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A Day in the Life of Baptist Mission Press

By Bernard Ellis, Assistant Superintendent 1947-1960; Superintendent 1960-1966.

Bernard Ellis, a self portrait. His wife and children were in England.

The following extracts are from notes Bernard made in Bath, UK, in the early 1980's.

My own contribution was not particularly brilliant. My brother was the technical expert; he knew letterpress printing inside out, from design to typography, setting at the case, making-up pages, operating machines, simple bookbinding, use of the Linotype, administration, business methods.

I could set at the case, distribute type, knew the theory of block-making, not bad on administration, but most of all, I could write. Of the two of us, that was my strength. My brother was editor of 'Indian Print and Paper', which BMP printed and to which I contributed. I also contributed to the 'United Kingdom Citizens' Association Monthly Magazine'.

People in England imagined that, as in some parts of the world, Europeans had an afternoon siesta. This was not so. We were up before 6am. By that time the sun was hot, all windows were closed, to keep the hot air out, and would not be opened again until early evening, when the air inside the rooms would be comparatively cool. We had a ceiling fan in every room. During the cold weather, the fan blades would be taken down for maintenance. The seasons were well regulated, in the sense that, for example, you knew it would not rain in the hot weather. The onset of the cold weather was looked forward to. My brother would say, at the back end of September or early October, "Snow in Simla". He had detected the faintest whiff of cool air. He would add, "You see, there will be a report of the first fall of snow in Simla in tomorrow's paper". And there was!

From October to January was Calcutta's cold weather ­ cold enough to wear a light-weight English suit, minus waistcoat, and to have a blanket on the bed. This was the time when mosquito-nets were shaken out and put up, over the poles at each corner of the bed. Even so, mosquitos sometimes got inside the net and the only way to get rid of them was to switch the light on, watch until they ­ or 'it'­ settled on the inside of the net. A quick wipe down with a handkerchief would be sufficient to get rid of the mosquito. But once inside the net and 'on the loose' there was little sleep.

During the cold weather, once, and once only, I saw a wood fire in a grate at the Manse, next door. Normally it was not sufficiently cool of an evening, although there were times when we did switch on an electric fire.

I made a note of a typical working day, when the temperature was 100° - 105°. (Office hours were 9am - 1pm; 1.30pm ­ 4.30pm plus overtime. Saturdays, 9am - 1pm.)

This was how it went:

1) Signed clerks' attendance register.

2) Received order for 400 handbills for a Bible course for Diocesan women, at Puri, Orissa, 400 miles away.

3) Arranged for Gestetner to carry out work on circular letters.

4) Visited every department to check on current work progress: despatch, admin, Monotype, Linotype, composing, machinery, bookbinding, carpenters, proof-readers.

5) Signed orders for new Monotype spare parts.

6) Storekeeper telephoned to say he had fever ­ off for two weeks.

7) Signed and passed to Labour Officer requests for loans.

8) Outside coolies declined to move paper racks ­ too hot.

9) Passed 5 pages of 'Indian Print & Paper' proofs, to send to customers.

10) Checked and signed daily dockets of proof-readers and compositors.

11) Mrs McPherson, 'special' proof-reader, arrives unwell, sent home, I will do her work.

12) Signed forwarding note for goods to New Delhi (scientific books) by rail.

13) Passed out proofs for B.I.News and Asiatic Society.

14) Signed paying in slips and endorsed cheques for bank.

15) Telephone call from Director of National Library, re bills.

16) Tried to straighten out a worker's debts. He lied so much, he could not be helped. When told he must pay his debts from his share of profits he began to bargain, so that was that.

17) BMS field secretary brought in BMP mail ­ the P.O. is so short staffed through illness that ours could not be delivered.

18) Dealt with the mail, signed letter, drafted one letter re fire extinguishers, signed cheques.

19) Replied to a letter from Cuttack, Orissa, re training their Mission Press manager in office routine.

20) Interviewed new commercial artist. Found he knew nothing about preparing finished artwork from roughs. No go.

21) Coolie collapsed in the heat ­ 104° two days ago, 108° yesterday. Sent him home in a rickshaw. Today unbelievably 'heavy', with air 'thick'.

22) B.I. Shipping gave permission for a special block of theirs to be borrowed for a piece on Diocesan women's work printing.

23) Sent latest deliveries of religious weeklies into bookroom.

24) Passed out proofs, in Assamese and Oriya, for Oriental Bureau, Bombay.

25) Discussed with works manager method of checking 'revisions' on machines.

26) Signed letter to Nestles, re work in Gujerati.

27) Gave pay orders on bills checked by accounts dept.

28) Signed daily reports on machine and binding departments. Six machine-men and six coolies absent, ill.

29) Worked on layout for 'Indian Print and Paper' pages.

30) Desk work eased, to allow for second tour of departments.

31) Watched and checked on automatics, turning out 'New Testament' in Hindi.

32) In office, signed receipt for pile of registered mail.

33) Telephone call re state of lead piping replacement for Monotype machine cooling tank.

