File 600/1905 Pt 2 'Aden Hinterland: Future Policy' [‎275v] (38/226)

4
imports into Aden by land, and our exports from it by land, are shown
Value in Rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. .
1
1904 - 05 . |
1903 - 04 .
1902 - 03 .
I 1
1901 - 02 .
1900 - 01 .
Imports
29,71,897
31,87,070
1
j 37,94,312
30,05,061
29,10,400
Exports -
15,07,8‘29
11,88,859
11,62,176
22,70,913
15,43,814
—
With civil war and deserts m oemti.
risks in political administration to secure an uncertain trade which, as
regards coffee, skins, and tobacco, has fallen into better hands elsewhere and
brings India more profit, and as regards the clothing and feeding of the
Arabs must grow less with civil war. ^ .
This railway project was never even discussed when trade was thriving in
the last century, and the fortress and settlement of Aden were the main care
of the Eesident. It was pushed forward with feverish haste and without
reference to the Secretary of State only when the redundant garrison was
sent out to D’thala, and the means of getting the troops back quick y o
their proper duties was therefore required. The Secretary of State has
never sanctioned the extension of any Abdali line into the British territory
at Aden, and without that sanction the project must die a natural death.
We have therefore the remedy in our own hands.
5 The Government of India raise a number of other controversies which
only confuse the main issue. That issue is whether the ascertainment of the
exact boundary of our protectorate and the Turks’ agreement to it requires
a departure from the sound policy previously pursued of leaving the tribes
to choose their own rulers and settle their own affairs. It is said that we
have given them protection. But obviously such protection means agams
Turkish or foreign invasion, and nothing more. We can only aggrava e our
difficulties by planting troops a hundred miles from the sea on t ic ui is
frontier, seeming to menace the holy cities, and offering outages o
pioneers ot the Islamitic movement. _ i 4 . i h
Whether Aden should be governed from London, or as it used 0 oe y
the Bombay Government by means of a Resident chosen by the Bom ay
Government, is a separate question. By law Aden is part of the Bresic ency
of Bombay, and as long as the Bombay Government selected i s own
Eesident it kept the settlement in order. The change began w len ie
Government of India selected the Eesident without arrangement with the
Bombay Government. A reversion to the former system seems lug i y
desirable
Whether ive can possibly control the arms traffic when the whole coast
of the Bed Sea is open to their importation ; or whether the protected tribes
should be ruled by a Sovereign or a number of tribal Chiefs; these are o
standing questions which have been discussed for 20 years. But they have
nothing to do with the main immediate issue whether we should ad o our
other burdens an Arabian question, and plant a garrison, not to defend Aden
by sea, but to stem the tide of Islamism in Yemen. For such a policy we
have, I think, neither troops nor money, and, if once the troops are wi i-