File 37/1905 Pt 5 'Aden Delimitation' [‎90v] (185/606)

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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 os the result ot 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.
^ v 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, I 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 the Subehi, as also the questions
expressly included in the recent negotiations with the Turks respecting the north-east
houndarv-line to the desert I forward herewith the maps ( 2 -inch to the mile, geneial
map, and large scale map of the Sheikh Said Peninsula) with the houndary-
line marked thereon, as also a detailed description of this section of the irontier, 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 Trench (with a translation m
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 rower
the Subehi territory lying between the line actually delimited from J. Nuinan to
Husn Murad and the line of the old Subehi border from J. ’Akama through J. Akkar
to Kudam on the shore of the Red Sea.
3. The wording of the Porte’s note is vague in not giving the north-western
limits (i.e., ’Akama and Kudam) of the territory to which the non-alienation Agree
ment refers, but I understand the British Ambassador has subsequently obtame
from the Sublime Porte a statement in writing indicating more precisely the territory
to which the arrangement refers. (Vide Secretary of State xor India s telegram 0 t is
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 Impeiial
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 0
discussion even, but the Ottoman Ambassador in London has made a communication
concerning the territory adjoining the Husn Murad line which the British loieign
Minister has accepted as a sufficient pledge on the subject.”
When urged to insert in the proces-verbal the words ‘ r Akama and Kudam, ^ as
the northern limits of the territory in question, the Turkish Commissioner demune ,
saying that, in view of the above instructions, he could only agree to the mention 0
“ the territory adjoining the Murad line,” and that the reference might even )Q 0
the territory to the south of that line. He subsequently agreed to the woicmg,
“ adjoining and to the north of the Numan-Murad line.” _
5. With regard to the section of the Subehi border from J. Numan to A™
Murad, as finally drawn on the accompanying maps, it may be remarked fha ie
Boundary Commission, on entering the Subehi country, was given to understanci
the western Subehi frontier passed by J. Am Missas and thence skirted the souU j
slopes of the hills, reaching the sea in the vicinity of Turba, while it was lounc
the Turks locally laid claim to all the territory east of Sheikh Said up to the nu
J. Am Missas, J. Kharaz, and Ras Arab.