File 2908/1907 Pt 3 ‘Persian Gulf:- Quarantine; German complaint’ [‎117v] (234/250)

. You,- memorandum need XSn
state our . 0 ' , i e c t '°" s to d K- that the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. route has',not
acquired since 1897 tends to - bt sus?est that iu these
proyed a danger to 1_> i f or f Lir tlier consideration
circumstances the question should 1 P ' International Health
iu the same manner as was done in the ease oi me rm-
B Tthis cannot be attained you may accept resolution subject to
reserves made with, regard to reduction of dues on shipping.
Annex 2.
British Delegates, Paris, to Foreign Office.
Xo 1 7 Paris,
TVl Lord* 19th December 1903.
^ We have the honour to acknowledge your Lordship s telegraphic
despatch of the l?th instant, instructing us to endeavour to obtain lor
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. question a decision similar to that obtained concerning
the question of the International Sanitary Bureau; or. jn the event of
this being unattainable, to accept the resolution of the ^Vays and Means
Committee as it now stands, subject to the reserve we had already made
in that Committee on the subject of the Mixed Commission and the
reduction of Turkish sanitary dues. _
After careful consideration of the two alternatives, we were led to die
unanimous conclusion that a proposal to defer the question of a lazaret
at Ormuz to subsequent diplomatic treatment by the Powers would
have had no chance of success. In the case of the. International
Sanitary Bureau, the matter at issue was one in which diplomatic
considerations clearly outweighed sanitary considerations ; it was an.
entirely new proposal, on which no previous decision had been arrived
at by earlier Conferences ; and the argument that such a proposal was
scarcely within the competence of the Conference to decide, and would
he better left to subsequent diplomatic treatment, Avas one which could
he justly, and was successfully, used. But these arguments could not
he advanced in the case of the proposed lazaret at Ormuz. In this
case, even if diplomatic out weighed sanitary considerations, it would
have been most undesirable to say so. Moreover, the fact that previous
Conferences had come to decisions on this question, decisions which, in
the case of the lb97 Conference, Her Majesty’s Government had
accepted, prevented us from using the argument that it was beyond the
competence of the present Conference to deal with the matter.
On these considerations, we felt compelled to act upon the second
alternative, contained in your Lordship’s telegram, and to state that we
were authorised to accept the resolutions of the Ways and Means
Committee, subject to the reserve above referred to.
In doing so, however, we took the opportunity, as desired by your
Lordship, of pointing out that the experience of the last six years had
shown that the danger anticipated from the absence of a lazaret at
Ormuz had been in no way realised; that the climate of those regions
and their great distance from the centres of government were very
unfavourable conditions for the establishment of a lazaret; and that the
disastrous results which followed the opening of the Adjir lazaret—the
only one yet opened in the Gwlf—might well he borne in mind in
considering the proposal to establish a similar institution at Ormuz.
We concluded by* saying that if, in spite of these considerations, we
accepted the resolution of the Ways and Means Committee (subject to
the reserve alluded to) it was because His Majesty's Government were
desirous not to dissociate themselves from the other Powers in the
conclusions of the present Conference.