Photo 117/5

Green post-bound album, 315x425mm, containing mounted prints. The title is stamped in gold on the front cover below the crest of the state of Ranchi. Opposite Print 1 is a handwritten dedication which reads: 'To HE Sir Maurice Hallett. With best wishes from, Rameshwar Singh[?]. Photographs taken on the occasion of House Warming party on the 8th July 1939'. Although the prints are uncaptioned there are a few handwritten notes identifying individuals. A typed note by Hallett has been attached to the front free endpaper and reads: 'This volume of photographs was presented to me by the Maharajadhiraj of Darbhanga after a party which he had given to celebrate the completion of his house in Ranchi. The Congress Ministry were then in office and they had received instructions from Mahatma Gandhi not to accept any hospitality from the Governor or from any mambers of the Civil Service and not to attend any parties at which they were present. The Maharajadhiraj however managed to persuade them to attend the dinner party which he gave on the opening of his new house and to get round the veto, and the photographs show how much the Ministers enjoyed the evening which was the first time some of them had met any English ladies. I warned the Maharajadhiraj that it might be desirable to avoid any press notices appearing of the function as it might cause the Congress leaders to find fault with the Bihar Ministers; actually a paragraph did appear in the papers merely mentioning my personal name and not my official title! [Signed] M.G. Hallett'.