مجموعة ٣٥/١٥ "الخليج الفارسي: البحرين؛ مسألة طوابع البريد" [و‎‎٣‎٥] (٣٧٩/٦٨)

sent to Bahrain on the ground that the locality belonged to Iran.
4* j.he question of terminal charges arises only in the case of
parcels, and the number of parcels concerned is only about 6 a
year, ihe wotal amount claimed by the Indian Posts and Telegraph®
Department for terminal charges in 1936 is 14.75 gold francs.
Ihe matter, therefore, is at first sight a very petty ono, and it
is only becanoe of its connection with the Iranian claim to
Bahrain that it is necessary to give it a very careful consider-
ation.
5* There appear to be three courses open:—
(i) To maintain the attitude that Bahrain possesses no post
office capable of exchanging international parcels, and that
parcels from Iran which are shipped from Bandar Abbas should,
therefore, be sent to Karachi or Bombay for re-forwarding.
(ii) To agree to the Iranian parcels being forwarded to
Bahrain only if the Iranian Government agree to oay the
terminal charges.
(ill) To agree to the Iranian parcels being sent to Bahrain
as before and forego the recovery of terminal charges.
The objection to the second course is that it might raise
the Bahrain issue in an acute form, which is presumably most
undesirable in present circumstances. The objection to the third
course is that it may lead the Iranians to think that we are
giving way on the questibn of Bahrain and give them an argument
to support their claim if it is ever examined in an international
court. In view of these objections the Government of India are
inclined to adopt the first course, but would be grateful for
your views.
6 . It can be argued in support of the first course that the
Bahrain office is a small one In charge of a sub-postmaster, on
whoru tue responsibility of exchanging foreign parcels, maintain
ing an international account, and corresponding with a foreign
fiowlvXr^ m §§ s cafrfIS h lu? e a? f Ba£fa?n r Xo
there are no terminal charges to be recovered on these and
orders will be issued on receipt of your reply. Pending further
consideration of the case, orders have been issued to the sub-
/postmaster
^