Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
went. Arthur had seen little of his son during their time in
Burma but when he was home he greatly enjoyed taking the boy
on walks, encouraging his interest in the rocks and wildlife
around him from an early age. He was a loving father and often
sent postcards home to friends and relatives signed with
Norman's name, knowing how they would be missing him. He
had wanted to provide the best for his son, so he must have
found their current financial di~culties a great worry and
disappointment after his early expectations of the riches to be
made in the oil fields of Burma.
But the demands of the job did not allow him to stay in one
place for long and by the end of the week he had left Maggie
and Norman in Kalaw, where they were to stay for another
month, and was back in Yenangyaung to reiterate to the oil field
sta¬ the promises made by LCT regarding salaries. But when
the promised money was not forthcoming, Holmes went back
again to Rangoon. This time he managed to obtain 1000 rupees
for himself, equivalent to a couple of weeks salary, and 500 each
for Hunter and Stamp to cover immediate needs, with promises
of more to come, but the other salaries were still not paid. It
was the last straw for Hunter. Following a severe bout of
malaria, and with his young wife pregnant with their first child,
he had had enough of promises. Hunter resigned from Yomah
Oil as soon as he was well enough to put pen to paper.
Holmes carried on in a frenetic search for possible new oil
finds. Endless days were spent travelling on trains and boats
rushing up and down the country from one site to another.
Everyone seemed to want his opinion on this geological struc-
ture, that possible coal seam, or this problem at the well site.
Day after day he records being in the field looking at the geology,
travelling huge distances over di~cult terrain, most of it on foot
or by pony. There was no time for thinking about a geological
time scale, the age of the Earth or the problems of lead isotopes.
Those days seemed very far away now.
Every time he was near a telegraph o~ce he sent a telegram
