'Foreign Office Memorandum on Arabian Policy.' [‎7r] (13/20)

li
Appendix (C.)
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE ON
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, TO DISCUSS THE QUESTION OF SUBSI
DIES TO ARAB RULERS.
Present:
Sir John Tilley, K.C.M.G., C.B., Foreign Office (in the Chair).
Mr. H. Montgomery, C.B., C.V.O. ... Foreign Office.
Major Young, D .S .O.
Mr. C. C. Garbett, C.I.E.
Mr. F. Phillips
Mr. J. C. Carr
Foreign Office.
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. .
Treasury.
Treasury.
Mr. C. M. Pntrick, Foreign Office (Secretary).
Subsidy to Ibn Saud.
Mr. Garhett, referring to the proposal to debit Ibn Saud's subsidy against
Mesopotamian revenues, enquired whether the reference was to current revenues or to
accrued surplus.
Mr. Phillips stated that the Treasury's suggestion referred to the accrued surplus,
and asked whether 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. would object to the 265,000/. already paid to
Ibn Saud being adjusted against that amount.
Mr. Garhett agreed that under the accepted laws of war surplus re\enues of
occupied enemy territory were at the disposal of the occupying Power. In this way the
surplus Mesopotamian revenues were at the disposal of His Majesty's Government] and
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. would probably agree to their being used to meet the amount of Ibn
Saud's subsidy already paid.
After some discussion, Mr. Phillips said there were no other funds at present
available in the Treasury to meet this expenditure, and he agreed that the Treasury
might also accept this suggestion, which, in fact, they were putting to the Foreign
Office officially.
Mr. Montgomery raised the question as to whether the 265,000/. was reckoned in
sterling or rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. .
Mr. Gar'hett understood it was the former.
Major Young asked whether, if the past subsidy was to be met from the
Mesopotamian surplus, the subsidy could not now continue to be paid till the signature
of peace from current Mesopotamian revenues.
Mr. Phillips asked whether it was a matter of urgent necessity to continue the
subsidy at all.
Mr. Garbett said that 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. considered that there could not be a more
inopportune moment for reconsidering these subsidies than the present. The India
Office considered that Ibn Saud's subsidy should certainly be continued till his meeting
with King Hussein had taken place. He thought it "probable that 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.
would agree to Ibn Saud's subsidy being adjusted against the Mesopotamian accounts
till the signature of peace.
Mr. Phillips, while adhering to the view that Ibn Saud's subsidy should be met
from Mesopotamian revenues, asked whether it could not, in fact, be assumed that
there would in future be no real Mesopotamian surplus, and that His Majesty's Govern
ment would, in practice, have to pay anyway if the subsidy were continued.
[4618] ' D