File 1311/1905 ‘Persian Gulf: - Post Offices. (Parcel Post Convention)’ [‎137r] (282/434)

Enclosure No. 1.
No. 416, dated Bushire, the 10th December 1904.
From— Captain A. P. Trevor, for 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. ,
To The Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department.
With reference to correspondence ending with Mr. Grant Duff’s telegram
No. Ill, dated 3rd December 1904, regarding the seizure of the British mails by
the Customs authorities, Bushire, 1 have the honour to forward, for the informa-
No. 177 , dated loth December 1904 . tion of the Government of India, a copy
ot the despatch, marginally noted, which
I have addressed te His Majesty’s Charge d’Affaires, Tehran, on the subject.
No. 177, dated Bushire, the 10th December 1904.
From— Captain A. P. Trevor, 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. ,
To—His Britannic Majesty’s Charge d’Affaires, Tehran.
I have the honour to report in detail the incident of the seizure of His
Majesty’s mails by Mons. Waffelaert, the Belgian Director-General of
Customs here. The main facts have already been reported by telegram {vide
correspondence ending with my telegram No. 116, dated 8 th instant).
2. You informed me in your telegram No. 93, dated 21st October, that the
Ministry of Customs had made a formal complaint against the British Post
Office that Mons. Lavers wished to introduce certain new arrangements for
delivery of the mails, and that you had requested him to wait, until the Govern
ment of India had been able to give their views, hefere agreeing to any change
in the present arrangements.
3. On the 22nd November, Mons. Wagner (in charge of the Customs
Office) asked me to introduce the new system. I informed him that the matter
was under discussion between the Persian Government and the British Legation.
He was satisfied with this, and made no attempt to stop the mail which arrived
on the 23rd November.
4 . Mons. Waffelaert, however, on his return from tour, immediately
took up the matter, and wrote to me on the morning of the 1st December,
saying that he had received detailed instructions from the Ministry of Customs,
and that Mons. Lavers stated that the British Legation had promised to send
urgent orders to me to introduce immediately the system as detailed in his
letter.
5. 1 attach a copy of Mons. Waffelaert’s letter, from which you will
see that the new system, as understood by
m. Wagner’s letter No. 830 also enclosed. ^he Customs Department, involves an
examination of the letters by the Customs as well as the parcels, and also the
opening of the entire mails at the Custom House, and delivery of parcels through
the agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. of the Persian Post Office.
6 . I cannot express too strongly my view of the undesirability of such a
plan. As long as we maintain British Post Offices in the Gulf, the mails should,
in my opinion, be opened at the Post Offices, and nowhere else. This is the rule
at the Post Offices in Basrah and Baghdad.
7. I replied to Mons. Waffelaert the same day, saying that no instruc
tions had been received by me to introduce any new system with the mails, and
that therefore I could not do so.
8 . Mons. Waffelaert then wrote suggesting that I should introduce the
new system under protest. I replied immediately, saying that, as I had no
instructions, I could not alter a system which had been in force for years, and
that 1 proposed to send down the usual escort to bring up the mail, and I
trusted that, in the circumstances, Mons. Waffelaert would not obstruct.