File 600/1905 Pt 2 'Aden Hinterland: Future Policy' [‎283v] (54/226)

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should he withdrawn as soon as may he, and should thereafter only visit the
place temporarily and for special purposes. The despatch of postal runners or
agents of Government into the interior should he avoided. Any project for
dTsarming the tribes should he dismissed from consideration. Punitive expedi
tions for offences committed during the demarcation should not he undertaken.
No demonstration along the frontier is needed, and no attempts should be
made to conclude fresh treaties without previous reference to you. It is stated
that any other policy might draw us into a repetition on another scene of the
recent transactions in Somaliland.
3. We notice that these instructions have been formulated in connection
with the appointment of a new Resident at Aden and on consideration of the
correspondence forwarded to you by the Governor of Bombay on the 12th March
1906. The proposals put forward by Major-General Mason, the late Resident at
Aden, and the opinions of the Bombay Government as expressed in those papers
were receiving our anxious consideration, as in some respects they involved
important departures in the direction of an extension of the existing tribal levy
system, of a scheme for managing the tribes adjoining the Turkish frontier
through subsidised superior Chiefs, and of more energetic measures for the
suppression of the arms traffic, the importance of which has been so frequently
impressed upon us by His Majesty , s Government. Simultaneously, we had under
consideration the question of the railway proposed by the Sultan of Lahej
through Lahej territory to Nobat Dakim, at the point of junction of the main
trade routes to Aden, and of the admission of the line to Aden itself. On
some of these matters we had almost arrived at a decision. T-hus we were
prepared to support the proposal of the Bombay Government that Ras-ai-Arah,
which is now one of the principal centres of the arms traffic, should he occupied
by a small force, in order to enable us to maintain a closer watch over the
conduct of the trade with the Hinterland and a more effective patrol of the
coast line, while at the same time protecting ourselves against the possibility
of a port not directly under our control springing up on this very important
section of the coast. Recent reports show that the export of arms from
Jibouti to the Hinterland is in active progress, and if it is to be checked,
otherwise than by its effective prohibition at Jibouti itself, as suggested by
us, we cannot devise any other remedy in our own territory than such an
occupation and patrol.
4. At the same time we most cordially subscribe to the policy of non-inter
ference with the internal and domestic policy of the tribes, while not tolerating
the interposition of any Foreign Power, which was enunciated by Lord Lans-
downe and in which His Majesty’s present Government in the fullest sense
concur. Our whole administrative policy has been directed to prevent the
necessity for such interference; and we shared the objections of the Bombay
Government to the punitive expeditions proposed by the late Resident, even
though these were designed on the smallest scale compatible with the object
of securing redress for the murder of a British postal runner within British
territory proper at Aden, and for the discontinuance of a deliberate violation by
the Turks of the demarcated frontier at Ad J)oka which, if unchecked, might
well become serious. These are objects which within the tenour of your
present instructions would justify active interference; and we are addressing
you in a separate communication on the subject of the continued infraction
of the frontier by the levy of dues by the Turks at Ad Doka; while the question
of securing redress for the outrage within British territory at Aden will be
further considered in the light of the present situation. As to the Lahej
Railway, it is hardly necessary for us to remind you that the scheme uas
not in any way due to British suggestion in connection with the presence of
troops at H’thala, or otherwise, but originated entirely with the Sultan himself,
who granted a concession in 1904 to the firm of Cowasji Dinshaw. This con
cession did not appear to be altogether suitable in the interests either of
the Sultan or British territory, and since then we have been trying to make
more satisfactory arrangements to enable the Sultan to give effect to his laud
able desire to develope his territory, which we could hardly prohibit, while
abstaining as far as possible from interference in his internal affairs. Iho