall. He has made up his mind that Datta has made all the discoveries and nothing will alter it. However, I don't think it matters a little bit. I have just shown him my maps and the only remark he made was " why did you use such awful colors".

Calcutta 15th May 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

I have got all my fossils unpacked now but they don't make very much of a show I'm afraid. Mr. G. appears to take no interest in them at all. As a matter of fact he knows nothing about Siluriuan fossils. Mr O I think would appreciate them more.

Calcutta 3 June 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

Mr Hayden told me today that he heard last night from a cousin of Mr. Oldham's that Mr. O is coming out this month and will be here on the 6th July. It is quite possible that this may induce Mr. G. not to go on leave at all, so as to prevent Mr. O's acting, but it is quite uncertain what he will do. I hope he does go as there will be more chance of my being able to get away. As far as I am concerned I am very gladthat Mr O is coming out as I do not care much about officiating for 3 months only, and having to carry out Mr. G's instructions instead of being independent.

Calcutta 5 june 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

I have not had any talk with Mr G. for several days. He has not heard that Mr. O is coming out , but I dare say he will get a letter by next mail.

Calcutta 7 June 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

Hayden leaves for Spiti. Griesbach has a big argument about the Boer war.

Calcutta 10 June 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

There was no news of Mr. O this mail so we are still in doubt about whther he will come out or not, I should not wonder if he turned up without letting Mr. G know at all. Dr Krafft came back this morning looking very well. He went to Arabia you know to report on a find of coal there. I think I told you about it when I was in N. Burma. He was not allowed to see much of the coal, as the Arabs were very suspicious. Indeed some of them fired at him on the march and killed his pony, but after doing that they became very friendly, and the man who had done the firing escorted him to the place where the coal was, but would not allow him to go further to see how far it extended. It is not a job I would have cared for much.

Note: Krafft had sickened by October before the expedition could take place, & died before mid-November. Oldham was deputed to take his place.

Calcutta 13 June 1901 Mss Eur C258/68

The temperature was 108° yesterday, the highest they say that it has been since 1888.

Asks for some cufflinks and draws them

Calcutta 14th June Mss Eur C258/68

he speculated that Griesbach has cancelled his (G) plans to take leave having heard rumours of Oldham's return.

Calcutta 17 June 1901 Mss Eur C258/69

Mr G heard from Mr. O by this mail. He is coming out about the middle of July.

Calcutta 20 June 1901 Mss Eur C258/69

We had a great argument the other day as to whether men should ride when at work in the field. I said itr depended on the kind of country, and that I found I could do better work on foot , but he quite lost his temper over it , and began shouting that he must have been mad whenn he was in Burma and did not see that the country was like, He cannot see that even in Burma some parts of the country are very different from others.

Calcutta 24 June 1901 Mss Eur C258/69

Dr Walker has just told me that he saw Mr O 's name among the list of passangers leaving Marseilles on the 27th so he should be here next Monday fortnight . I wonder what Mr G will do with him.

A sketch of a fossil echinoderm in the second letter of this date. Prob 25th.

Calcutta 2 July 1901 Mss Eur C258/69

I am sending you a letter I had yesterday from Mr O. He will be here in less than a fortnight now. I wonder if he will stick to his intention of retiring when he has held the directorship 5 years. If so it will suit me very well for I dare say in another few years I shall be glad to give up constant field work and the rise of pay to 1800/- is a consideration! Mr G of course says he would not take an extension even if they offered it, but from what Mr O. says, it is not likely that they will offer it. Of course I have not told him about what Mr Holderness said. Please tear up the letter when you have read it.

Mr G. came in to tell me about the Govt of India having told the Punjab Govt to clear out of Simla, which I had already seen in the paper. If they go he says there is a chance of our being moved up there, as there is no reason against it was want of room, but it will not come off in his trime, if it does at all. I don't know what Mr O's opinions on the subject are. The rest of his talk as usual was about nothing.

Calcutta 10 July 1901 Mss Eur C258/69

I shall have to turn out of my room at the office within the next few days as it belongs to Mr Oldham.

Calcutta 12 July 1901 Mss Eur C258/69

Mr G came up this morning and had a long talk chiefly about mining matters. He says Lord Curzon is much interested in them and is inclined to spend money in prospecting for gold in places that have not been tried yet. Dr Walker is closetted with him now talking about the Professorship of geology in Toronto, which is vacant, and which he (Dr W) thinks of applying for. I wonder how Mr G will take it. It is worth about £500 a year rising to over 600.

Calcutta 13 July 1901 Mss Eur C258/69

Mr G and Dr W were there and Dr Krafft who has just returned from Simla says that Lord Curzon is going to send him back to to Arabia in the cold weather to make a proper survey of that coal field, and he is to have a larger escort this time. I expect there to be a row about it in Parliament when it is known, for we have no right to send troops into that country at all.

Calcutta 15 July 1901

Mr O did not turn up this morning much to Bhola's dissappointment. but I did not think he would come over with the mails

Calcutta 17 July 1901 C258/69

I went over to lunch at the Bengal Club with Mr. O today, and Mr G. also turned up, though he usually doesn't have tiffin. He [?Mr G] said he was not feeling at all well, and did not come to lunch in the office. Indeed the poor man is looking very ill. He has a hard dry cough, and evidently there is something wrong with his lungs. He has applied for leave from 1 Aug so he told Mr. O. but I doubt very much whether he will take it unless he gets seriouisly ill. Mr O says he looks as if he would not live till he retires unless he takes leave.

Calcutta 18 July 1901 C258/69

Mr O came and told me he is going off at once to the country W. of Dhera Ghazi Khan that is immediately south of the Sherani country. Mr O. likes the idea of going up there very well

Calcutta 20 July 1901 C258/69

I went over to the Bengal Club for tiffin with Mr. O and had a talk with him but not of much interest. He says that so far as he can see from next season's program each man has been given the work for which he is least fitted! Mr Smith is to go to upper Burma to look for gold and Mr Holland to Chota Nagpur. Datta is to go to the Shan states again with me but I don't know whether he is to work independently or not.

Calcutta 3 Aug 1901 C258/69

Oldham is mentioned in several previous letters in passing- a photography question, dining in the Grand Hotel when the light and fans stopped, and in this letter:

Mr O has been in having a long long talk but about nothing in particular. He will probably not go into camp until September.

