'File 379/1906 Railways: Aden; railway construction in Aden hinterland; Aden-Lahej Railway' [‎115v] (235/308)

with the boundary. Apart from his actual services in connection with demarcation,
I have always found him ready to help me with his advice and experience in many
matters which 1 have consulted him on, and that his assistance as the result of his
long experience in the hinterland has been .of much value to me.
I have, &c.
(Signed) H. M. MASON, Major-General,
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. , Aded.
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
Mr. Fitzmaurice to Government of India.
Perim, April 30, 1905.
IN accordance with the Government of India’s instructions, conveyed to me in
the British Ambassador’s telegram of the 18th instant, E have, as reported in my
telegram of the 20th instant, settled with the Turkish Commissioner the outstanding
portion of some 60 miles of the south-west frontier of theSubehi, as also the questions
expressly included in the recent negotiations with the Turks respecting the north-east
boundary-line to the desert I forward herewith the maps (^-inch to the mile, general
map, and 40000 larg e scale map of the Sheikh Said Peninsula) with the boundary
line marked thereon, as also a detailed description of this section of the frontier, all
duly signed by Colonel Mustapha Remzi, the Ottoman Commissioner. This brings
up the total extent of boundary actually delimited with the Turks to about 200 miles
from point I on the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Bana to Husn Murad at Sheikh Said.
2. I further inclose the signed proces-verbal in French (with a translation in
English) of the last official meeting of the Joint Commission. In it will be found
mentioned the arrangement communicated by the Sublime Porte in a note verbale,
dated the 14th March last, to His Majesty’s Embassy at Constantinople concerning
the undertaking given by the Ottoman Government not to alienate to a third Power
the Subehi territory lying between the line actually delimited from J. Numan to
Husn Murad and the line of the old Subehi border from J. ’Akama through J. ’Akkar
to Kudam on the shore of the Bed Sea.
3. The wording of the Porte’s note is vague in not giving the north-western
limits (i.e., ’Akaraa and Kudam) of the territory to which the non-alienation Agree
ment refers, but I understand the British Ambassador has subsequently obtained
from the Sublime Porte a statement in writing indicating more precisely the territory
to which the arrangement refers. ( Vide Secretary of State for India’s telegram of the
4th April to the Government of India, Foreign Department.)
4. The tenour of the official telegram on the subject from the Ottoman Minister
of War to the Turkish Commissioner, dated the 19th March, 1905, was as follows :—
“The British Government has wished to impose a condition that the Imperial
Government shall never cede to a third Power the territory situated between the
Akama-Kudam line and the second line terminating at Husn Murad, which you are
hereby instructed to delimit. Such a condition could not be deemed worthy of
discussion even, but the Ottoman Ambassador in London has made a communication
concerning the territory adjoining the Husn Murad line which the British Foreign
Minister has accepted as a sufficient pledge on the subject.”
When urged to insert in the proces-verbal the \Aords “Akama and Kudam,’ as
the northern limits of the territory in question, the Turkish Commissioner demurred,
saying that, in view of the above instructions, he could only agree to the mention of
“ the territory adjoining the Murad line,” and that the reference might even be to
the territory to the south of that line. He subsequently agreed to the wording,
“adjoining and to the north of the Numan-Murad line.”
5. With regard to the section of the Subehi border from J. Numan to Husn
Murad, as finally drawn on the accompanying maps, it may be remarked that the
Boundary Commission, on entering the Subehi country, was given to understand that
the western Subehi frontier passed by J. Am Missas and thence skirted the southern
slopes of the hills, reaching the sea in the vicinity of Turba, while it was found that
the Turks locally laid claim to all the territory east of Sheikh Said up to the line of
J. Am Missas, J. Kharaz, and Has Arab.