Recollections of Calcutta for over Half a Century by Montague Massey
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Montague Massey >> Recollections of Calcutta for over Half a Century
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[Illustration: _Photo. by Johnston & Hoffmann_ Howrah Bridge from
Calcutta side.]
[Illustration: View of Harrison Road from Howrah Bridge.]
POLICY OF INSURANCE.
I should just like to relate a little episode that occurred in my very
early days in Calcutta, which nearly resulted disastrously for every
one concerned. It will serve, amongst other things, to enlighten
people of the present generation as to the wide difference that
subsists between that time and the present in respect of the treatment
of policy-holders generally by insurance companies. The firm with
which I was then connected were agents of a Hongkong house, and one of
our duties was to pay to the Universal Assurance Company, half-yearly,
the premium on a policy on the life of a man who was staying in
England. I forget exactly what the amount Was, but I recollect it was
something considerable. One fine day I was startled beyond measure by
the receipt of a notice from the then agents, Gordon Stewart & Co., to
the effect that the days of grace having expired for payment of the
premium, the policy in question under the rules had lapsed and had
been consequently cancelled. My feelings can be better imagined than
described, as I alone was responsible, and I was fully aware of the
gravity of the position. I made a clean breast of the state of affairs
to my Burra Sahib, and he instructed me to go straight over to the
agents and explain matters, and at the same time authorised me to
offer to pay anything they might see fit to impose in the nature of a
fine. I got very little satisfaction or comfort from my interview
with the head of the firm, a Mr. William Anderson whose soubriquet was
Gorgeous Bill, who told me that he could do nothing personally, that
the matter would have to be submitted to the directors at their next
weekly meeting, and that the probabilities were that they would
enforce the rule and cancel the policy. The following few days were a
veritable nightmare to me, as I fully expected they would act as he
intimated they would and as they were fully entitled to do. At last
the fatal day arrived, and I waited in fear and trembling outside the
Board room, whilst the directors deliberated over the affair. To my
intense joy and relief they announced their decision which was to the
effect that they had taken into consideration all the facts of the
matter and they thought a fine would meet the exigencies of the case,
but I must not do it again. As far as I remember the amount was Rs.
150, but the point of the story has yet to be told. Whilst all this
was happening the man was lying dead at home having been accidentally
killed by a bale of cotton falling upon him when passing along some
cotton warehouses in one of the streets in Liverpool.
[Illustration: Old view of Bank of Bengal _Johnston & Hoffmann_]
[Illustration: _Photo. by Bourne & Shepherd_ Present view of Bank of
Bengal]
PART II.
Topographical.
Of all the vast and dramatic changes that have taken place in Calcutta
since I first saw it, I think the most striking and outstanding are to
be seen in Clive Street and its environs. Looking back and contrasting
the past with the present, it all seems so startling and wonderful as
to suggest the idea that some genii or magician had descended upon the
city and with a touch of his magic wand converted a very ordinary
looking street, containing many mean, dilapidated looking dwellings,
into a veritable avenue of palaces, and for ever sweeping away blots
and eyesores which had existed almost from time immemorial. This
transformation more or less applies to Clive Row, the whole of the
south side of Clive Ghaut Street stretching round the corner into the
south of the Strand, part of the northern portion, Royal Exchange
Place, Fairlie Place, the west and south side of Dalhousie Square, and
a goodly portion to the east.
WRITERS' BUILDINGS
Occupying as it does the whole of the north side of Dalhousie Square
has been changed and altered out of all knowledge and recognition. It
was formerly, before Government took it over, a plain white stuccoed
building utterly devoid of any pretensions to architectural beauty,
and depending mainly for any chance claim to recognition on its
immense length. Its blank, straight up and down appearance was barely
relieved by several white pillars standing out rather prominently in
the centre of the building. It used to be occupied by shops and all
sorts of people, merchants, private residents, etc, etc. Some of the
rooms on the ground floor were let out as godowns. I lived there
myself for some months on my first arrival in Calcutta, and very
pleasant and airy quarters I found them. I recollect in the early
morning quite a number of small green paroquets used to fly all about
the place, and their incessant chatter and calls to each other made it
very bright and cheery. My rooms were on the top floor at the extreme
west end, next to where the Council chamber is now situated. I also
had in addition a very good dining room on the first floor. When the
Bengal Government acquired the property they erected an entirely new
facade of a totally different design from the original, built the
present long range of verandahs and Council chamber which they
completed in 1881-1882, and also threw out from the main block from
time to time the various annexes that we see abutting on to Lyons
Range.
