'A Grandfather's Tale: Memoirs being mainly concerned with service in the Indian Army and the Indian Political Service in India and the Persian Gulf from 1932-1947' [‎18r] (35/118)

. In January/February 1938 I was temporarily posted to Alio-arh
? a ?-” 7 Set ^ ement tra ining. The Settlement Officer was Khan
Sahib Ahmet All, an officer.^ promoted from the Provincial Civil Service
He was^a charming man, kind, efficient, and endlessly patient, with the*
local inhabitants and with me. The re-settlement of a large District took
three years to complete, which was not surprising since it entailed the
inspection and recording of the area, crops, soil etc. of every field,
and the assessment of its value for revenue purposes. At the end of this
process the S. 0 . had to make a detailed report of all that had been done,
and include a history of the area since it had last been settled some
thirty years before. We travelled at various times by elephant, horse,
light ox-cart, camel and foot, and I have photographs to prove itl Odd
factors had to be taken into account. For instance on one occasion I
remember a furious argument about the proposed assessment on one piece
of land, which appeared first class in every respect, Soil, irrigation
and crops. ’'Ah”, said the locals, "but what about the monkeys from the
jungle nearby. Despite all our efforts at scaring them off they do
tremendous damage". The matter was discussed at great length, all of us
sitting round under a convenient tree, and eventually the Khan Sahib agreed
to modify the original assessment to take the "monkey factor" into account.
The elephant was probably the most satisfactory of our various forms of
transport. We just sat sideways on an ordinary mattress tied on top of
the animal, which walked along at the same pace as a man but gave us an
excellent view of the fields. The locals were therefore able to keep up
with us quite easily and say their piece as we progressed from field to
field. At the end of the day we would camp at some convenient spot, our
baggage and tents having been sent on in advance, and would then have time
for further discussion with people concerned if this was necessary. I only
had about six weeks of this existence in contrast to Ahmet Ali’s three
years, but it was a great experience and I learnt a lot about the land and
the inhabitants even in that short time.
Agra was the headquarters not only of the District but of the whole
Civil Division and there was a comparatively large civil population. There
was also a British Regiment, an Indian Regiment, an Indian Territorial
Regiment and a Battery of the Royal Artillery, and various other ancillary
units.
As well as working hard, we played hard. I had known the Welsh
Regiment in Rawalpindi, during my first year (1932) in India but surprisingly
few of their officers in Agra played rugger, and when Agra played against
any other station our team usually consisted of thirteen Welsh other ranks,
the British Assistant Superintendent of Police and me. The last game I
ever played was on the 31st December 193^j in the Red Fort in Delhi,
against a side from the Royal Tank Regiment.
All the usual games, cricket, tennis, hockey and golf were available
and I had my first initiation into polo on the ground near the golf course,