Calcutta 6 Aug 1901 C258/69

There was a very slight earthquake shock just now at 3 mins to 4 . It made the revolving bookcase by my table shake distinctly but Dr. Walker who was in the next room says he did not feel it. Mr O is to go to the Himalayas near Simla, not to Dera yet.

Calcutta 7 Aug 1901 C258/69

There was a very good meeting at the Asiatic Society of Bengal meeting last night. Mr O was there but he would not speak. …..two interesting papers on the mosquito theory of malaria…..

Calcutta 10 Aug 1901 C258/69

Mr O has just been over to tiffin with me and I am to dine with him at the Bengal Club tonight. There has been a row between Mr G and Dr Walker over some little matter connected with Datta and Mr. O says he was called in to arbitrate between them. It is a ridiculous business and Mr G should never have allowed it. (he does not explain further)

Calcutta 13 Aug 1901 C258/69

Mr G asked me to bring my maps down to his room in the course of the day and compare them with Datta's. As I expected they do not correspond a bit, and I can see that Datta has missed a whole lot of things and made a mess of it, but the difficulty is to get Mr. G to see this. He says he will leave it until he comes up to the Shan states in the cold weather and then I think it will be all right. It is very difficult to get Datta to stick to a particular point. I tried to pin him down today but he only got excited, and flew off off at a tangent.

Calcutta 15 Aug 1901 C258/69

Letter from and to Hughes is Prof in Cambridge. No details.

Calcutta 17 Aug 1901 C258/69

Holland applies for furlough and is expected to get it as he has not had any yet.

Calcutta 19 Aug 1901 C258/69

he sings at the cathedral and seems to have done some maintenancec on the organ because the organist says it's a lot better since he worked on it. This was mechanical because he complains that it is not in tune.

Calcutta 29 Aug 1901 C258/69

Mr Oldham is going off to Simla tonight.

Calcutta 4 Sept 1901 C258/69

Jermmy [Sir james DIggues LaTouche] is really to have the NWP when Sir Anthony goes. G. told me he is really going to start on the 7th (he does)

September 1901 ? There is not much of interest in the remaining letters and his last letter on the 10th September 1901 in C258/69. However the following is the last part of an out-of-sequence from Mss Eur C258/12, that was written shortly after his eldest daughter's birthday in 1901. This extract is of a folded page in Tom La Touche's handwriting, which is a second-sheet continuation without a start and is obviously describing the death of Krafft in about October 1901. The letter is written while visiting Nancy and the family, to sister Polly perhaps, but is 8 years later than other letters in the C258/12 file.

----Arabia to survey a newly discovered coal field there, somewhere near the Persian Gulf, and it was a journey to Quetta and back, to make preparations for his journey that brought on the illness, heart failure, from which he died. He was consulting me about this journey only the day before I left Calcutta , and looked quite strong and well then. Mr Griesbach wants Mr. Oldham to go to Arabia instead of him, as he is the only one available, but Mr. O objects strongly for some reason or other, and poor Mr G. does not know what to do. It is fortunate that the work I had been doing in Burma is not finished or very probably I should have to go. The Govt. are very keen about having this coal field surveyed at once, as I fancy they are afraid of the Russians or the French getting hold of it . They are trying to keep the whole thing as secret as possible.

There was no letter from you in the last mail, but I had one from Prof. Hughes to whom I had written about my discoveries in Burma. He says that his wife has been to Stokesay, but I fancy that was several years ago. Nancy sends her particular love to you and Mary, and I am sure the children would send theirs, but they are all in bed and sound asleep. I wish you could have seen little Edith on Avice's birthday party. She sat up so straight and sturdily. I must try and take a photo of her.

With much love to you from myself, also to Mary and all at home.

United Services Club Calcutta 28 Oct. 1901 Mss Eur C258/70

I have not seen Mr G yet but I hear he is not very well. The only man here is Mr Vredenburg who has just come down from Baluchistan. Mr. O has gone to Arabia and sails from Karachi today.

Oldham was back from Oman within the month for Griesbach mentions his report dismissively on 24 November, and it would have taken at least a few days for him to get to Burma from Calcutta, or to receive news of Oldham's Arabian report had it been forwarded to him. Curzon's files make no mention of this armed investigation. Oldham's Clifton Sands article was written about this time, presumably when he passed through Calcutta.

31 October 1901 Mss Eur C258/70

A colourful account of a concert and Mrs Noetling who is back " speaking with a very vulgar accent" Australian he thinks, but has no Australian colleagues to compare her with.

Burma 12 November 1901 Mss Eur C258/70

15th: I have just been writing a long letter to Mr Holderness about a rather disagreeable matter. When I was in Calcutta Dr. Noetling who had just come out from home & Mr Hayden who came down from Spiti then told me that Mr. G. had told them both that when Mr Holderness came back from Burma last year after meeting me he said (Mr G) that he considered me "utterly incompetent" and "quite unfit to become Director"!! I don't for a moment believe he said anything of the sort, and I believe it is only one of Mr.G's well - exagerrations, but I have written to Mr H to ask him what he really did say to Mr G, and think that I have a right to know. It is intolerable that Mr G should go around saying such things (he did the same in Mr. Middlemiss's case) and I have no doubt that he has told everyone in the Dept. and probably out of it the same. It is annoying but you must not let it worry you my dear. I only tell you because I tell you everything concerning myself, and I would not feel happy if you did not know it, but I am not going to think about it until I hear from Mr Holderness, and I hope you won't either. Mr G was perfectly friendly with me when I was in Calcutta and I cannot understand what he means by it. I had hoped that the rest of his time would pass out without a row with me, but I am afraid it will have to come.

10 pm: Mr G and Dr N turned up this afternoon much to my surprise.

The following draft letter presumably sent 12 Nov. is enclosed with the above & I omit his several numerous deletions in this transcription:

My dear Mr Holderness

I was much distressed to hear when passing through Calcutta a few days ago from two of my colleagues who happened to be there at the time, that Mr Griesbach had told them that you on your return from Burma last year, had told him that you considered me to be "utterly incompetent" and "quite unfit to become Director". I cannot believe that you used such expressions regarding me considering the shortness of the time we were together, and I think that I have a right to know what authority Mr Griesbach has for saying that you used them. If I remember rightly we met in Burma under the following circumstances. I happened to be travelling up to Maynmo to begin the seasons work and found that you were in the train. I thought it my duty to let you know that I was present in case you wished for information about the geology of the the county we were passing though. As it happens the rocks there, although of the highest interest from a scientific point of view, do not contain any useful mineral deposits, and you will forgive me if I say I was under the impression that you were not greatly interested in what I told you. Perhaps the information I gave you was not as clear as it might have been as I was that day afflicted with a distressing cold. I did not therefore intrude upon you further, but after the train arrived at Myanmo I waited for some time to see whether you had further commands for me, but I did not see you again.