34) Receipts on and off desk constantly.

35) Blockmaker in, to discuss cover design for 'The life and teaching of Jesus Christ', in Bengali.

36) Signed commercial tax forms.

37) Telephone call from Calcutta School of Printing Technology, re pictures of Carey, Marshman and Ward.

38) Signed letter with information called for by Statistics Dept., Labour Commissioner.

39) Received material for blockmaking for 'B.I.News'

40) Dealt with workers' application for leave.

41) Signed goods and parcels despatch records re books, and more letters.

42) Drafted letter re Oriya Bible and dealt with query re proofs.

43) Checked out receipts for supplies of paper and paint.

44) Passed advertisement settings for 'Indian Journal of Theology'.

45) Passed to dept. order for books and tracts for Tract & Book Society.

46) Dealt with memo of the East Pakistan Baptist Trust Association.

47) Signed leave slips for men going sick with fever.

48) Signed letter to BMS, London, re despatch of Bengal Baptist Union minutes.

49) Passed proofs of several degree diplomas for a University.

50) Passed drafts of letters, requesting payment of Christian literature bills in respect of books sold.

51) Signed three telegrams.

52) Received letter from Bible Society re binding of Oriya Bible, 'New Testament', 'St John's Gospel' and 'Sermon on the Mount' in Tibetan.

53) Signed forms for despatch of goods by rail.

54) Telephone enquiry as to possibility of printing a book on leprosy for the Tropical School of Medicine.

55) Passed pay slips for petty cash.

56) Telephone enquiry from National Cash Register re training a young man in lithography. (We are letterpress printers, but made suggestions).

57) Passed proofs for Santali 'St Luke' page proofs, for Bible Society.

58) Discussed with works manager practical implications of changing accounts dept. round, measuring, etc. and seeing what staff say.

59) Signed letter supporting application request from staff member for passport to East Pakistan.

60) Signed order for blocks.

61) Passed proofs for 'The Cable' ­ a house magazine.

62) Passed proofs for Diocesan work that came in during morning.

63) Replied to enquiry from East Pakistan re cost of translation.

64) Signed bill drafts for typing.

65) Revised layout of 'Indian Print & Paper' pages.

66) Went into details of Lepcha type history, re a letter from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. This will mean much research and correspondence if taken up.

67) First and only delivery of ordinary mail came in, five minutes before closing time.

68) Letter from Lushai missionary re cost of repairing a Gestetner machine.

69) Enquiry from Welsh Mission, Aijal, re reliability of Japanese machinery, how much power for a diesel engine to run it and other machines to contemplate buying. More time involved in answering. Letter concludes with invitation to visit and advise.

70) Letter from Survey of India, unable to supply maps for a job.

71) Disciplinary matters concerning a peon, who declined to carry out an instruction from a clerk.

72) Accountant produces cash and books for checking, at end of day.

73) Leave office at 5.50pm, with two hours confidential proof reading (exam papers) to be completed during evening. These always have to be done out of hours.

 

The New Testament in Hindi; Matthew Chapter 1. Demy Octavo, Baptist Mission, Press, Calcutta, 1955.

Too hot for visitors to call, so few personal contacts.

One unrecorded interruption ­ toured compound to see if any monkeys around. Could not see any. But they were there next morning at 6am.

The foregoing may seem a particularly busy day. It was average. It would have been more demanding but for the fact that we had, with the odd exception, completely reliable staff, especially the works manager (Bannerjee), and heads of departments.

There were several office rules that I inherited.

One was that all letters had to be acknowledged within 24 hours of receipt. Not all could be answered at once, but at least the enquirers knew that what they had written was being attended to.

All bills were checked on receipt ­ paper being delivered by the ton ­ and as soon they had been checked were passed for payment and paid. No waiting until the end of the month.

If, for any reason, such as illness or absence of key workers (they were entitled to four weeks) work could not be delivered on time, customers were informed in advance that there might be a few days delay.

When a customer called personally, no hint of haste was allowed. Papers were kept off the desk.

When any worker was in trouble or in urgent need of help, that help was given with the minimum of fuss.

I followed most of the retiring Superintendent's methods, because those methods worked. The only difference was that I had one copy typist for all general correspondence; the head of the confidential department had an assistant who typed in a meticulously clean style ­ with, literally, one finger.

We advertised for a junior copy typist. One of the applicants was a man in his middle thirties, going bald; he was easily the best man. And he stayed. He was also deaf. He typed all the general office letters from my drafts. No letters were dictated. All letters came onto my desk first. Suresh Babu, head of the Confidential Department, concluded most of his drafts with "trusting you will do the needful". I was always crossing it out. And he always wrote it.

Suresh was a high-caste Hindu. In all that he did, he was a model of integrity. I relied to a great extent on his advice, which was always sound. He never took advantage of this and knew a great deal about the history of BMP. Suresh told me that the Monotype Department was the spot where the first Baptist church in the area was established by half-a-dozen people.

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