File 600/1905 Pt 2 'Aden Hinterland: Future Policy' [‎290r] (67/226)

ffli S tortCi 5 ab T i ^ r P ra -? 1 ''! it J! <lra ^ al asa br each of faith and as a grave
i qnq * , . am P 0111 ^ ou t that m 1905 Lord Lansdowne, whose views of
the appointment tUe then Seove ^of State for India in making
nt „ a , P " m f ,m nt >* ? tb v? Permanent and the Political Agent’s presence at
Whala so fai from hemg likeiy to lead either to political or military entangle
ments is hkely in the opinion of His Excellency the Governor in Council
to prevent such entanglements arising. Already it has been necessarv to’
nehliho 61 ? /i Kpmr three of the boundary pillars recently erected in that
eighbourhood and it is certain that the witlidrawal of our officer will lead
to very great difficulties for the Amir of Dthala and he a grPat encoura" e-
ment to all promoters of mischief both within and beyond the frontier recently
ltH r Pnrot;ri Sly f the + ReSide A t W , iUbein 1 very much less advantlS
SdrawalPf tip p rf- 0 '‘, f ancl to checkmate encroachments. In brief’ the
lenev H,p r f U 1 ? ll n Cal A ? ent now established at Dthala will, in His Excel-
Gov e r . n,: > r m Council s opimon, prove the most expensive policy in
of the Iff'T 7 IC *p J 4 18 P osalble for us to adopt. With regard t) the queftion
tLVttf , 6 ? 1 < | l f‘• > ' ltldraw . a ! on tlle Power of control of the arms traffic, I am to say
1 esult is inevitably to confine our power of control to a sea patrol, and I
1906 ffiwhiffiftffi 1 ^ 1 ff P ara S ra Pbs 9 and 11 of my No. 1805 of the 5th March
I960, m which the ineffectiveness of this method of dealing with the question is
order^oMl ef" ^ mat * er „ th T e Resident will still have the benefit of the recent
?anft 1 4 • G ? vel ' n ™ e , nt of Illdla la fbeir No. 1956-E. B., dated lltli May
in- a ?* g 7 U ? Wlt b . tbe help of the Aden Arsenal in a position to compete
11 illicit tiade from Jibouti, but obviously his position will be very much
weakened by the absence of touch with tribes outside Aden.
6 . I am to say that His Excellency the Governor in Council considers it
scarcely necessary to discuss the question of the effect of the orders on the health
o e troops. Ihe Resident and General Officer Commanding has commented
thereon m paragraph 7 of his letter and it is well known to the Government of
India that the confinement of British troops to the limits of Aden itself has al
ways been the cause of a heavy death-rate and extremely prejudicial to the effici
ency of regiments posted to Aden. There is no doubt that a garrison which had
i Wed t ° retain hs strength and efficiency in a sanitarium on the highlands
of Hthala would be infinitely more fresh and efficient in point of health for the
defence of Aden on necessity arising than one that had spent all its time in
Aden itself. Trom a military point of view His Excellency imagines that
arrangements whereby the troops as a body are kept in health and ^ood
training at the inland end of a short Railway while a skeleton garrison con
stantly relieved watches over the forts themselves is not only an efficient policy
hut also a humane one. 1 ^ *
7. In connection with this subject, I am to invite orders on the subject
of the Sultan of Lahej’s project for a Railway in his territory. The matter
was last placed before the Government of India in my No. 1513 of the 24th
Eebruary 1906, and I am to invite special attention to the fact that the Saltan
has actually already given a concession for making such a Railway in his own
territory. With the hope of making the undertaking somewhat more useful
Government intervened to delay action thereon and have considered the
possibility of giving the line entrance into Aden on certain conditions. If,
however, the British Government decline to further interest themselves in the
matter the question will certainly re-arise whether the British Government
have any right to interfere with the Sultan’s administration of his own
territories in such sense as to prevent him from going on with his original
enterprise. There is no doubt the Sultan will regard our withdrawal from
co-operation as an unfriendly act which has put him to loss. 8
8 . Turning from the past to the future, I am now to discuss the question
upon the assumption that the Secretary of State’s Despatch represents, in the
words of his telegram of the 19th June, the definite intentions and purposes of
His Majesty's present Government. In that case I am to suggest for the con
sideration of the Government of India that, when the Head Quarters of the
Political Officer at Dthala are removed to Aden, it should be distinctly on the
understanding that he can and should in accordance with a right given by our