In all this I cannot see in what way I displayed the utter incompetence ascribed to me by you as Mr Griesbach says. It is the more disheartening at present time because I know that the work I have done in the N. Shan States is good*, so far as it goes, and because I have never had reason to believe from anything that Mr Griesbach or my former chiefs have said to me personally that my work in the past 20 years I have been in the Survey, has been otherwise than satisfactory.

(* insert: I have discovered a series of Silurian rocks and true Devonian, the first instance authenticated by fossils of this presence of the latter in India.)

I have always been in friendly terms with Mr G and cannot understand why he should turn on me in this manner. As to my alleged unfitness to be Director I have little to say. That may or may not be so, but I have always understood that Mr. Oldham will succeed Mr Griesbach, and as Mr. Oldham is some two years younger than I am, the question of a successor to him is perhaps not likely to arise during my period of service. I can honestly say that I am not anxious to exchange active work in the field in which I take an interest, for the routine of administrative work in the office. The question of my ability as a field geologist is a more serious one. If I am considered by my official superiors to be "utterly incompetent" how is it that I have been allowed to hold my present appointment so long, and that without the slightest warning being given to me that I was in any way found wanting. If such is the opinion really held of my work, the only course I could homestly take would be, if I were not removed, to resign my appointment, and this I should be unwilling to do, for not only should I be exceedingly sorry to give up my life's work, but at my age I should find it very difficult to obtain employment and support my wife and family. This aspect of the case must be my apology for inflicting this long letter upon you, but after much consideration I have thought it best to write.

signed etc etc

and this is the answer he received in Camp on 7 January 1902

India Office 10 Dec 1901

Dear Mr La Touche

I am in receipt today of certain opinions which you learn I expressed about your professional qualifications & about your fitness for the office of Director of the Geological Dept. I have no recollection of having expressed an opinion about you on either of these subjects, and I feel sure that Mr. Griesbach who is said by you to have repeated these opinions to third parties, must have been misunderstood or misreported. If I had any conversation with Mr. Griesbach on any subject, it must have taken place under the ordinary conditions governing official communications and as such was and still remains confidential in character.

I feel sure that in any case I have never ventured to pass any judgement on your professional qualifications, as I am quite aware that I have no knowledge that would warrant my pronouncing upon them. I am the last man in the world to have the audacity to affirm of any scientific man that he is 'utterly incompetent" and I trust you will take this disclaimer as a test of the little value which belongs to a roundabout statement of the kind you mention, and will dismiss the matter from your mind, and let it cease to distress you.

I have written to the same effect to Mr Griesbach and have asked him to relieve your mind on the subject. I hope he will do so. Whoever has been your informant has been ill advised in reporting a conversation with Mr Griesbach, which was obviously not intended by the latter to go beyond him, and which would obviously hurt your feelings without doing you any good. I am,

yours sincerely,

T. W. Holderness

Camp Kywaikung (from Shwegon) 24 Nov 1901 Mss Eur C258/70

26th: We all walked out to a village about 5 miles from Kywaikung where Datta had promised to show us a section from which Mr. G expected great things, among others to utterly confound me. However, it proved to be very dissappointing and Mr G was very wild. There was a small patch of shale from which we got a lot of fossils of the same kind as those I had found near Bangyo, the place we were at on Sunday, and we saw some limestones too, but how they were related to each other no one can say. Mr G is going straight back to Calcutta without seeing any of my Silurian rocks at all, so that I don't see how he can criticise my work. However, there is no doubt that he will do so. He is beginning though to see how difficult the country really is. I think he had an idea that he only had to come here look around, and show that we were all wrong, and is much dissappointed that he cannot do it. He is very friendly as long we are not talking geology, but the slightest mention of it sets him off and he becomes quite unreasonable. I shall not be sorry to get rid of him but it is very unsatisfactory that he has seen so little of what I have done.

He says he is going to hand Mr. Oldham up to Govt. for the way in which he wrote about going to Arabia, and if he does that I fancy he will not hear the end of it till he goes.

Camp Nawngpeng 27th Nov 1901 Mss Eur C258/70

Mr G has changed his mind and instead of staying a day at Wetwan is going on straight to Rangoon so he will see absolutely nothing of my work except the little section at Kyankkyau which he could not give a definite opinion himself. Dr. Noetling abuses him more than I do, but I am careful of what I say to him as I don't know what will be repeated when they get to talking in German together.

I think I told you that Mrs V. Krafft went home the week after her husband died. They had arranged that she was to go when he was in Arabia, and I suppose her passage had been taken. All his things are being sold off I believe. Mr G says that he was considerably in debt, but I fancy he exaggerates as usual.

Camp Padaukyin 8 Dec 1901 Mss Eur C258/70

contains drawing of train for Edie

Camp Padaukyin 17Dec 1901 Mss Eur C258/70

more about Datta and his bad maps and Mr G

Camp Kyankkuan 31 dec 1901

…an announcement from the Geol Society that I had been elected a fellow.

---he receives a parcel of books including Kipling's Kim

----------------------------------1902-----------------------------------------------

Camp Kyankkuan 3 Jan 1902

contains three fascinating geological sections

Camp Kyankkuan 7 Jan 1902

He receives the reply from Holderness and comments on his disbelief that Griesbach was misreported.

Hsipau 12 Jan 1902

La Touche writes to Griesbach

On my return from Kashmir in October last I was much distressed to learn from two of my colleagues who were then in Calcutta, that you had told them that Mr Holderness on his return from Burma, where he met me towards the end of 1900, told you he considered me to be "quite incompetent" and "utterly unfit to become Director". Although I thought it hardly possible that Mr Holderness should have expressed such an opinion about me, seeing that we had only had about half an hour's conversation, I wrote to him and asked him whether he had done so, and have just received his reply in which he says that he has no recollection whatever of having expressed any opinion regarding me on either of these subjects, and further that he is sure he has never ventured to pass an opinion on my professional qualifications, and that he is the last man in the world to have the audacity to affirm of any scientific man, that he is utterly incompetent. I cannot suppose that my informants willfully misled me me in affirming that you had made these statements as I cannot see what object they would have in doing so, and I can only suppose that you were expressing your opinion, though why you should have attributed it to Mr. Holderness I do not understand. I don't see either what cause I have given you to form such an opinion about me. We may not be entirely in agreement about the geology of these hills, but you have seen for yourself that the country is a most difficult one, and I am not such a fool as to suppose that my survey of it, a single season's work too, practically is complete in every detail. There must be many errors in detail, but I maintain that the main facts are as I have stated them, and such mistakes as there are may be surely not sufficient to brand me as "utterly incompetent"? I am exceedingly sorry that this difference between us has taken place during your last year of office, as we have hitherto been on friendly terms, and I had hoped that it would continue so to the end. It has caused me much distress and I should be only too glad if you can give me some satisfactory explanation of your attitude towards me.