[Illustration: _Photo. by Johnston & Hoffmann_ Frontage of Writers'
Buildings from East to West.]
[Illustration: _Photo. by J & H._ Distant view of Writers' Buildings,
taken before the Dalhousie Institute was built.]
Of course most of us know that Writers' Buildings in the days of Clive
and Warren Hastings was the home and resting place of the young
civilians on their first arrival in Calcutta, and who were then
designated Writers, from which fact there appears little doubt the
place derives its name.
One of the very earliest street alterations and improvements that
comes to my recollection was in Canning Street, just at the junction
of Clive Row, on the space of ground extending from the latter for
some distance to the east, and north as far as the boundary wall of
Andrew Yule & Co.'s offices, leaving but a narrow strip of a lane
running parallel to the latter and affording access to China Bazaar on
the east and beyond. When I first came to Calcutta this space was
occupied by a very mediaeval, ancient, and old-fashioned building
having a flagged, paved courtyard in front, surrounded by high brick
walls. It divided Canning Street into two distinct sections,
effectually obstructing through communication between east and west,
except for the narrow strip of passage above referred to. The place
was then known as it is at the present day as Aloe Godown or Potato
Bazaar, and was in the occupation of George Henderson & Co. as an
office when they were agents of the Borneo Jute Co., afterwards
converted into the Barnagore Jute Co. When it was pulled down, it of
course opened out free communication between east and west and allowed
of the erection of the buildings we see on the north and south of the
eastern portion. Whilst on this subject I must confess to a lapse of
memory in respect of what Clive Row was like at that particular
period. I am half inclined to the belief that it did not exist as an
ordinary thoroughfare and had no houses on it; also that more or less
it was filled up by the compounds of the various houses situated on
the western side of China Bazaar. At the same time, however, it may
have given access of very restricted dimensions to the north and west
of Aloe Godown, but the entrance which we always used was the gateway
in Canning Street facing due west.
The next improvement, that I recollect, this time in connection with
the building of new business premises, was when Jardine Skinner & Co.
vacated their old offices which were situated on the site of Anderson
Wright & Co.'s and Kettlewell Bullen & Co.'s present offices, and
removed to their present very handsome quarters which they have for so
long occupied. I very well recollect the style of their old place of
business and how the exterior strongly reminded me of the cotton
warehouses in Liverpool. The interior was a big, rambling, ramshackle
kind of a place with but few pretensions to being an office such as we
see at the present day.
[Illustration: _Photo. by Bourne & Shepherd_ Town Hall, Calcutta.]
[Illustration: _Photo. by Bourne & Shepherd_ Site of Black Hole of
Calcutta]
The whole was of course eventually pulled down, as was also a similar
range of buildings in the south of Clive Ghaut Street on which
Macneill & Co.'s offices were built.
It has just occurred to me whilst writing that it might perhaps be a
matter of some interest to brokers and others engaged in business at
the present time to be informed of the various changes that have taken
place during the last forty or fifty years in the location of the
offices of many of the firms with whom they have daily intercourse.
Those to whom it does not appeal can skip the next few pages.
To begin with, George Henderson & Co. were the first to remove their
offices after their old premises in Aloe Godown were dismantled. They
first of all migrated to 3, Fairlie Place, and after many years to 25,
Mangoe Lane, now in the occupation of Lyall Marshall & Co. and
Lovelock & Lewes. They finally settled down in their present offices
in Clive Street which they have greatly improved and enlarged.
The next firm on the list to make a change of quarters was Jardine
Skinner & Co., to whom I have previously alluded.
Macneill & Co., who had branched off from the firm of Begg Dunlop &
Co., had their first offices in the building now in the occupation of
the Exchange Gazette Printing Office and Mackenzie Lyall & Co's
Furniture Range; afterwards they removed to the Strand at the
north-west corner of Canning Street, and then established themselves
in their present premises to which they have made considerable
additions and improvements.
Kettlewell Bullen & Co. have had many flittings since I first became
acquainted with them. My first recollection of them was when they
occupied a very old building, 5, New China Bazaar Street, which has
been pulled down, and on the site of which have been erected the
premises containing the Bristol Grill on the ground floor and several
offices on the upper storeys. They then removed to 19 and 22, Strand,
then back again to 5, New China Bazaar Street, afterwards to 5,
Mission Row, finally settling down in their present quarters which
they have greatly improved and largely extended.
