File 600/1905 Pt 1 'Aden Hinterland: Treaty with Dthala' [‎424v] (110/174)

new treaty submitted by the Resident, with the exception that he would con
sent to the omission of clause 7, thinking that the concluding sentence of clause
5 is sufficient in view of the local understanding to secure the necessary increas
ed control of the Radfan tribes. The Resident, it will be observed, would also
omit clause 6 which, however, on consideration, His Excellency would prefer
to retain. The clause is not liable to be misunderstood by other Chiefs, seeing
that they have no frontier to protect, and the maintenance of the frontier is a
new obligation of such extreme importance that His Excellency considers that
the obligation should be clearly stated in the new treaty.
4. The only other point that His Excellency in Council has to touch is that
he would again most strongly urge the Government of India to sanction the
o-rant of a much more liberal stipend than that contemplated in your letter un
der reply. It is known that the Amir is poor. It is known that the maintenance
of the frontier will entail on him payments to the local Sheiks, possibly small
individually, but in the aggregate not inconsiderable, and if the Amir of
Dthala is to have a fair chance of sufficiently discharging the duties which he
takes upon himself by the treaty which is to be negotiated, it is essential to give
him sufficient funds to make him feel that it is greatly to his interest to satisfy
Government that his obligations have been efficiently discharged. It is also
clear on the letters that any other system than that of working through the
Heads of the Amiri Tribes in the way abore suggested is likely to be infinitely
more expensive than that which His Excellency the Governor in Council de
sires should be fully tried; and it appears to His Excellency false economy to
withhold the few dollars a month which may make all the difference to the
success or failure of the policy. His Excellency in Council fully admits the
truth of the remark in your letter pointing out what has been done for the
Amir, but the benefits conferred will not supply him with funds to make the
necessary payments for the work that has to be dune, and His Excellency per
sonally thinks that the stipend (including the payment under clause 5) should
in no case be less than dollars 150 per mensem, and that dollars 200 a month
would not be in the least too much to give for the objects in view, and I am
therefore to suggest that if the negotiations on lines now recommended are
sanctioned, the Resident may have full discretion to meet the needs of the
Amir in a liberal spirit.