Yours sincerely TDLT

Lashii 19 Jan 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

..and from Mr G who I also have heard from. He writes he has no recollection of having told any one what Mr Holderness said. Then he says "I hope that you did not attach any importance to the incident which was really of no importance whatever". I suppose I must take this as a virtual apology and I shall be glad to have done with the whole thing. The rest of his letter which is about Datta and my survey of the coalfield here is civil enough. I also had a very kind letter for Mr. O who advises me not to let the affair worry me, and says that he does not see why I should not become Director if the Survey remains as it is at present, He is afraid that it will be converted into a mining department and then we scientific men would be set upon. I don't think there is much fear of that myself, but there is no telling what will happen with such a chief as we have in the Survey.

Camp 27 Namyau Jan 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

By the way I heard from Mr N. this evening and he does not at all approve of my having written to Mr Holderness. It seems that Mr G taxed him with having told me the story and he had to own up. It will be a lesson to him to keep his mouth shut in the future

Camp Namyau 29 Jan 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

Holland writes to him that he was present at his Geol Soc Fellowship election which was unanimous in electing La Touche. The president inverted the nay box to demonstrate this and La Touche finds this a reassuring confirmation of his scientific integrity and worth.

2 Feb. he relates he has received an apologetic letter from Griesbach who can't ember what he said. He writes again to Mr Holderness and encloses a letter from Hayden which is not available in the file but is briefly commented on the following week.

Camp Namyau 10 Feb. 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

I think from what Mr Hayden says, that he Mr. G was much more distressed about the affair than I was, and I quite pitied him.

Camp 20 Feb. 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

Dr N writes to La Touche that more mischief is afoot since Mr G is writing to Mr Holderness "accentuate his views" about La Touche still more. La Touche speculates that this may be the only way that Greisbach can maintain face in the cover up his early indiscrete and unfounded remarks.

Camp 24 Feb. 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

The other piece of news is that the Mining Department has been cut adrift entirely from the geological Survey and is now called the "Mining Bureau" with Mr ?Storier at the head of it on Rs1600 per month.

Camp 10 Mar 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

opinion of Noetling now that he is "a thorough sneak"- he elaborates for a page.

Camp 10 Mar 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

plane tabling and fishing - with drawing for Edie

Camp 29 Mar 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

relates a congratulatory letter from G concerning his resolution of the faulted outcrop he drew earlier, and how he suspects G is beginning to doubt Datta.

Camp Mauklia 21 April 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

Datta caught me up on the march and we did some fossil collecting together. Poor little man, he seems to be in a bad way. He says that he has hardly eaten anything for the last month, he suffers so from indigestion and he is so weak he can hardly walk. He has to be carried in a kind of chair he has had made, and I don't know how he manages to do any work. I feel quite sorry for him, poor little ?[atony]. The worst of it is that I cannot find it in my heart to pitch into him as I intended to do about his geology! He really ought not to be doing this kind of a work at all.

23 April: I have had a long day with Mr Datta and am now feeling rather tired. We had a long stiff climb of 3000' and got very little satisfaction out of it. He is a most slippery individual to deal with. He had told me he had found limestone everywhere along the road, whereas I knew there was none, and he had mapped the rocks as Silurian, while I considered them to be much older. After we had gone a few miles and seen no limestone I asked him where it was . "Oh" he said "there is plentuy of it further on" So we went on - still no limestone! Finally I saw him rush at some blue rocks (I knew beforehand that was where he had made his mistake) and called out "at any rate these are limestones" but they were not! And a few minutes later he had the impertinence to say that he had never told me there were any limestones there!! What can you do with a fellow like that?! I try my best not to lose my temper with him but it is very difficult.

Maymyo 30 April 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

…..was with Datta yesterday and had a final argument with him. We had been over some ground the day before and I think he has begun to see that there was something to be said for my point of view, but that he would not by any means admit that he was convinced. I caught him beautifully on a matter of fact the other day. We had come across some white quartz in fragments lying on the surface of the ground and I remarked that I thought they were derived from a bed of conglomerate, and did not come out of the rocks on which they were lying. "Oh no," says he" I will show you veins of the same quartz in these very rocks. So next day we came to a place where there were a lot of white veins coming through the rocks and he said "There, didn't I tell you so". Well I looked at them but it struck me the stuff did no look quite like quartz, so I tried the hardness of it, and sure enough it was calcite. I said very quietly "Well I hardly think those pieces of quartz we saw yesterday could be derived from these veins for these are not quartz but calcite". He was quite flabbergasted for a moment but he is like a piece of India rubber - and very soon afterwards apropos of Dr. Noetling, he was telling me that a really scientific man should always be diffident about making assertions until he has verified them. I feel so little confidence in him now that I don't think I would accept any statements of his without veryifying it myself.

Mandalay 5 May 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

Mr Hayden says that Mr G has, or says he has, at last given Datta up as a bad job: that he has given him a chance but he had made a mess of his opportunities, so I fancy we shall not hear more of D's being made a Supt. when the next vacancy occurs.

15 May Rangoon Mss Eur C258/70 mentions the Mont Pelier eruption in the west indies

Mr G is away in Assam - but I have seen Mr. O who is in charge, He is very friendly and wants me to go and chum with him, and I think I shall do so as my room here is not very good.

United Services Club Calcutta 20 May 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

Went with Mr Middlemiss to visit Smith in hospital with fever. Mrs Middlemiss is here. They have left their children at home. Both of them are looking much older than when I saw them last and M. is quite grey, where he is not bald.

Talking to Mr O yesterday he said it was quite absurd for Griesbach to insist on our staying down here the whole of the hot weather and rains, and that if he were chief he would allow every man to go where he liked as soon as he finished his work here. I wish he was chief already and then I might go to you in a couple of months or so.

