File 37/1905 Pt 4 'Aden Frontier Delimitation' [‎21v] (49/1197)

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ha-ring eventually teen found im P^’ ,e 0 ^‘de to transfer the scene of
of the S Turkish authorities, an attempt^ ^ ^ Amir; country towards
operations to the tract lying ^ e ; ^ 6till refused to co-operate. Matters
the desert, hut the Turkish C °™ m “ s '”“ enta tions had repeatedly to be made at
got to such a P ass , tha * ?5 e f ”mnof war hadtobe sent to Hodeida. - llie -^'
Constantinople, and a British . P NoTem ber 1902 and again in January^
measures were so far successful that in . ued in which 0 ur demands as
and February 1903, ^P? 115 " 1 , ^ato were complied with, and instructions
to the eeneral basis of the delimitation t ^ H. Fitzmaunee,
t- Tutkisli Embawy a® Constantinople, had
^ “hi?:* td lETd S So” .“hi, 1902. boon addod » tb. C.»n,„o. a.
Joint Commissioner. -macle no progress, and in
5. In spite of the issue of tbe Ira es, t jnixed column to support the
February 1903 it became necessary to desp t h ^ March 1903 , the Turks
Commission on the Dthala plateau. F y, . recent iy occupied by
evacuated the whole of ° t t ^mmenee proceedings. Still, however,
them, and rendered it possible at last t ® P w ho had been aroused
further delay was caused by the atti issued by the Turkish authorities;
to unrest and opposition by fana ic PP ‘ ^ fi rs t pillar was actually
and it was not till the 1st October 1903 that P^ shaibi te ,. rit0 ry
erected at the point wheie . followint' 1 December the Amiri
meet on the hanks of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. B f Tia ' r ; n accordance with British
border itself (42 miles) countr^ soXwest of the Amiri
terr™ory,^had e heen r ^delimi'ted e (36 {im^anriiahi^cmintr^f towards
previously referred to as lying to the north-
east of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Bana towards the desert.
fi Tr was decided to postpone the settlement of the latter question an to
hy^General^^itLnd^no^laces^remainiiig 3 ^^ dUpute^etween
and t^point of intersection of the 13th parallel of latitude and the 44th of
longitude. As regards the rest of the boundary towards the sea, though it has
been surveyed, no agreement has yet been arrived at on the subject, but
urgent representations are being made by His Majesty’s Government direct to
the Porte, with a view to the prompt settlement in principle of the question.
On 11th June 1904, Colonel Wahab resigned his position as Joint Commis-
luer aud all the other members of the Commission left ^h the exception of
Mr. Pitzmaurice, who was instructed to stop at Penm, while the T
Commissioner remained at Sheikh Said, with a view to the settlement of the
remaining portion of the south-west boundary.
7. Now that the Commission has practically come to an end of its labours,
it may not he out of place to state briefly our opinion as to the work done
by the British Commission. This work consists in the delimitation ol Id»
miles of boundary and in the survey of over 6,000 square miles more m the
course of 2| years, in spite of the consistently obstructive attitude of the
Turkish Commissioners, the obstacles caused by disturbances among the
interested tribes, and the trying nature of the climate. We consider that
results have been achieved which are substantial and on the whole satis
factory An East India Company trading post. . While, on the one hand, we have lost considerable areas to which
the “ Nine Cantons ” had historical claims, we have for the most part secured
a definite frontier to which the tribes concerned do not apparently themselves
object. In the course of the proceedings it has unfortunately been necessary
on more than one occasion to take punitive measures against sections of the
tribes who have obstructed the Commission’s surveys, or interfered with their
lines of communications. We shall have occasion to notice these operations m
a separate despatch. That the punishments thus inflicted have not been ineffec
tual is, we think, shown by the practical immunity which the Commission
enjoyed in the later stages of their operations through the turbulent country of