Archive / Papers / Barlow Family: Box 22

Description

Papers of Thomas Bradwall Barlow

22/1: Correspondence with managers 1 January 1948 – 31 December 1948. Comprising:

  • correspondence between Thomas B. Barlow and F. H. Williams, Barlow and Co., Kuala Lumpur, concerning general estate management, recruitment of new assistants, negotiations for the acquisition of the Golden Hope estate by Highlands and Lowlands;
  • discussions over the erection of palm oil bulking tanks at Port Swettenham, itinery for Sir John D. Barlow’s Far Eastern trip (MAY 1948), letters concerning the Malayan Emergency, measures to protect European staff on plantations, criticism of the government’s response to insurgency (JUN 1948 on);
  • correspondence between Thomas B. Barlow and Major J. H. Tovey, manager, Highlands estate;
  • letters to Joseph W. Allgrove, manager, Muar River estate and visiting agent for the Johore estates;
  • letters to A. F. L. Barrow and E. Gregory Jones, Barlow and Co., Singapore, including trade in imported goods and agency work, staffing issues.

22/2: Correspondence with managers 6 January 1949 – 12 July 1950. Comprising:

  • correspondence between Thomas B. Barlow and F. H. Williams, Barlow and Co., Kuala Lumpur, including the proposed palm oil bulk facility at Port Swettenham, general estate management including European staffing of estates;
  • letters from Thomas B. Barlow to Joseph W. Allgrove (copied to Williams), concerning a round of estate visits and trip to London to discuss his reports (AUG 1949), dealing with high cost of replanting, manuring and reclamation in context of low rubber prices;
  • letters concerning the Malayan Emergency – methods to tackle communist insurgency, report on meeting between heads of Malayan agency houses and Malcolm MacDonald, Governor-General of Malaya 1946-8, (7 JUN 1949), dealing with insurgency and the security situation, government policy towards independence, low rubber prices and related matters;
  • letters relating to negotiation between the Rubber Growers’ Association and the British Rubber Development Board over marketing strategy to counter rise of synthetic rubber industry in America, onset of the third rubber boom in early 1950, brought about by rising demand and shortages of supply, arrival of E. L. Marsh as assistant, Kuala Lumpur office, Williams’ retirement from Barlow and Co., (JUL 1950).