Calcutta 22 May 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

Last night I dined with Mr Oldham and did not get back to the club till nearly 2. We were playing whist for love! [Whist for love means playing without gambling for stakes] Did I tell you that he has asked me to chum with him. He has taken a flat in a house in Wood Street and has a room to spare. I think I shall go there but I am to go over to breakfast on Saturday and see the rooms. It may come rather cheaper than living in the club and I think that O. and I will get on together all right. I must be off

Calcutta 23 May 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

I dined with Mr Hayden. Mr O was also there and we played bridge, I think that I won something but we were playing for very low stakes. Bridge is in some ways an easier game than whist, but it is very different, and one is punished for making mistakes much more severely than in whist. It is a very interesting game but I should not care to play it regularly every day as many do at the club.

Calcutta 24 May 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

I breakfasted with Mr O this morning and had a look at the rooms amd I am to move over tomorrow. The rent will be less than atr the club and O dare say the other expenses will come to about the same, so I should save a little by going there, and it will be more quiet. I don't see why we should not get on well together . either, but I have never chummed with any one in Calcutta before so it is rather an experiment.

Calcutta 25 May 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

not moved in yet but send letters to 2 Wood Street

Calcutta 26 May 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

I moved over to Mr Oldham's house this morning and had breakfast with him but hadn't time to unpack my things , I think that I shall be very comfortable .

at the office "heartily sick " of Mr G.

Calcutta 27 May 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

Mr G has not been in today to distract us. I am working in the top room with Middlemiss and Smith and Hayden is in another room on the same floor

Calcutta 1 June 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

the papers are full of the volcanic eruption

Calcutta 4 June 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

Mr Middlemis is coming with me (to Kidderpore church) to see how he likes the choir. I hope he will join as he has a fine tenor voice and we are very short of men.

Calcutta 9 June 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

Poor Vredenburg is I hear very ill with those horrible frontier sores and is coming down to be treated.

Calcutta 11 June 1902 Mss Eur C258/70

Mr Vredenburg turned up yesterday from Baluchistan---Mr Hayden has had a bad attack of rheumaticism

Calcutta 20 june 1902 approx Mss Eur C258/71

Mr Holland has just started for Canada on his way back here and has left his wife and children at home.---Mr G. is in great excitement about a discovery of fossil plants that Dr. N. [Noetling] says he has made in Kashmir. He says it is the most important yet made in India, but the rest of us are skeptical about it until we see the specimens. Dr. N. has discovered so many mare's nests.

Calcutta 12 July 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

Mr Hayden was at the office working on his Spiti report which Mr. G. wants to have finished before he goes. I believe it will show that a great deal of the work he himself did in the Central Himlayas was wrong, so there are likely to be lively times when he reads it, if he ever does so.

Mr. O. produced his bill for last month's expenses today. It comes to almost exactly the same as living in the club used to cost, a little over 300/- so there is not much gained in that way. I am not sure that I should care to do the same another season, though we get on very well together.
Calcutta 13 July 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

Mr O and I dined with Middlemiss at No 6 where we were staying when you were down here last. Mr and Mrs [?Goupertry] were there and she asked to be remembered to you

Calcutta 16 July 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

La Touche tells of singing in a public concert- a sword dance and reel started it off.

A whistling solo by Lt. Col Ramsden.

The program is in the archive but he is not name.

Calcutta 21 July 1902 Mss Eur C258/71
Mr G came up and began talking about Jammu and the coal and lead-ore there. He says the Resident has asked him to go and look at it, and as he wants so go and see Noetling's new discoveries he may go up, but he does not like the idea of marching across the Bamikal Pass from Islamabad to Jammu. He said somehting about sending the new man Simpson, when he can be spared. If I could go up the middle of August it would suit me very well but I don't think there is the least chance of it. He did not even hint at it and if I had suggested it I should only have been snubbed.

Calcutta 30 July 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

Mr G has just come up and is talking nineteen to the dozen to Middlemiss. I wish he would go for I want to get away and can hardly go while he is here. He seems to be talking rubbish as usual. I have no talk with him for several daus, since I went down to see Dr N's fossils from Kashmir, which are certianly very interesitngv. He has got a lot of fossil fish which were not known in India before .

Calcutta 5 August 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

It is quite a fine afternoon so Mr. Smith and I are actually going for our long deferred sketching. I believe Mr. Middlemiss is coming too to criticise, he is very good at that!

Mr O had an attack of neuralgia yesterday but is well today. I think he and Mr. S. are also going away in Sept. and Mr. G. is going to Kashmir then to see what Dr. N. has found, and the coal they have found near Jammu. Mr Hayden is also going as far as he can in a month towards his beloved Spiti, and will do some shooting.

Calcutta 6 August 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

sketching the cathedral. only can do it for an hour because the light changes so rapidly

Calcutta 7 August 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

Mr. G. has been up talking about various things and taken up my valuable time,

Calcutta 8 Aug 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

I do not know for certain whether I shall be able to go in the spring. It will depend on what Mr O wants to do about writing a report on the Shan states, and he won't make up his mind until he has seen the country. I expect he will pay me a visit in camp in Feb or March next year and it will be decided then.

Calcutta 11 Aug 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

So the King was crowned on Saturday. It must be a great weight off his mind poor man….The dinner at the Bengal club went very well I hear. The Middlemisses were there dining with Mr. G.

Calcutta 12 Aug 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

Commenting on who might be qualified to identify the fossils collected by La Touche and Datta…"Indeed there is no one here except Dr. Noetling and he has far too much other work to do, and besides I think after the row between him and Datta that it will be far the best thing to get an independent opinion about them."

Calcutta 13 Aug 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

We are very much cramped for room this year with three of us Mr Smith, Middlemiss and myself all in one room

Calcutta 14Aug 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

Mr.G. came up this morning to talk about his trip to Kashmir. He is not going to Jammu as he finds that Mr. Medlicott saw that coal, that they think is a new discovery, a great many years ago.

Calcutta 21 Aug 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

about his partly finished water color at the zoo

Mr. G. saw my sketch today and could not find anything nasty to say about it. All he said was "I think I have seen some of your sketches before" which he hadn't, at least not since I took to watercolors. That means he did not like to show surprise but I think he was a bit struck.

