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File 1508/1905 Pt 3 'Bahrain: postal arrangements; mails; post office' [‎96r] (39/180)

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The record is made up of 1 item (91 folios). It was created in Jun 1905-Jan 1912. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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CONFIDENTIAL.
No. 2678 , dated Bushire, the 8th (received 17 th) October 1910 .
From— Lieutenant-Colonel P. Z. Cox, C.S.I., C.I.E., 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, Simla.
I have the honour to refer to the correspondence ending with Foreign Depart
ment letter No. 1907-E.B., dated the 30th May 1907, on the subject of the means
employed by the Turkish authorities for the exchange of their mails between Ojair
and Basrah.
2. Until now, there has been no fresh development needing report to Govern
ment and the practice of sending the mail-bags more or less surreptitiously to
an agent in Bahrain in boxes by passengers travelling by the British mail steamers
has apparently been maintained, the agent being one Yusuf bin Abdur Rahman,
a mullah in charge of a mosque in Manama.
3. It appears, however, that the late Vali of Basrah, Suleiman Nazif Bey,
seeking to place the matter on a more definite footing, recently approached the
Agents of the British India Steam Navigation Company with a view to their con
tracting to carry to and from Bahrain by their fortnightly steamers a Turkish
Courier with mail-bags for Ojair. On the point being referred to them, the Indian
Postal Authorities point out that such an arrangement would infringe the terms
of the company's existing mail contract with the Secretary of State for India, but
suggest that the Turkish mails for Ojair might be transmitted between Basrah
and Bahrain with the English mails by arrangement with the Indian Post Office,
on payment to the latter of the transit rates allowed by the Universal Postal
Union. The Postmaster-General, Bombay, having enquired from the Resi
dent at Baghdad, whether there was any political objection to such an arrange
ment, the latter passed the reference on to His Majesty's Consul at Basrah who
having again ascertained the Ambassador's views, sends the papers on to me. His
Majesty's Ambassador sees no objection to the Post Office proposal, but Yali
Suleiman Nazif Bey having been recalled in the meanwhile, the matter is now in
abeyance pending resumption of the negotiations by his successor.
4. If it was realized, it was not brought out in the correspondence of 1905-06,
that the Ottoman Post Office is entitled if it wishes to use any British contract
packet for the conveyance of its mails under the conditions laid down in the
Postal Union Convention ; but apart from that, the offer now made by the
Indian Post Office is precisely the same as that made in pursuance of Foreign
Department letter No. 4476, dated the 7th December 1905, to my address. At
that time the Turkish authorities made no response to the offer, doubtless because
what they desired, and probably desire now, is some arrangement independent of
our Post Office ; and Mr. Crow thought it best, having once made the offer, not to
refer to the subject, for the reasons stated in his letter enclosed with my report
No. 65 of 23rd February 1906. It seems hardly likely that they will behave
differently now, but in case they have changed their views and do accept our sugges
tion, it will be as well to consider one or two points which suggest themselves in
connection with the arrangement proposed.
5. Firstly, the question of the mail agent for Ojair. No mention is made
in the papers now sent me by Mr. Crow, as to how the Turkish authorities propose
to handle the mail-bags after their arrival in the British Post Office at Bahrain.
Unless Messrs. Gray, Paul act as agents, as was formely suggested (an arrange
ment unlikely to be acceptable to the Turkish authorities), it is obviously necessary
that there should be some responsible person to receive the incoming mail-bags
from the British Postmaster and deliver outgoing ones, and unless the man can
come up each time from Ojair, the official recognition by us of a Turkish Mail
Agent at Bahrain will presumably be necessary.
In this connection, it will be seen that in expressing my views to the Govern
ment of India on 30th July 1905,1 did not favour the location of the official at
Bahrain, but suggested that he should reside at Ojair and come upas necessary
for the mails. Subsequently, however, when it was found that Mulla Yusuf bin
C 1009 FD

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Part one of the volume relates to postal services in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . The correspondence is between the 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. and Government of India. Further correspondence, included as enclosures, is from the General Post Office in London, representatives of Gray, Mackenzie, and Company and the British India Steam Navigation Company, and numerous political and diplomatic offices in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. .

The papers cover the discussion over who and how Turkish mail is to be carried to Hassa [al-Hasa] from Basra, and an agreement with the Shaikh of Bahrain preventing him from establishing a foreign post office in his country.

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File 1508/1905 Pt 3 'Bahrain: postal arrangements; mails; post office' [‎96r] (39/180), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/83/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100027193513.0x0000c7> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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