Petrocochino Bros, had their offices originally on the site of the
Stock and Share Exchange and Ewing & Co.'s premises. They afterwards
moved over to Canning Street at the south-east corner of China Bazaar,
now occupied by Agelasto & Co., finally settling down in their present
quarters in Clive Ghaut Street.
[Illustration: _Photo. by Johnston & Hoffmann_ Old Court House Street,
looking south.]
[Illustration: _Photo. by Bourne & Shepherd_ Government Place, East,
at the present day.]
Duncan Brothers & Co., or Playfair Duncan & Co. as they were known in
the far off days, were established at 14, Clive Street. From there
they changed over to next door in Canning Street which had formerly
been occupied by Finlay Muir & Co., and thence, as we all know, to the
very handsome block of buildings which they have erected on the site
of Gladstone Wyllie & Co.'s old offices.
Ernsthausen & Co., or Ernsthausen & Oesterly as they were originally
styled in the days when I first knew them, had their offices in Strand
Road to the south of Commercial Buildings, now incorporated with the
premises of Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co. Subsequently they removed to
Royal Exchange Place, where they remained for a number of years, in a
building formerly occupied by a very well known firm of Greek
merchants of the name of Schilizzi & Co., and now by Prankissen Law &
Co. They then went to a building next to Jardine Skinner & Co. to the
south, which some time before had been newly erected, but which has
since been pulled down to make room for the handsome premises of the
Oriental Government Security Life Assurance Co., Ltd. They finally
came to anchor in their present location.
When Birkmyre Bros first established themselves here under the
management of Sir Archy Birkmyre's uncle, with Mr. Patterson as
assistant, who later on took charge of the Hooghly Mills, and finally
of Jardine Skinner & Co.'s two mills, they occupied rooms on the first
floor of 23 or 24, Strand Road, North. It was here I negotiated with
them the very first contract that was ever passed in Calcutta for
hessian cloth for shipment to America. I forget how long they remained
there until they removed to their present offices. I may here mention
that they first of all commenced operations with the machinery of an
old mill which they had been running at home for some time previously,
and which they shipped out stock and block to Calcutta, and erected on
the site of the present Hastings Mill.
Graham & Co., on their first arrival in Calcutta, occupied 14, Old
Court House Lane, and afterwards removed to 9, Clive Street, which, as
we all know, was pulled down a few years ago, and the present
palatial premises erected on its site.
F.W. Heilgers & Co., in the far distant past, were known as Wattenbach
Heilgers & Co. When I first remember them they had their offices in an
old building occupying the site of Balmer Lawrie & Co's handsome new
premises, after which they removed to 136, Canning Street, where they
remained for a very great number of years, until the Chartered Bank of
India, etc., built their present offices when they took over and
rented the whole of the second floor.
Bird & Co. were originally located at 40, Strand Road, North, a very
ancient and out-of-date looking sort of a place. Their first removal
was to 5, Clive Row, where they stayed until 101-1, Clive Street was
erected, to which they changed finally establishing themselves on the
first and part of the ground floor of the Chartered Bank Buildings on
their completion some nine years ago.
James Finlay & Co., formerly Finlay Muir & Co., started in 15, Clive
Row, and stayed there for a number of years, after which they removed
to 21, Canning Street, and thence to their present handsome block of
buildings which they erected on the site of the old "Thieves Bazaar,"
and a portion of the adjoining ground to the east and south.
William Moran & Co.'s old indigo and silk mart was situated on the
site of the present Stamp and Stationery Office, and, as far as I
recollect, extended from Church Lane to the Strand. When the ground
was required by Government they built premises in Mangoe Lane, now in
the occupation of Steuart & Co., the coach-builders, the Pneumatic
Dunlop Tyre Co., and various other people. When misfortune overtook
them, the property was, I believe, sold, and they removed to 11, Lall
Bazaar Street, which has since been dismantled, and they are now in 2,
Mangoe Lane, next door but one to their former premises.