Calcutta 22 Aug 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

Did I tell you that Mr. O had a bicycle accident a couple of days ago. He was going around a corner and ran into a carriage and the front wheel of his bicycle was all crumpled up. He had a nasty fall but was not much hurt. I shouldn't wonder if a bit if he were to go to Kashmir to inspect Dr. N.'s work instead of Mr. G. The latter told me yesterday that he was not at all keen about going, and would like to get out of it , but as he had got leave from Govt to go, he did not see how he could. Mr O. is rather wild that Mr. G. should have managed things so badly, that he has to ask leave to go to a Nation State. It seems rather absurd considering that we are as often as not working in Native States.

I finished my picture at the zoo yesterday and am going to begin one of Kidderpur Church today. The other looks rather well I think.

A pen and ink picture of Tapir and a note to his children is included in this letter

Mr. O went to the botanical gardens yesterday to stay with Major Praim and will not be back until lunch tomorrow.

Calcutta 25 Aug 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

Mr G has made up his mind so he says to start for Kashmir on the 10thSept. So I shall be well ahead of him this year. I shouldn't wonder though if he changes his mind again.

Calcutta 26 Aug 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

There are not so many distractions when Middlemiss and Smith are not here. Mr Hayden was here for a time also & Mr. O. who has been doing some photography, but they are in another room.

1 Sept 1902 Calcutta Mss Eur C258/71

I am not at all anxious for Mr. O. to come over to Burma until Feb. but will explain that to you when I come.

Calcutta 9 Nov 1902Mss Eur C258/71

..have just sent you a telegram asking you to give the order to Ali Jan for Mr O.'s curtains. He told me he was going to write to you about them, but now he says he will not, and that they will be all right. The size we settled they were to be was, I think, 15 x 7 ft; anyway that size will do. I should be very glad if they could be ready by the time he comes back from Burma. That will be early Dec.

Calcutta 13 Nov

I think I shall get on with this young fellow Mr Pilgrim very well. He seems to be a gentleman anyway, which is more than can be said by all accounts for the new man McLaren who has gone with Mr Smith, and the other, Mr Fermor is quite a boy according to Mr.O. I don't know if the man is keen about his work but he seems to take a good deal of interest in fossils and has done some work among the Silurians.

Dinner at Capt Meajin's Mr. O and Mr Hayden were also there and we played bridge after dinner but did not stay very late.
Rangoon 15 Nov 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

Mr Pilgrim and I start for Mandalay today. Mr. O. has to stay here some days longer and is going then to a different part of the country.

Mandalay 17 Nov 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

Mr. P. seems to be an intelligent young man and has good eyes for fossils.

La Touche explains how Griesbach said nothing to him about him about Pilgrim's background, although Mr. O. did.

Poor little Datta tried very hard to escape coming to this country again but he got to look so well in Calcutta that the doctors would not give him a medical certificate and Mr. G. sent him back here. I am pretty sure he will break down again and I think it a great shame to have sent him here.

Mandalay 20 Nov 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

I don't think I told you the fate of the apples - a good many were wquite good when I got to Calcutta so I gave some to the club and the rest to Mr. O who appreciated them greatly. He is not at all well as regards his inside these days so I thought it better not to give him the walnuts.

I had a letter from both Mr. O. and Mr. Hayden today telling me that Govt. has offered Mr. G. an extension of service till the spring (!) and of course he accepted it with alacrity. I don't know at all what they are driving at. They told him so positively that they would not give him an extension and here they go and give it, when he has made all his arrangements for going and has only 3 weeks left. It really looks as if what he said in Kashmir was true and that they did not intend to make Mr. O. director. I am beginning to think there is some truth in the stories about Mr. Holland, and that he will be the next director. What they have against Mr. Oldham I don't know but it is said that Lord C. was dissatisfied with his report on coal in Arabia? . I feel very sorry for him & think Govt. has treated him very badly. I am seriously thinking that if they offer the appointment to me and pass him over. I shall refuse to take it, but I should like to know what you think of such a step.

It seems to me that I could not honestly, knowing Mr O.'s experience and ability, & comparing them with my own, consent to be placed over him. But it is not at all likely that it will come to that, for if they pass him over they will probably pass me and Middlemiss over too. I would certainly not do it before consulting you and sending you a copy of the letter I would send them. Mr H. says there is some talk of Lord C.'s getting a man out from home to be director as he has done with the Educational and Archaeological Depts. But I think he would find it very difficult to get anyone of sufficient attainments to come. Please don't say anything of this to anyone, it is mere gossip at present, except the fact of Mr. G.'s extension.

Wentwin 26 Nov 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

I don't know that I shall like having this young fellow Pilgrim with me, I am afraid that after a time he will get on my nerves. He is rather a helpless individual and seems to have no idea of stiking out a line for himself. I believe he would sit in his room all the evening if I did not suggest that he should go out and do somehting. One would think that in a new country like this he would be all agog to see what was to be seen , but even in Mandalay he went nowhere and saw nothing. He does not seem to be a reader either , anyway he has not mentioned a book yet! He does not shoot or fish or do anything of that kind, but he seems to know somehting of botany, but in a feeble kind of a way,. There, I've said all the nasty things I can of him but you mustnt suppose it is verybad. He is really a very nice boy, and I think we shall get on all right, but it a relief to tell you exactly what I think about him. He is better than that goose Edwards any way, the man who was on the salt range with us.

29th Sedan - at the foot of the hills. Today I completed my 21 years of service counting for pernsion, which means that I culd retire at any time without a medical certificate, but of course I would not get the full pension.

Camp Sedan 30 Nov 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

When I came to the Dak bungalow the first man I saw was Mr. Oldham's bearer. It seems he, Mr. O., came up the river this morning, but I am sorry to say that he has had a bad attack of what the doctor says is dengue fever and he has to stay in bed. He is rather down in the mouth in consequence and says that he finds that he cannot stand camping any longer. He has a bad knee, and cannot walk much, and cannot stand the sun. He told me he had almost made up his mind to retire next March but of course he may change it when he gets better. His health has been so bad since he came back from furlough that I think it very likely that he will go, and if he dies it will make a great difference to me. If they make me Director I shall of course not be able to take furlough at once though I think I could so after six months, but if I am passed over I would take furlough at once. So you see my dear it will be best to arrange for you and the children to go home in April by yourselves, though I don't like the idea at all. I should so like to be with you as you know. You see that I cannot say what I can do intil Mr. O and Govt. make up their minds, and I suppose Mr. G. will not go till March, if then.

