File 345/1908 Pt 1 'Mohammerah: situation. British assurances to Sheikh.' [‎158v] (321/416)

Sir F.
Bertie to
Sir E. Grey,
December
3 , 1906 .
Mr. B rod-
rick to
Govern
ment of
India,
September
8 , 1905 .
Viceroy’s
telegram of
November
6 , 1905 .
Persian flag and should have Persian guards. The provisions of the Venice Conven
tion, in so far as they relate to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , have remained, like those of the 1894
Convention, a dead letter. No lazaret was established at the entrance of the Gulf,
and the Bussofah lazaret remained, to quote the words of Dr. Clemow, the sole and
very imperfect quarantine station in those regions.”
The Paris Sanitary Convention of 1903, which was ratified in April 1907,
provides for the Bussorah station as before, and for a sanitary station at Ormuz, both
to he under the contr.)! of the Constantinople Board of Health. The Convention was
signed by the British Delegates, subject to reservations which, it was hoped, would
result in the abandonment of the Ormuz scheme. These reservations were (1) that
the establishment of the Ormuz station should be deferred until the Board of Health
had been reformed in the manner provided by the Convention; (2) that nothing
should be done to carry out the scheme until the Mixed Commission, on which we,
with other European Powers are represented, should have unanimously voted the
necessary funds. Doubts were at the same time expressed by His Majesty’s Govern
ment, through the British Delegates, a« to the necessity for a station near the
entrance of the Gulf, which was not proved by the experience of recent years, and as
to the suitability of Ormuz, with its unhealthy climate, as a site for tiie purpose
proposed.
The Persian Government made a further proposal, in the form of a Declaration
Additionnelle to the Paris Convention, that the station at the mouth of the Gulf
should be controlled by Persia, and should be placed on the Island of Henjam
instead of Ormuz.
In this connection Dr. Eaivre was sent by the Erench Government in the early
part of 1905 to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , to ascertain and report whether the Island of
Henjam would or would not be more suitable as a site for a “sentinel” station
near the entrance of the Gulf than the Island of Ormuz. He reported in Septembei*
1905. Stated briefly, his recommendations, which went beyond the terms of his
reference and dealt with the whole question of the sanitary defence of the Gulf,
were as follows :—
1. That lazarets should be established at Henjam and Eao, to be controlled
respectively by the Persian Government and by the Constantinople Board of
Health ; and
2. That sanitary stations for purposes of “observation” should be erected at
Bunder Abbas, Lingah, Bushire, and Mohammerah, under the control of the Persian
Government, and at Bussorah, Koweit, Bahrein, Debai, and Muscat, under the control
of the Constantinople Board of Health.
Dr. Eaivre’s Report did not reach His Majesty’s Government until December 1906.
In the meanwhile it had been decided in November 1905 that Dr. Theodore Thomson,
of the Local Government Board, should visit the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. on behalf of His
Majesty’s Government, and report “ on the sanitary requirements of those regions in
respect, not only oi Persia, but also of Europe, as well as on the question of the need
of a sanitary station and the suitability of Ormuz, Henjam, or other sites for the
purpose.” The Government of India, who were consulted as to the proposal, agreed
that it might be advantageous at any future discussions for the British Government to
have at its disposal expert information independent of that collected by Dr. Eaivre,
but expressed the earnest hope that “ British opposition to establishment of sanitary
station will be uncompromisingly maintained.” It may here be noted that the objec
tions of the British Government to the establishment of an international sanitary
station in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , as classified by the Eoreign Office in April 1906, are
(1) political, in so far as the station would introduce a certain amount of international
control in a sphere ot British influence; (2) commercial, as placing within the
reach of other Powers a ready means of hampering and restricting the shipping trade
with Bombay and Kurrachee, against which a lair pretext for quarantine can always
be found, and through which the bulk of English as well as the whole of Indian
trade with Persia; (3) sanitary, it being considered that the proposed station, far
from acting as a check upon disease, would serve rather to spread that insalubrity
which it would be destined to prevent, by subjecting the crews and passengers on
the vessels detained, the large majority of which would be British, to the dangers
of a pernicious climate and unhealthy surroundings.
Dr. Thomson left for India, on his way to the Gulf, in January 1906. His
Report, which will be discussed hereafter, was submitted in the following July.