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‘File 4/3 (1.a/51) Propaganda’ [‎49r] (99/194)

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The record is made up of 1 file (95 folios). It was created in 14 Dec 1940-23 Jul 1949. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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-2-
of the Bosphorus. Thus in the Middle Ages, the Venetians,
who quarrelled with the rulers of Constantinople, had
to go and settle at Alexandria and Hosetta, in order to
continue their eastern trade. The Genoese then succeeded
to the inland caravan routes across Asia, which they held
despite occasional disputes with the ^eljuk Turks. 'Finally
the capture oi Constantinople ( which thBnceforth became
Istanbul) by the Turks, closed this door to the Christian
nations of the west, and provided the stimulus which led
to the discovery of the Cape route to India.
6. As I have said, it was steam that revived the Red
uea route, and it is petrol that is swirling the balance
back once more to the overland-cum- Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. route.
1 will avoid obvious truisms of nomenclature such as
'the transport medium oi the future" and pass on to remark
tnat the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. route, with its land Continuation
across Iraq and Palestine, presents an ideal route for a
predominently coastal and maritime association^' of nations
such as the British Commonwealth. It is no accident that
British Overseas Airways have for years pinned their
iaitn on Hying boats - not land planes - for the main
Empire route to Australia; and it may be predicted that
when India herself begins to operate inter-territorial
airways, she will find the flying boat best suited to a
large majority of the territories surrounding the ocean
whicn bears her name, to which she will want to run air
services.
The xirab shore of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. provides an ideal
route for flying boats because of the string of enclosed
xagoons and creeks which it possesses. The principal
"seadrome" ( if I may use this hybrid word) is that of
Khor Kaliya at Bahrain, an almost entirely enclosed
lagoon, 2 miles long and 1^ miles wide, the flying-boat
dream. Sheltered water is of course the one
alighting surface which is always dead level ( for all
practical purposes), and which needs no outlay on
construction or maintenance.
/. Previously, Imperial airways used land-planes and
flew down the Persian shore of the Gulf. This had the
advantage of being the inner segment of the curved coastal
route from Basra to Karachi; but eventually the
xenophobic policy oi the late Shah of Persia made Imoerial
Airways' position there intolerable, and they moved, bag
and baggage, to the iirab shore. Their decision was, of
course, reinforced by the growing commercial imoortance of
tnat shore, with the discovery of rich oil-fields all along
it. Lost oil companies before the war preferred to pay
air passages for their executives when going on leave or
returning from it, to losing their services for the greater
length of time involved in a sea passage. ( Unlike Govern
ment of India employees, oil company personnel count their
leave only from the date they reach their home country).
Hence for many years, Bahrain was the second most profitable
stop ( coming after Southampton) on the route.
kany a passenger has counted among his ( or her) most
Sharjah fort and interesting experiences of the Orient, a night-stop in
guards the airways rest house at Sharjah, a square fort-like
building with loopholes at the corners, which normally calls
forth comparison with that popular novel " Beau Geste".
The scallywag Arab, guards provided by the Shaikh of Sharjah
are growing comparatively indifferent to being photographed
for British or Americans albums in which, did they but know
it, they undoubtedly figure either as "Shaikhs" or as
"bedouin", neither of which of course, they are.
9. Turning now to seaways, we find rather the reverse.

About this item

Content

The file contains exchanges of secret and confidential letters, memoranda and telegrams, mainly between Major Reginald George Evelyn William Alban and his successor Cornelius James Pelly (British Political Agents, Bahrain); Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Charles Geoffrey Prior ( Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Bushire); Major Tom Hickinbotham and his successor A.L.A. Dredge, (Public Relations Officers in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Bahrain); Captain J.B. Howes (Publicity Officer in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Bahrain then Deputy Secretary, Government of India Information and Broadcasting Department, New Delhi).

File correspondence discusses: the script and arrangements for making a British public information film about the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , by an Indian film unit, in 1945; requests for funds to develop a recreation ground and provide a cinema in Bahrain, in order to promote social contact between the British, Arabs and Persians, 1940-1941; and compiling a list of Sheikhs in Bahrain and Qatar and also Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. Rulers, who would appreciate a supply of Arabic literature from the Public Relations Office in Bahrain, 1949. There is also a copy of the minutes of a meeting of the Public Information Committee held in the Public Information Office, Bahrain on 12 January 1941 (ff.6-8).

The file also contains policies, plans, information and guidance relating to publicity work in the Middle East which were circulated to British officials in the region by the Ministry of Information in London and Cairo. These include British propaganda policy and planning for Persia 1944-1945 by the Overseas Planning Committee; information about British publicity work in Palestine; notes for making public statements about the political assassination of Lord Moyne (British Minister Resident in the Middle East) in Cairo on 6 November 1944; French claims in the Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. , 1945; and participation by Syria and Lebanon in the United Nations Conference on International Organization, San Francisco, 1945.

Extent and format
1 file (95 folios)
Arrangement

File papers are arranged chronologically. The notes at the end of the file contain two lists of file contents. The first list (ff.93-94) records the reference numbers 1 to 44 (with gaps) which have been written in pencil or blue crayon on most of the documents, starting at the front of the file. The second list (ff.94-95) records reference numbers that refer to papers at the end of the file. The reference numbers help to identify and locate these documents in the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: numbered 1 to 95 in pencil in the top right hand corner. The numbering starts at the front of the file, on the first file enclosure (f.1) and ends on the last file enclosure (f.95) at the back of the file. The front file cover is not foliated.

Written in
English in Latin script
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‘File 4/3 (1.a/51) Propaganda’ [‎49r] (99/194), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/927, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100022698519.0x000064> [accessed 7 May 2024]

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