Camp via Mandalay 3 Dec 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

Tomorrow we mean to march to a small village among the hills about 10 miles off. I expect the road will be very rought as it is not much used nowadays. I must set to work and pack my fossils and arrange my baggage now. Mr P's bearer, a man that Mr. O had got for him took himself off today. He said he wanted 4 and a day over here in addition to his pay Rs 16/- and of course I advised Mr. P. not to give it. I only give my new men 1 anna. I never though much of the man- he was always grumbling about one thing or other and I think we shall do better without hoim.

4th: they are pulling the dent down over my head so I must stop. It is high time the mules were off. I heard this morning that Mr. O is well again so it was apparently not an attack of Dengue. (enclosed picture of a Burmese pagoda in his note to Edith)

Camp Taungkyun 4th Dec 1902 Mss Eur C258/71

The road was not so rough as I expected and although we did not start till 9, the mules were here by 3 in the afternoon, and our tents were poitched by 4. There was a pretty stiff climb up a rocky hill and one of the mule loads came off and Mr. P's tea caddy in which he put the who;le of his supply of tea, instead of leaving it in his store boxes , was lost. It will teach him not to put little things like that on mules again. Luckily I have enough tea for both if us until we reach Mogok.

I had two letters from Mr. G. which I had to answer, asking for some explanation about my Ladda report. He had not read it carefullu, and the second letter was to apologise for having made a mistake. The general upshot of my visit to the place was that I estimated about 2 ½ million tons of coal as practically proved to exist, but I will be an expensive business to open a large colliery.

He relates unsuccessfully shooting for game, and panoramic views out of the top of the jungle.

I am not sure what to make of Mr P. He seems to have no sort of initiative and the remarks he occasionaly makes are, as a rule, really stupid. He seems quite to take everything I say for granted and hardly ever offers a suggestion. He is also very lazy about getting up in the morning and I always have to wake him up and when we come in from a days work he is generally quite content to sit in his tent and do nothing, I shall have to wake him up one of these days if he doesn't improve.

7th I shall have to be carefull of my oil these evenings for I shall probably not get any more until we get to Nogok.

Notes the road bad because a hurd of wild elephants has damage the local villages which are largely abandoned and the roads are overgrown.

Of course I have heard nothing more from Mr. O and I don't know whther he will stick to his intenion of retiuring in March when he gets better. I must write to him now and then it will be time for me to go to bed.

Camp Naungkungyi 14 Dec '02 to Mrs T D La Touche , Srinigar, Kashmir. Mss Eur C258/71

I had a letter from Mr. Hayden today in which he says that Govt have given Mr. G and extension "till further orders", ans that there is a rumour that Lord Curzon is trying to get someone to come out from home and be Director for 5 years or so, and that then Mr. Holland is to get it, but I think this is all mere gossip. At any rate I do not mean to worry myself about it , If I am passed over I shall think that it is all for the best, and in some ways I shall be better pleased as I do enjoy this free camp life, and I think that perhaps I am better emplyed in this way than in sitting at a desk and writing officials. Still for the sake of you and the children I should like the higher appointment as it would mean such a differeence in the matter of apension. In any case whatever the Govt may decide I know that you believe in me and know that I have tried to do my best, and so I can laugh at all their schemes.

15th I have just been writing my annual letter to Sir J. Hooker, and I hope he will appreciate it. I told him something about the goings on in the Dept. but of course did not ask him to do anything, though I fancy he has a good deal of influence at the India office.

Mr Pilgrim has not returned yet and has not sent on his baggage, but I hope he will do so that we can make an early start in the morning. He has no idea whatever of making a bandobust (means d iscipline)

His 15th dec letter is 16 pages long written over several days. Fossil collecting , christmas thoughts, marches up steep cliffs, cold , hunting and finall receiving 15 letters in Mogok.

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Mogok 7 January 1903 Mss Eur C258/72

In Burma near the Ruby mines with Pilgrim as an intern: He criticizes Pilgrim who advocates learning by experience but doesn't follow his own advice.

Please don't think my dear that I am worrying about the directorship because I am not! I cannot do or say anything that would make the slightest difference to the result, and I don't think it the least bit likely that if Mr. O is passed over it will be offered to me. I do not intend to be surprised at anything Lord C. does and if Mr. Holland is made director I must just make up my mind to get on as well as I can with him, and I don't think it will be difficult, not nearly so much as if an insider is brought in. Some fellow who would turn the whole department inside out. Mr. H. writes in a pessimistic mood about it all. Apparently he hears a very story from Mr. G. every day, all backstairs talk through the registrars of the different department. Of course he shows a desire for such stories they will be supplied in any quantity.

Camp Yaung-gwin 12 January 1903 Mss Eur C258/7

I don't think it will do the least harm if you talk with your friends about the directorship (This is apropos of your telling Mr. Carew the state of the cases and I not feeling sure if you had done right). As it has been declared officially that Mr. G's extension has been given pending the selection of his successor" it is clear that there must be some hesitation about Mr. O. I of course do not come into the matter at all until it has been officially decided that Mr. O will not succeed, or until he carries out his intention of retiring. From what he says in his last letter to me I think he does really intend to go.

14th Nalaw Mss Eur C258/7

I wish Lord C. would make up his mind about Mr. G's successor; now that the Durbar is over he may turn his mind to these smaller matters.

Mogok 18th January 1903 Mss Eur C258/7

I cannot apply for leave "until I hear something definite about Mr. G's successor. It would never do to apply, on the chances of Mr.' O's staying on and succeeding him, and then be told that by applying for leave at such a time I had lost my chance of the Directorship. And yet I would clearly like to go home with you.

Mogok 20th January 1903 Mss Eur C258/7

I am very unwilling to apply for leave until I hear about the Directorship, for if there is any chance of my getting it, that is, if Mr. O retires, my going on leave or applying for it would be fatal to my chances…… If Lord C. has his way and really gets a man from home, it will be very soon for in that case I shall apply for leave at the end of the field season and let my memoir[on the Shan States] go hang.

