Reports and papers of the Egyptian Administration Committee [‎15r] (29/108)

THE CHAIRMAN stated that in his opinion the -chief ddwrgerv^
between the two points of view appeared to be a diffe- v ea
estimate of the quantity and quality of Foreign Office
business which would be necessary in the Egypt of the
future, If> as seemed possible, there Y/ould be a
considerable quantity of such business, vrould the
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, unaided by his
permanent staffs, be sufficient as the sole link
between the Foreign Office and the Egyptian
Administration?
LORD ED7/ARD CECIL replied that Diplomatic affairs would
remain under the Foreign Office,
LORD CURZON pointed out that this entailed a divorce between
Egypt and Foreign Cffiee affairs, in which case the
position of the Secretary of State would be unenviable;
he did not see why there should not be an independent
Department inside the Foreign Office, Although the
recruiting of this Department/ would not be on the same
system as that of other Foreign Office Departments,
there was no reason v/hy it should not come under the
permanent Under-Secretary of State,
LORD EDWARD CECIL explained that his idea was that the
Department as he saw it, directly and immediately
under the Secretary of State was only a temporary
expedient to remain in vigour until the possible
formation of a Near Eastern Government Department,
which might enjoy the status of a Ministry,
LORD MILNER cited the analogy of the Sudan which, though
under the Foreign Office, so far as Foreign Affairs
were concerned, was for administrative purposes
practically independent,
THE CHAIRMAN while not rejecting this analogy observed
that Egypt differed from the Sudan and other similar
dependencies both in degree and in kind, involving
both actually, and as far as could be seen in the
future far more problems of a purely Foreign Office
nature,
LORD MILNER objected that while diplomatic work would
probably diminish other business would tend to
increase.
THE CHAIRMAN remarked that the hypothesis of Lord Edward
Cecil increased London control over Egypt and asked
Lord Curzon how, in view of his Indian experience,
he contemplated such a possibility,
LORD CURZON stated that for the ordinary business of
Government, India enjoyed considerable independence,
A Stores Department had for some time been in
existence in the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , and had given no great
satisfaction, India was in fact more independent
than Egypt in theory, though less so than Egypt under
the rule of a Cromer or a Kitchener.
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