File 339/1905 ‘Koweit: - Political Agency. Expenditure. Steam Launch’ [‎174r] (352/368)

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ENCLOSURES.
Enclosure No. 1.
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. to 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. .
Sir, 29th September 1904.
I am directed hy the Secretary of State for India in Council to
request that you will draw the attention of the Secretary of State for
Foreign Adairs to the arrangements which have been recently made
with a view to placing Consular appointments in Persia upon an
improved footing, and for the representation of British interests at
Koweit.
As Lord Lansdowne is aware,* there lias hitherto been no provision
in the cadre of the Indian Political
t Se ^\7 nr « to a ,0<11 m S t let,erS Department for the apj ointments
of the 23rd March and 20th Ann! last. i-™ , . , , ,1' ,,
at Bunder Abbas, Iver/nansliali,
and Arabistan, which have been allotted to the Indian Service. This
is also the case with regard to the appointment at Koweit, which lias
been filled hy the deputation of Captain S. G. Knox, the First Assistant
to the 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. . The salaries, therefore,
drawn by the officers holding the Persian appointments have been those
of their military or civil rank, supplemented in the eases of Bunder
Abbas and Arabistan by a local allowance of Rs. 200 per mensem, and in
the case of Kermanshah by an acting allowance of Rs. 100 per mensem.
No information has as yet reached this Office as to the salary at present
drawn by Captain Knox at Koweit, hut it is probably that which he
drew at Bushire, viz., Rs. 1,000 per mensem, including all allowances.
In the ietterf from the Government of India, a copy of wh ch is
enclosed for Lord Linsdowne’s
t Xo. 2<o (F. and C.), dated 2ist July ]n f orm ation, the Government of
India propose to add to the cadre
of their Political Department four appointments with a view to providing
qualified officers for these four posts, vi z., a Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Secon d
Class, on a salary of Rs. 1.500 pe r me nsem fo r Kouu fit^ two Political
Agents, Third Class, on Rs. 1,200 each for Kermanshah and Bunder
Abbas, and one Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Fourth Class, on Rs. 1,000 per mensem
for Arabistan. In each ease it is proposed to add a local allowance of
Rs. 200 per mensem.
Under existing arrangements the increased cost of the Persian
appointments would be divided equally between the Imperial and
Indian Exchequers. With regard to Koweit, no arrangement has yet
been arrived at between the Imperial and the Indian Governments.
Lord Lansdowne will remember that, when the Agreement with the
Sheikh of Koweit was originally concluded, Lord Salisbury stated* that
“ he did not contemplate that bv
t Sir T. Sanderson’s letter, dated 18th i• ii • * ji*
T + iun( . ’ “ according that assistance the
“ Indian Government would m the
“ slightest degree pledge themselves to take any action or to accept any
“ liability under any circumstances that might arise ia the future.’'
The appointment of the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Koweit is a direct conse
quence of that Agreement; but, as regards the particular expenditure
here involved, I am to say that the Secretary of State in Council is
willing to accept as a charge on Indian revenues a moiety of the cost
of the Agencv, so long as it is considered to be desirable to retain it.
1904.
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