File 600/1905 Pt 2 'Aden Hinterland: Future Policy' [‎295r] (77/226)

^ all probability regard our vvithdrawal as a breach of faith and as a grave
-ioao r Une ‘ f -, am P 011 ^ 0U ^ i* 1 19^5 Lord Lansdowne, whose views of
1.03 are quoted agreed with the then Secretary of State for India in makin-
the appointment at Dtbala permanent and the Political Agent’s presence at
Dthalasofar from bemg likeiy to i.ad either to political or military entanX
ats is likely in the opinion of His Excellency the Governor in Council
iLYnl ? UCh enta ^ lerae ?ts arising. Already it has been necessary to
d orders to repair three of the boundary pillars recently erected in ^that
neighbourhood and it is certain that the withdrawal of our officer will lead
to very great difficulties for the Amir of Dthala and be a great encourage
ment to all promoters of mischief both within and beyond the frontier recentlv
demarcated : obviously the Resident will be in a very much less advantageous
withdraua 1 ^of p h ® fF onti f and to checkmate encroachments. In brief" the
Wv th r f thG P ? ll n Cal A? ent now established at Dthala will, in His Excel-
lency the Governor m Counc 11 s opmron, prove the most expensive policy in
of twn rU ? T ^ ^ 18 l ] omhle for us to ado P fc - Wi tb regard t^ the question
ffeCt ° fj ) vl * lldraw i a } on the power of control of the arms traffic, I am to say
at the result is inevitably to confine our power of control to a sea patrol, and I
a Si°. mVi e a t ^ tlon 1° Paragraphs 9 and 11 of my No. 1805 of the 5 th March
1906, m which the ineffectiveness of this method of dealing with the question is
discussed In that matter the Resident will still have the benefit of the recent
iQna 0t i ^ G ?y ernr ? ( f t of India ia their No. 1956-E. B., dated 11th May
lith il? ? ln ? Wlth r , the0f the AdeQ Arsenal in a position to compete
uith illicit trade 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
scarceiy necessary to discuss the question of the effect of the orders on the health
of the troops. The Resident and General Officer Commanding has commented
thereon m paragraph 7 of Ins 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
? WGd t( ? retai n jts strength and efficiency in a sanitarium on the highlands
of Dthala would be infinitely more fresh and efficient in point of health for the
46 !?!;^ °n necessity arising than one that had spent all its time in
e i se . rom a military point of view His Excellency imagines that
arrangements whereby the troops as a body are kept in health and good
training at the inland end of a short Railway while a'skeleton garrison con-
LTalithumane one . 8 ^ ^ ^ themselTes is “ ot efficient policy, /
p f n con nection 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 21 th -
lebruary 1906, and I am to invite special attention to the fact that the Sultan
hasactually already given a concession for making such a-Railvvay in his own ?G") /;
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 m such sense as to prevent him from goino* on with
enterprise. There is no doubt the Sultan will regard our
co-operation as an unfriendly act which has put him to loss.
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
or so 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 eon-
siderationot the Government of India that, when the Head Quarters of the
1 olitical 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
)
his original
withdrawal from
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