Hoare Miller & Co. have only made two removals during their very long
residence in Calcutta. First to the office in the Strand which they
have lately vacated for their present offices in Fairlie Place, next
to the National Bank. They formerly had their offices at the extreme
west end of Writers' Buildings, just under my old quarters, and to the
west facing the Custom House there was a large open space adjoining,
which, as far as I recollect, they utilised for storing iron, metals
and other goods of a like nature, and on which the Council chamber was
eventually built.
Ralli Bros. have also made but one change in all the long years they
have been established here, from 9, Clive Row to their present
offices, which they greatly improved and enlarged on entering into
possession.
Anderson Wright & Co. opened their first office at 12, Clive Row, but,
as far as I can recollect, they did not stay there very long before
they removed to their present place of business.
Andrew Yule & Co. were established for very many years, as most of us
already know, at 8, Clive Row, and they also occupied a considerable
portion of the adjoining premises extending along Canning Street. They
simply stepped across the way and built themselves the splendid new
block of buildings which they now occupy.
I think these embrace most of the important changes I remember. I will
therefore close this branch of my recollections.
[Illustration: _Photo. by Johnston & Hoffmann_ Bathgate and Co's
premises, Old Court House Street]
[Illustration: Grosvenor House. Containing Phelps & Co's, and James
Monteith & Co's., premises.]
Before finally quitting the subject relating to business matters the
following may interest a good many people, more particularly those
engaged in the jute trade: When the jute baling industry was first
started, and for many years afterwards, it was carried on principally
in the very heart of the city, in Canning Street, and various streets
and lanes, branching off and in the neighbourhood, such as Sukea's
Lane, Bonfield Lane, Jackson Ghaut Street, and many other back slums,
some of which have altogether disappeared to make room for street,
and other structural improvements. There were no hydraulic presses in
those days for the baling of jute, and the work had to be done by hand
screws worked from the upper floor, on the same principle as the
capstan of a sailing vessel, by gangs of coolies in old, tumble-down
and dilapidated godowns. The jute was compressed into bales weighing
300 lbs. only, and it was not until the advent of the hydraulic
presses in the seventies that bales containing first of all 350 and
later 400 lbs. were shipped from Calcutta, and the baling was
transferred from the town to Chitpore and the other side of the Canal.
To illustrate another phase of the vast changes that have taken place,
in this instance in the matter of exports, I very well remember F.W.
Heilgers & Co., who happened one year to be the largest exporters,
advertising the fact by printing a list of the various shippers and
their shipments, with their own name at the head in larger type than
that of the other firms, with a total of 120,000 or 130,000 bales!!!
In comparison with this, and just to contrast it with what was then
considered a large export for one individual firm, I may mention that
just before the present war Ralli Bros, exported 1,100,000 bales,
Becker Grey & Co., 400,000 bales, Ernsthausen & Co, 330,000 bales, R.
Steel & Co. 240,000 bales, and James Duffus & Co. 220,000 bales.
THE ICE HOUSE.
It was not until the year 1878 that ice factories were first
established in Calcutta when the Bengal Ice Company was formed under
the auspices of Geo. Henderson & Co., followed in 1882 by the Crystal
Ice Company, of which for a time I was a director, by Balmer Lawne &
Co. It was not long after the starting of the latter concern that the
rivalry between the two companies became so keen and ruinous,
involving as it did the cutting down of rates, that it was found
impossible to continue. Unless something had been done the fight
would have ended very much like the proverbial one of the Kilkenny
cats. Before, however, this stage was reached, the agents and
directors of both companies very wisely entered into negotiations
with each other with the view of effecting a compromise, which later
eventuated in their amalgamation under the style of the present
Calcutta Ice Association, Ltd.
[Illustration: Old premises of Francis, Harrison, Hathaway & Co.,
Government Place, East.]
[Illustration: New premises of Francis, Harrison, Hathaway & Co.,
Government Place, East]
[Illustration: _Photo. by Johnston & Hoffmann_
Peliti's premises, Government Place, East.]
[Illustration: _Photo. by Johnston & Hoffmann_ Dalhousie Square,
looking north east, showing tank.]
Before the introduction of artificial ice, Calcutta was entirely
dependent for its supply on the importation of Wenham Lake ice in
wooden sailing ships by the Tudor Ice Company from America. The Ice
House was situated at the west end of the Small Cause Court, the
entrance facing Church Lane and approached by a steep flight of
stone-steps. There were no depots distributed about the town as there
are now, and every one had to send a coolie to the Ice House for his
daily supply with a blanket in which it was always wrapped up.
