Description

Papers of Thomas Bradwall Barlow

16/1: Letters to managers 5 January 1933 – 20 December 1935. Comprising:

• letters to G. H. Bowen, manager, Barlow and, Singapore, including comments on domestic politics leading up to general election of 1935, international relations including union between Germany and Austria, European rearmament, Abyssinian crisis, general economic developments, agency business, development of trade in rubber between Singapore and Shanghai offices, trading in Singapore rubber through Associated Holdings Ltd, arrangements for sale of palm oil in bulk through the Malayan Palm Oil Bulking Co. Ltd, fluctuations in the price of rubber, negotiations over return of scheme of restriction (1934), followed by rise in prices and renewed interest in rubber shares, letters from his replacement whilst on leave, F. H. Curtis;
• letters from C. H. Fryer, manager, Barlow and, Shanghai, concerning new rubber business with Singapore, disappointment with Shanghai accounts (14 JUN 1935), bad financial conditions in Shanghai;
• letters to F. Doxey, manager, Barlow and, Calcutta up to office closure and mutual agreement with Messrs Gillander, Arbuthnott and, Calcutta (1933);
• letters to H. H. Wardlaw, manager, Chersonese estate;
• letters to Duncumbe Sear, manager, Barlow and, Kuala Lumpur, concerning rubber market, estate management, detailed correspondence on question of manuring older Malaysian rubber trees, cultivation of Derris root for insecticide manufacture, building of new rubber factory on the Torkington estate, arrangements for sale of palm oil and market conditions;question of floating Inchong estate as a public company in Kuala Lumpur.

16/2: Letters to managers 2 January 1936 – 16 March 1939. Comprising:

• letters to G. H. Bowen, manager Barlow and, Singapore including rising price of rubber and other commodities through 1936 – early 1937, return to boom years of 1925-26, followed by market correction during course of 1937, Budget proposals of 1937 and negotiations over return of excess profits tax, general agency and rubber estate business including agency work for Rothmans Cigarettes;
• detailed summaries of political and city opinion of succession of diplomatic crises leading to Munich agreement of September 1938, exposition of and support for the policy of Appeasement up till March 1939, followed by adoption of the view that was Hitler an opportunist who could no longer be trusted in negotiations;letters to Duncumbe Sear, manager, Barlow and, Kuala Lumpur, including general estate management matters, replanting schemes, experiments in weeding, extensions to area of cultivation, policy towards labour rates and related industry negotiations, fluctuations in rubber price between 1936-38, highs and lows and further restrictions on export rights, letters to F. H. Williams, acting manager, Kuala Lumpur between April – November 1936, during Sears’ absence, including Sungei Krian estate manager, Mr Taylor – rumours of a Chinese ‘wife’ and likely repercussions.