GRIFFITHS, Sir Percival J A History of the Joint Streamer Companies , London: Inchcape & Co Limited, 1979.

Illustrated by Maps. Photographs / Plates. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Good. 8vo Dust jacket in a clear protective sleeve, some fading. Cloth covered boards with bright gilt titling on spine. Map end papers. Colour frontis plate. Maps. Photographs / Plates. 156 pages clean and tight. Preface. In a sense this book may be regarded as a supplement to A History of the Inchcape Group by the same author. The oldest of the companies constituting the Group were of Indian origin and amongst them were the India General Navigation and Railway Company Limited-the IG-and The Rivers Steam Navigation Company Limited-the RSN. The history of those two companies is thus of considerable interest to all concerned with the Group, but it may also attract a wider circle of readers, since it presents an important aspect of the economic history of Bengal and Assam. Writing this book however, has been rather like making bricks without straw. Owing to many office moves and to some mishaps, many of the original records cannot be traced and there are periods for which no primary documents are available. In the case of the IG the gap is to some extent filled by two secondary works. Alfred Brame, the Secretary of the Company at the end of the 19th century, wrote an excellent detailed account of the Company's activities up to that time. Several decades later C. Johnson carried the story on to 1945 in an unpublished typescript. We have drawn heavily on those two works, but in order not to disfigure this book we have not appended footnotes giving references to the many quotations or statements taken from these two secondary sources. In the case of the RSN no comparable sources are available and for the early period there are, therefore, gaps which cannot be filled. It has nevertheless been possible to give a reasonably connected account of the main phases and events in the development of the two companies. In general the conventions adopted in this book preclude mention of the names of individuals still alive, but there are one or two cases where such names have had to be mentioned in order to make the narrative intelligible. Much help in the collation of material has been given by individuals in 40 St. Mary Axe, as well as by friends and former employees of the Companies, but they can only be thanked collectively. Thanks are also due to the vast army of the Companies' employees, from Directors to deck hands or humble clerks or peons, whose work enabled the Companies to succeed in spite of the many difficulties which will be recounted in the following pages. Wentworth November 1979. (Book ref. 127159)  £35.00

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