Maymyo 16 Feb 1903 Mss Eur C258/7 he receives a pile of letters

I have one from Mr. G. in which he says it is practically decided that Mr. Holland is to succeed him and that he is going on the 26th, that is 10 days hence. It appears that Lord C. could not get an outsider from home, and has chosen Mr. H. faute de mieux! Mr. O. is going to take 5 months leave and then retire. I think I shall wait until the news is officially confirmed - for I am not quite sure about it yet, as Mr. Hayden says nothing has been definitely settled yet - and then apply for leave and write my memoir at home. Of course my dear I cannot help feeling some disappointment, but I cannot say that the news was unexpected and the principal feeling at the back of my mind is that it will be a disappointment to you on my account, and that you will feel it perhaps more than I do. It would be very different If I thought I had done anything to deserve being passed over , but it is an inexpressible comfort to me to know that you do not believe anything of the kind and if you only believe in me as I know you do, my darling, I feel as nothing else matters. The only other regret I have is that it will make a good deal of difference in my pension when I retire, Rs 1000 a year, but I shall be no worse off than I would have been under the old rules. I don't intend to make any complaint, or to ask for reasons why I have been passed over, but to go on and do my work the best of my ability, as I have always tried to do. After all Mr. Holland will be a more satisfactory Director than an outsider.

17th Your telegram came this morning my dear and I had one afterward from Mr. Hayden to say that Mr. Holland's appointment has been gazetted, so that seem to make everything clear.

I have written to Mr. Holland too, putting things as nicely as I could. I told him that I hoped we would work together and that it would not be my fault if we did not. I am glad now that you are going home and that it will not be necessary for you to meet Mrs. Holland or any of the other ladies connected with the department as it might be uncomfortable for you. I feel more for Mr. Oldham than for myself. After all the good work he has done it is very hard on him, & I think he would have stayed on if he had been appointed, & he would have made a very good chief. Of course I am in the same position now as if he had stayed on, as he is younger that I am now, and I would not have been director at all. But the best of all is that I shall be able to go home with you and the our dear children.

18th Feb. 1903 Mss Eur C258/7

I had a good letter from Mr. Oldham today. He says that he is convinced that Mr. Holland has been perfectly straight on the matter and that Lord C. after trying to get a man out from home and failing to do so, could not have stultified himself by appointing Mr. Oldham or me, as the reason he had applied for an outsider was that he considered none of the Superintendents fit for promotion. Mr. O is taking leave for 6 [stet] months and will retire at the end of it.

20th Feb. 1903 Mss Eur C258/7

I want to know whether you agree with me that it is best not to protest against my being passed over by Mr. Holland. I sometimes think that it seems rather pusillanimous to allow oneself to be set aside like this without making any protest and yet I don't think it would be of the least use. I should like to know on what grounds Lord. C. had for saying that I was not fit for promotion, and I cannot help thinking that there is something against me which I am not aware of. The accuracy of my work has never been called into question, and you know my dear I have always been keen about it, indeed I sometimes think that I have neglected other duties for it, and that if I had asserted myself more I should have seen more of my children as they grew up. Of course I do not expect Lord C.'s decision can be reversed , and I am not sure that I wish it to be, but I should like to know the why of it.

Do tell me my dear if you think I am taking it too easily. I have taken to lying awake at night thinking of it, and it worries me. I shouldn't have told you this though, as you have worries of enough, but I do want your sympathy my dear. I have no pride where you are concerned . Though I think that the most dignified thing to do is to say nothing and go on as before doing the best I can and I really don't see my way clear.

21 Feb. 1903 Mss Eur C258/7

After much thought my dear I have decided to draft a letter to the Secy to Govt in the A &A dept and send it to Jeremy and ask him to advise me whether to send it or not. I am sending you a copy of it. Please tear it up when you have read it and give me your candid opinion about it. The more I think of it, the less I can understand what they can have against me. You will see that I have given them a loop hole for my explanation on the score that Mr. H. has had more to do with the minerals than I have, and I dare say that this actually had a good deal to do with Lord C.'s decision

I have not told you much about Mr. Pilgrim because there isn't much to say. I never met a more colourless youth.

22 Feb 1903 Mss Eur C258/7

I have sent my letter to Jeremy with much misgivings, but it seem the best thing to do.

he enlarges on Pilgrim's absence of color at length " if only he would shout or sing or stand on his head"

9th March 1903 Mss Eur C258/7

He and Pilgrim arrive in the region of the Shan states where geological investigations overlap the region mapped by Datta.

10th March 1903 Mss Eur C258/7

I had a very good letter from Mr. Holland today, which has comforted me a good deal as it makes quite clear that he has done nothing underhand in the matter, and was as much surprised as anyone to find himself promoted. I must say that I have done him some injustice in this respect. I will keep his letter to show you. I would enclose it with this, only I am not quite sure where you will get it---Mr. H says, referring to the letter I write him from Maymyo when I heard the news "Your conduct in the matter can best be described amongst those who know you as 'characteristic' " , which I would rather have said of me than be a worldly success.

I also had an answer from Jeremy today which I will keep for you to see. he advises me not to send that letter, that the headship of a department is on a different footing from promotion in one's grade and that the selection for it of a junior man implies no slur on the other man, which is comforting, but as the Directorship in our department has always been by seniority hitherto, there seems to be no adequate reason in this case. Mr. O says that Mr. Holland has offered to try and get him to Kashmir, and if it comes off he will stay out another couple of years or so. So it appears that he has quite reconciled himself to the changes, and in that case of course there would be no object whatever in my sending in a protest. After getting Mr. Holland's letter I had made up my mind not to say anything, no matter what Jeremey's advice was, so that is comfortably settled Mr. H. evidently intends to make things as easy as possible for us. He says in his letter I have just received that there will be no difficulty about my leave but there may be a little delay about formal sanction owing to some muddle they have made in the office over Privileged Leave I had last year.

I had quite an affecting letter from Mr. Smith yesterday, he says he was looking forward to the time when I would be director and his language about Lord C. is to say the least of it "strong".

Calcutta 20 March 1903 Mss Eur C258/7

I found that Mr. Oldham and Mr. Holland are chumming it together at 2 Wood Street, but that the former is going off to Sialkot and Kashmir tomorrow, and Mr. H. has asked me to stay there as his guest till I go, which is very kind of him. He seems very much inclined to be as agreeable as possible, and I shall have a good deal to tell you when we are together, but will not write it all down now. He is full of plans for improving the survey and appears to have the Viceroy's ear, and I dare say a good deal will be done soon. They seem to be very flush of money just now & have given him a lakh to play with.

Calcutta 21 March 1903 Mss Eur C258/7

I had a long and interesting talk with Mr. Holland. He is much more ready to consult the other men in the Dept. than Mr. G. and I am sure we shall work together. He is full of schemes for improving the Dept. and I hope he will be able to work them.