'File 379/1906 Railways: Aden; railway construction in Aden hinterland; Aden-Lahej Railway' [‎95v] (195/308)

No. 6684, dated Poona, the 30th October 1905.
From—The Officiating Chief Engineer, Western Command, Military Works
Services,
To—The Director-General of Military Works.
^ ' laTe th e honour to forward copy of letter No. 2907 of the 4th October
JOOj, from the Colonel on the Staff Commanding Aden Brigade, requestin<' the
appointment of an experienced Royal Engineer officer to that Brigade 0 for
road work, etc., in the interior.
The Lieutenant General Commanding concurs in this demand, and I am
directed to address you accordingly.
No. M.W.-2907, dated the 14th October 1905.
From—The General Officer Commanding Aden Brigade,
To—The Chief Engineer, Western Command, Military Works Services.
-^•^ a T e ll0n0ur to request that an urgent application may be made to
the Director-General of Military Works for the services of an experienced
0 ™cer of Royal Engineers lor work in the Aden Hinterland.
f 2. For more than two years, for political and other reasons a garrison
or half a British battalion, a battalion, Native Infantry, and a detachment of
Royal Artillery has been maintained at Dthala about 100 miles north of
Aden near the boundary of Turkish Yemen, and it will be necessary to
maintain some such garrison for a considerable time to come practically
permanently. J
3. These troops have hitherto been under canvas, an expensive and unsatis-
factory An East India Company trading post. way of housing men for a long period. The communication to Dthala
is by camel only ; the first half of the journey across a sandy desert; the second
half by a narrow track through the hills along beds of streams and by verv
steep zig-zag up to the plateau of Dthala which is about 5,000 feet above the
In my letter No. 984, dated 26th August 1904, to the Deputy Adjutant-
General, Western Command, I recommend the transfer of the Dthala "■arrison
to permanent barracks to be constructed on Jebel Jiliaf about 10 miles from
Dthala. Tins cantonment would be about 7,000 feet above the sea and would
serve as a hill sanatarium, a most urgent need owing to the trying climate
or Aden. I he site of this proposed cantonment was inspected by the
Lieutenant-General Commanding on his recent visit to Aden.
It is proposed that the communication from Aden to Dthala beino- the
main route into the interior by which it is hoped to develop a considerable
trade should be a charge against civil funds and the branch from this main
road to the cantonment at Jehaf should be a military road.
I hope in a short time to forward you a preliminary plan and report on
the proposed cantonment at Jebel Jehaf and the branch military road with
approximate estimates of the charges against military funds.
Whether this military sanatarium is taken in hand at once or not it is
most urgently necessary that the communication to Dthala should be improved.
It is probable that a railway will be constructed from Aden to Nobat the
desert portion of the route and tonga road from there to Dthala.
In response to my letter No. 64-C., dated 8th July 1905, a Pioneer battalion
has been sent to Dthala for the work on the hill portion of the road and an
urgent application is being made to the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. to allot
civil funds to commence at once with the labour of this Pioneer regiment.
It is proposed first to improve the existing track and to make deviations where
the gradient is now too great so that it will be the line of the proposed tonga
road but leaving all bridges and heavy work till complete plans and estimates
as required by the Public Works Department Code can be made. In some
places the line of the existing track will have to be left for some miles to get
a satisfactory gradient.