I think the price in ordinary times was two annas per seer, but it
occasionally happened that the vessels bringing the ice, owing to
contrary winds or some other cause, were delayed, and then the stock
ran low and we were put on short commons; if as in some cases the
delay became very protracted, the quantity allowed to each individual
was gradually reduced to one seer per diem, and if any one wanted more
he had to produce a doctor's certificate because it was of course
imperatively necessary that sufficient should be kept in reserve for
the use of the various hospitals. When the long-delayed vessel's
arrival was telegraphed from Saugor, great was the rejoicing of the
inhabitants. The vessels used to be moored at the ghaut at the bottom
of Hare Street, as there were no jetties in those days.
The ice was landed in great blocks on the heads of coolies and slided
down from the top of the steps to the vaults below. They used at the
same time to bring American apples which were greatly appreciated as
there were none grown in India at that time.
ILLUMINANTS.
To the present generation it would no doubt appear strange and
particularly inconvenient had they to rely solely for their lighting
power on coconut oil. It had many drawbacks, two of which, and not the
least, being the great temptation it afforded Gungadeen, the Hindu
farash bearer, to annex for his own individual daily requirements a
certain percentage of his master's supply, and to the delay in
lighting the lamps in the cold weather owing to the congealment of the
oil which had to undergo a process of thawing before it could be
used. Gas had been introduced some years previously, but it was
confined to the lighting of the streets and public buildings. Of the
days that I am writing about, and for long years afterwards, coconut
oil was the one and only source from which we derived our artificial
lighting, and it was not until the early seventies that a change came
over the spirit of the dream by the introduction of kerosine oil.
[Illustration: _Photo. by Johnston & Hoffmann_ Old premises of Ranken
& Co.]
[Illustration: _Photo, by_ Present premises of Ranken & Co.]
This of course made a most wonderful and striking change in the
economy of life in more ways than one, and amongst others it brought
about at once and for ever the abdication of the tyrannical sway and
cessation of the depredations of the aforesaid Gungadeen who had no
use for kerosine as a substitute for his beloved coconut oil wherewith
to anoint his body and for the other various uses to which he could
apply it.
ELECTRIC LIGHTS.
Although this did not come into general vogue until the late nineties,
it had been introduced in a very practical way as far back as the
year 1881 in the Howrah Jute Mills Co., but after a few years it was
discontinued, to be generally re-adopted in 1895 by all the jute
mills. The introduction of the light into private dwellings, places of
amusement, and other buildings, of course worked a marvellous change
in our social life and all its conditions, but it appealed most of all
to those who like myself had for so many years sat in a species of
outer darkness and made it almost seem as if the past had been but a
dream.
PUNKAHS AND ELECTRIC FANS.
The old, swinging punkah, with which most of us are so familiar, held
on its silent way in spite of occasional attempts from time to time to
oust it from its well and firmly established position. The different
inventions that made their appearance always lacked the one essential
point of giving expression to the kick or jerk of the hand-pulled
punkah, and consequently they proved unsuccessful. I doubt much
whether it would ever have been possible to create an artificial
substitute for this most essential and necessary adjunct. But the
advent of the electric fan also in the latter end of the nineties of
course did away with the necessity for any further essays in this
direction. And so at last after innumerable years of abuse but useful
and indispensable work, the old punkah went the way of all things
mundane.
THE HOWRAH BRIDGE
Was designed and built by Sir Bradford Leslie in 1874, and proved from
the very fast an inestimable boon to the inhabitants, both of Calcutta
and Howrah. It is very difficult for any one who has never had the
experience of doing without it, as I have, to conceive what it was
like before the bridge was built. If you wanted to cross the river
except at stated intervals when the ferry-boat was plying, you had of
course to go either in a dinghy or green-boat, and accidents were of
frequent occurrence, particularly amongst the native element, in the
rainy season, when, as we all know, the freshets are exceptionally
strong. Goods and all sorts of merchandise had to be transported to
and fro by cargo-boats and lighters which entailed much delay, besides
extra expenses, loss, and damage to the goods by changing hands so
often in transit. When the bridge was first opened a small toll was
levied for each person crossing over. After a time Railway terminal
charges were levied and appropriations from the revenue of the port
commissioners allocated to support the upkeep of the bridge, and tolls
were abolished.
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