Two Secretarial Letters Signed (both 'W D Blyth') by W. Dunbar Blyth, Under Secretary to the Governemnt of Bengal, to Mr N. Pagose of Calcutta, regarding his application for 'appointment in the Opium Department'.
Author:
W. Dunbar Blyth [William Dunbar Blyth; W. D. Blyth], Under Secretary to the Government of Benares [N. Pagose of Calcutta; Opium Department]
Publication details:
The first, on paper headed 'Office Memorandum. Appointment Department, 8 August 1883. The second, on Appointment Department letterhead, 25 February 1884.
£56.00
SKU: 11251
Both letters 1 p, folio. Texts clear and complete. Fair on aged paper worn at extremities. In the first letter he informs him that 'his name has been entered in the register of candidates selected for appointment in the Opium Department, but that the Lieutenant Governor cannot hold out to him any home [sic] of an early appointment'. The second informs Pagose that it is 'quite impossible to say when it may come to your turn to get an appointment in the Opium Department as vacancies in it are not of frequent occurrence and the number of candidates is large'. Bengal opium was highly prized, and was such an important source of income for the colonial government that the Royal Commission on Opium of 1895 endorsed the British opium trade.